5 Easy Ways to Refresh Your Living Room

You don't need to repaint or rearrange furniture to make a living room feel different — sometimes a handful of small swaps is all it takes to shake off that stale, unchanged feeling a room gets after a year or two.

Start with texture. A new throw blanket or a couple of cushion covers in a different fabric or color instantly changes how a sofa reads, even if nothing else in the room moves. Mixing textures — a woven throw against smooth cushions, for instance — adds visual interest without adding clutter.

Light a room differently than you have been. Swapping a harsh overhead bulb for a warmer-toned lamp in the corner, or adding a second light source at a lower height, changes the mood of a space more than almost anything else you can do in an afternoon.

Bring in something living, or at least something that looks like it. A plant, real or a good-quality artificial one, adds color and softens hard edges in a way that furniture alone can't.

Scent matters more than people expect. A candle or reed diffuser near the entrance to the room shapes the first impression before anyone even looks around.

Finally, edit before you add. Removing a couple of items that have quietly become clutter — stacks of mail, mismatched odds and ends on a shelf — often does more for how a room feels than bringing in something new.