Are you tired of the way your living room looks, and are you ready to make some changes? If so, there are so many affordable ways to redesign your living room, and even inexpensive changes can make a huge difference. Here are some ideas to consider using as you plan the redesign of this important room in your home.

Choose the Right Colors

You might be sick of your living room because of the colors it contains, or because your furniture is old and outdated. In any case, redesigning a room allows you to choose an entirely new color scheme, and this step is the most important because it will guide you through the entire redecorating process.

If you are planning on purchasing new living room furniture, you may want to select the set you want first. By doing this, you can design the room around the color patterns in the furniture. You may also need to consider other permanent or large fixtures in the room that will be there before and after the redesign, and this includes the flooring in the room and the colors of the fireplace.

As you begin thinking about colors for the room, you should realize that colors represent emotions. If you are hoping to achieve a certain emotion from the room, you will need to stick with a certain color. Here are some ideas:

• Bold or upbeat – Red is a great color to achieve an emotion of energy and boldness.
• Serenity – Blue is often a color that has a calming emotion. It often represents the sky or sea, and it can make a room appear very serene.
• Nature – If you love nature and want a natural look and feel, choose browns, tans, and orange.

Choosing the right color scheme can be the hardest part of the process because it's hard to narrow down the perfect colors for a room.

Add Some Wood

Adding extra wood is another way to create a different look, and you could do this by:

• Putting up chair rail – Chair rail is wood trim that is placed on the walls approximately three feet off the ground. It creates a division on the walls, which could allow you to paint the walls two colors–one color on the bottom and one color on the top.
• Installing wood paneling – Wood paneling is very affordable and easy to hang, and by placing it on one wall in a room, you can create a look that is different.
• Adding wood beams – Place a couple of wood beams on the ceiling, and keep them the color of wood, or paint them an accent color to match your room.

Wood trim and paneling is something you can find at any home improvement store.

Re-Purpose Home Items

Another great tip to consider when redesigning a living room is to consider repurposing some of the things you have. If you have a tight budget for the project but definitely want new living room furniture, you may need to stick with using some of the other items you already have, and there are plenty of ways to do this. Here are some ideas to think about:

• Refinish your tables – If you have wood end tables that you like, you could coordinate them to the new color scheme by staining them a different shade of brown, or by painting them an accent color.
• Refinish wall decorations – You could also repaint the frames around mirrors or pictures that you currently own. This is an inexpensive way to change the color scheme in a room.
• Purchase items from garage sales – If you shop at garage sales, you could find some really neat items that might blend with your theme. You could use them as decorations, and you could even repaint them if they do not match. One good idea is to look for small wall shelves that you could repaint.

These ideas are all very affordable and easy to do, and they will help you create a brand new look in a room. If you are ready to begin your project and want to purchase living room furniture, make sure you start shopping at furniture stores before you narrow down your color scheme for this room.