How to turn your living room into a Mediterranean oasis

Looking to bring that holiday feeling home? Creating a Mediterranean aesthetic in your living room could be just the way to transform it into a vacation-like sanctuary. It's a style focused on light colours, natural materials and minimal clutter, which is sure to introduce a relaxed and laid-back vibe into your home.

How, then, can you make your living room décor more Mediterranean? We've put together this guide to share our top tips.

Paint the walls in neutral colours

Picking the right colours is one of the most essential aspects of creating a Mediterranean design for your living room. In a nutshell, you need to draw inspiration from the colours you'd see in the Mediterranean's natural landscape.

Use natural and neutral colours like cream, white or beige on your walls as a base. Then accent with brighter and more vibrant shades like warm blues and yellows to evoke visions of sunny days by the sea. This will help create the relaxed and balanced ambience synonymous with the Mediterranean beach holidays we all yearn for.

If you want a tried-and-tested palette to channel the colours of the Mediterranean, opt for a simple blue-and-white colour scheme in your living room. This combination is synonymous with coastal living, helping to create a stylish and restful living space. Just remember to use a mix of patterns, textures and scales to balance out the general lightness with plenty of depth and interest.

Let in some light

Sunshine is abundant in the Mediterranean, so you need to give your living room as much natural light as possible if you want to truly capture the aesthetic. Choosing light colours and minimising clutter will already help you achieve this but, to take things further, you can take down your curtains and replace them with some sheer curtains to allow light to flow in freely through the windows, while still providing you with some privacy control. You can also place mirrors strategically around the room, to bounce sunlight around and guide it into even the darkest corners.

Add rustic charm

The Mediterranean aesthetic also focuses on texture, so make the most of any rustic surfaces you have on hand in your home. Emphasise unique features like weathered ceiling beams and raw plaster or exposed stone walls. Incorporate deep terracotta, umber and orange plant pots and decorative plates to conjure up the facades and roofs of Spanish and Italian buildings.

Then dress the space with natural materials like rattan rugs, wicker baskets and wooden sculptures. Suggesting summer warmth on even the darkest and wettest days, they're a sure way to make your living room feel cosier and more comfortable.

Focus on minimisation

With the Mediterranean aesthetic's emphasis on colour and texture, the furniture tends to be more minimalistic to provide balance. Choose pieces that feature clean, straight lines and simple shapes, while still providing texture.

Sticking with the theme of simplicity, you don’t want your living space to be cluttered and overcrowded. Opt for pieces of furniture that enable you to store your belongings out of sight and give the design scheme space to breathe. Consider investing in clever fitted furniture with a wood effect, freeing up space and adding to the rustic effect at the same time.

Incorporate exotic patterns

The Mediterranean has a rich history of interaction between the different cultures lucky enough to call it home. Because of this inter-mixing, the Mediterranean aesthetic includes an eclectic set of patterns inspired by many different lands. You can add character to your living room interior by including patterned features like Moorish tiles on the floor. If reflooring isn't an option, you can lay patterned rugs and incorporate tiling into the walls or on furniture.

Elevate your living space with Hammonds

Despite all the new trends we see nowadays, the Mediterranean aesthetic is sure to endure for years to come. It's a timeless style that's been around for centuries and it's easy to see why; who doesn't want to come home to a relaxing coastal sanctuary filled with rich colours and rustic textures?

Want some help creating the perfect Mediterranean décor for your living room? Feel free to get in touch with our team to find out more about how we can help. Alternatively, go ahead and book a design visit if you're ready to upgrade your living space with our fitted furniture.