Decorative Columns to Illuminate Living Rooms

Interior columns can transform the look and feel of a living room. Strategically placed decorative columns add striking visual interest while defining spaces in open floor plans. Columns attract the eye, lead it through the room, and anchor focal points. With the right creative touch, columns become majestic design elements that infuse rooms with character and style.

It explores popular types of columns, placement strategies, style integration tips, project instructions, and decorating ideas to illuminate living rooms.

Types of Decorative Columns for Living Rooms

Many column varieties suit living room installations. Choices range from classical to contemporary in different materials and finishes. Consider factors like room size, ceiling height, style, and budget when selecting column types.

Freestanding Columns

Freestanding columns stand independently, without connecting to walls or ceilings. They make striking focal points positioned away from room boundaries. Opt for sturdy columns constructed from durable stone, wood, fiberglass, polyurethane, or plaster.

Freestanding columns work well in large, open living rooms. Position them to define sitting areas or frame fireplaces without closing off space. Choose slim columns for airy elegance or wider columns for grounded grandeur.

Mounted Columns

Mounted columns attach directly to walls or ceilings. Common types include partial columns, pillar projections, column wraps, and faux beams. Mounted columns integrate smoothly into room designs without dominating space. Lightweight polyurethane and fiberglass work well.

Explore creative ways to mount columns, like using corner mounts or customizable ceiling drops. Framed mounted columns lend finished refinement against flat walls. Wrapping existing supports disguises Infrastructure while adding flair.

Fluted Columns

Fluted column shafts feature long, rounded vertical grooves. This elegant, ornate style reflects Neoclassical and Greek architectural influences. The deep grooves cast intriguing shadows and add rich visual texture. uDecor offers fluted interior columns in fiberglass, polyurethane, plaster, and Gypsum.

Fluted columns make grand statements in formal living rooms. Use embellished Corinthian order capitals for ornate sophistication. Pair fluted columns with crown moldings, chandeliers, and antique furnishings.

Smooth Columns

Smooth columns have seamless facades without any ornamentation. The simplicity spotlights subtle characteristics of column materials. Smooth plaster, marble, wood, and fiberglass columns infuse rooms with quiet grace. Capital tops remain decorative.

Understated smooth columns suit casual, modern, and industrial rooms. Contrast metal finishes against wood laminate floors or concrete walls. Add intrigue with custom color choices.

Where to Place Columns in a Living Room

Smart column placement amplifies functionality and style impact. Take room size, layout, furnishings, lighting, and flow into account when positioning columns. Here are some tried and tested ideas.

Define Separate Spaces

Use columns to differentiate zones like dining areas, sitting spaces, home offices, and entertainment sections. Place columns to frame openings between rooms without closing off entirely. This creates a sense of defined yet connected spaces.

Incorporating half walls or railings along with columns when defining areas add safety, especially in homes with kids or pets. Use consistent design elements on columns and barriers for congruous flow.

Frame Focal Points

Spotlight focal features like fireplaces, media centers, or artwork with vertical columns. Centering flanking columns around focal pieces draws attention and adds imposing grandeur. Leave breathing room around focal points for best results.

When framing a focal point, select columns in colors and materials that accentuate rather than blend into the feature. For example, glossy black columns frame stainless steel fireplaces dynamically.

Flank Entertainment Centers

Entertainment centers represent ideal targets for column enhancers. Entertainment systems often dominate living room walls. Columns break up flat expanses for added visual dynamism while accentuating media focal pieces.

Entertainment centers flanked by columns appear more substantial and anchored. Enhance media system pillars by backlighting columns or installing pinspots to spotlight architectural details.

Anchor Seating Areas

Ground seating zones with vertical columns. Individual chairs or full seating ensembles feel more spatially defined and inviting with columns installed behind or beside them. Place columns near seats without crowding space.

Make sure columns bordering seating don't block lines of sight to focal points like fireplaces or televisions. Incorporate sconces or art niches into columns to augment seating vignettes.

How Columns Enhance Living Room Style

Properly implemented columns elevate room aesthetics significantly. Columns lend unique style qualities that enrich overall design and decor schemes. Consider how columns can refine living spaces with these style-boosting traits.

Add Visual Interest

Columns attract eyes, ignite curiosity, and captivate. Distinct forms contrast with horizontal planes of floors, ceilings, and walls. Intricate column details portray additional visual intrigue up close, from carvings and textures to dramatic lighting.

Maximize visual impact by finishing columns in eye-catching materials like crackled paint or metallic finishes. Hand paint lifelike murals or showcase built-in shelves on column faces.

Provide Dimensional Contrast

Columns supply dimensional variation beyond the normal two planes of walls in rectilinear rooms. Round, square, or multifaceted column forms add shape diversity and depth. Columns also cast eye-catching shadows that play across surfaces.

The dimensional dynamism of columns suits open, lofty spaces with high ceilings. Incorporate curved walls, arched openings, domed alcoves to complement shapely columns.

Enable Creative Displays

The vertical nature of columns naturally lends itself to attached displays. Affix framed images, wall hangings, sconces, artwork, or shelves to column fronts for focal backup. Columns also stack collectibles beautifully on built-out mantle tops.

Get creative with column-based displays using innovative techniques like mosaic tile accents, attached jewelry armoires, corner glass shelving, or cascading LED light strings.

Reflect Design Eras

Columns intrinsically exude traditional sophistication. Fluted Greek Revival columns fit refined Neoclassical living rooms. Smooth columns suit sleek modern or contemporary spaces. Match columns to room eras for unified enrichment.

Research column history from ancient Greek temples to Art Deco skyscrapers. Adapt elements like Indic lattice patterns or Gothic arched openings to reflect cultures beyond Europe.

Decorating with Columns in Living Rooms

Columns alone make statements, and decorating them intensifies appeal. Enhance columns as living room stars with color, materials, lighting, and supplementary decor:

Choosing Colors and Materials

Column finishes dramatically impact mood and style. Warm wood tones or painted hues reflect casual personality, while marble and stone columns feel formal. Choose colors that align room color schemes for harmonious refinement.

Contrast column materials and colors against wall colors for dramatic emphasis. For cohesion, echo dominant room colors in column paint hues at reduced intensities.

Incorporating Lighting

Spot lighting, wall washing, and column sconces expand decorative opportunities exponentially. Contrast glossy and matte materials by adjusting lighting types. Allow light finishes to shine in brilliance or illuminate textured columns in intimacy.

Experiment with lighting colors and angles to transform columns throughout the day. Uplights bath columns in alluring glows, while downlights amplify intricate details.

Establish captivating vignettes by showcasing coveted accents near columns. Place statement chandeliers and lanterns atop capital crests. Combine pedestals, luxury throws, vases, sculptures, mirrors, or wall art beside columns in gallery formation.