Columns are building structures that are essential for a home with two or more levels. They help to hold the structure above them and transmit the weight down to the foundation. Oftentimes, the architect that designing a home can hide those columns in the wall, but sometimes for some kind of home layouts, they should put those columns in the middle of the room.
Having a column in the living room can be a bit annoying, as it can block and limit your spaces. But as we already said before, this column is important for building structure so you can’t remove it as it can endanger the whole house structure.
So instead of planning to remove your column, you can rather decorate the boring-looking column and make it looks beautiful and make your living room with the column looks much more attractive and interesting. You can also utilize it for some additional functions to add more flexibility to your spaces.
To give you some ideas, our team created some design and decor ideas for column in the middle of the living room. You can use those ideas to get inspired by what you will do with your column.
Before we get started, you should know that there is 2 different kind of column that often used: a rectangular column or rounded column. The rounded column usually used in classic style architecture, while rectangular ones often used in contemporary or minimalist style homes. In this article, we will focus on decorating a rectangular column as it’s the most common column that used in most of the home today.
Let’s get started :
Creative Living Room Column Decoration Ideas
Using Wall Art / Wall Decor Item for Your Column
The most simple, efficient, and cost-friendly solution is by using some wall art or wall decor items in the column. This will make the column looks better and at the same time, you can add more artistic effects into your room.
But before you go and buy some wall decor, it’s important to measure the width of your column to make sure you buy those items incorrect size. Of course, you can buy a large or wide art since most column surely won’t fit it.
After you had the exact size of your column, then you can go and search wall decor items that you like.
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Cover Column with Wood Materials
Wood-based elements can be beneficial to help balance out any room. It’s also will bring some freshness and a natural vibe, and its texture can give an artistic look into the room. If you find that your room lacks of natural elements then using wood to cover your column can be a perfect choice as it will bring double impact. First, it will give your room the natural looks that are lack in your room, and secondly, it will help you cover your monotonous looks column to make it looks more fresh and attractive.
There is a lot of different ways that you can use to cover your column using wood materials. You can cover the entire column using wood or using some wood board to wrap some part of your column, use your own creativity to find the best ways that will fit with your current room design style.
For the wood materials, there is also a lot of different choices that you can use. Of course, the real wood would be a perfect choice, but for some reason, you can use other options such as using vinyl with wooden texture or using engineered wood planks.
Make Your Column a Bar or Dining Spot
This idea is perfect for anyone who had limited spaces in their home so they can’t have a dining table or bar table. Yes, you can make use of your column as a bar or dining table spot.
To make this happen, all you have to do is buying a narrow table that can be placed right beside your column. Or, for the best result, you can use a folding wall-mounted dining/bar table such as the one that we used in the image above.
Use Wall Lamp / Wall Sconce in The Column
In interior design, layered lighting is an integral part that is needed to create a great interior style. Using a different layer of lighting can create a beautiful ambient lighting effect that will make any space looks more sophisticated and elegant.
One kind of lamp that can be used to bring some additional lighting is a wall lamp, and you can make use of your column as a place to put this kind of lamp. By doing this, you don’t only have another extra lighting for your room, but also can help make a boring column looks much better.
Moreover, those lamps also can work as decorative items where you can choose any wall lamp that suits your whole room decor style.
Make Your Column Stand Out by Using Contrast Paint Color
Rather than trying to hide your column, why not make it stand out to bring more bold and dramatic looks to your living room. This can be achieved by using high contrast color to paint the column, where you can use a colorful or bright color or use a darker one. Using bright wall paint would make your room looks brighter and vibrant, while darker colors can bring more elegant effects.
For this example, we prefer the darker choice as we think it would suit best with the modern contemporary style that we applied to the living room. And the paint color that we choose is charcoal dark gray, as it can blend well with any other colors. If you prefer this similar approach, you can use any other dark colors such as dark green, royal blue, or brown.
Another approach is by using bright and striking colors such as red, blue, green, or any colors that maybe you are afraid of using to paint your entire room with. Using this kind of color is great to add some richness and splash of colors to your living room.
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Turn Your Column into a Green Centerpiece
Adding some greenery can be a great option to bring some freshness into any space, and you can make use of your column to do that by hanging some artificial vines and adding some vases and planters around them.
This column decoration idea can bring a lot of positive impact into your living room. First, it will bring fresh and natural feels into your room. Secondly, it can turn a monotonous and boring column to be more attractive and beautiful and make anyone who sees it feels that those columns are purposely created to be a decorative space. Last but not least, a lot of studies shown that adding some plant into a room can make anyone feel more comfortable and relaxed when spending a lot of time inside those rooms.
If you already had some vases and planters inside your room, the most simple and easiest way is to make use of them and move them around your column. If you had an extra budget, you may buy some hanging vases or planter to help cover and decorate your column surface.
Decorate Column Using Wall Mirror
Another living room column decoration ideas that you can apply is by using mirror to cover your column. By using mirror, you can get a lot of benefits rather than just make your column looks beautiful and elegant. Using mirror also can help make any room looks much more spacious, and since a mirror will reflect a lot of lights, it can also make a room feel much brighter.
The best practice to apply this idea is by using a custom-made real mirror and wrapped it up with some additional custom frames such as what we do in the image above. But of course, this approach will cost you some money and minor renovation is needed to do this job.
The more cost-friendly solution is by using a ready to use wall mirror that is available on the market. Where you can easily hang or mount those mirrors by yourself, and your column will look much better than before.
Keep Column Unfinished to Create Industrial Rustic Looks
If you want to add some rustic or retro touch into your living room, then why not keep your column unfinished? The unfinished column will still look gorgeous and perfect for any rustic or industrial style decor.
And to make it more interesting, you can then put some decoration items in it, but make sure you choose the items that had similar rustic, retro, or industrial touch. Some item that can blend well with this unfinished style column is a rustic wall lamp or rustic wooden wall art.
Decorate Column with Marble Stone
Marble stones will bring this bright and shiny look not only to the column but also to your entire room. You just have to cover the columns with the stone and enjoy your new decor in a more luxurious and glamorous touch.
Of course, this idea will cost you some money, where the marble itself won’t be cheap, and you need to hire an expert to install it on your column. But every dollar that you spend would be worth it as you will get amazing results.
There is a lot of different marble colors, texture and style that you can choose for your column. Make sure the one that you choose will match your current interior design style to make them look flawless and integrated with your entire living room interior.
Turn Your Column into a Room Divider
Another interesting thing that you can do with your living room column is to make it as a pillar for a room divider. With a room divider, you can separate your living room from another room such as the dining room to keep it more private and personal.
In the image example above, we used a wood bar arranged vertically between two different columns to became a separator between the living room and dining room. We add some spaces between each wood bar to let some light still come into the dining room and still keep the entire room looks spacious. You can use your own creativity to create your own column room divider to create the effects and results that you want.
Another approach that you can use is by using a ready to use the divider. But before buying, make sure you choose the divider with the correct width that will fit into the spaces between your column. Some room dividers also had a unique design that can be used for shelves as well, so you can get extra storage options for your room to organize or display your accessories or decoration items.
Decorate Column in Classic Style with Molding
As we already said before, there are two common shapes of columns: rectangular and round columns. A round column is often used in a classical home while a rectangular one usually used in a minimalist or contemporary style home. But that doesn’t mean that you can create a classical look using a rectangular column.
You can turn a rectangular-shaped column to looks more classic and antique by using a molding trim. By using them, you can turn a boring column to be a unique and artistic style column.
There is a lot of different molding style are available today, and you can choose any style that you want. You also had options whether to cover the entire column using them or just the bottom or upper part of the column. In the image example above, we have shown a column that is partially covered by molding where we only used them in the bottom and upper part, and leave the middle column as it is.
Paint Column Using Two-Tone Style
The last column decor ideas on this list is by using a two tone style to paint your column. Using this style, you can get a much more interesting column than using a single monotonous color.
One important key to success with this style is by choosing the perfect color combinations. You can use two same color tone with a different shade, or combine a bright or dark color with a neutral shade. Use your own creativity and imagination to create the best color combination for your column that matches the entire living room interior style.
More Decorating Ideas for Your Living Room
- How to Decorate Empty Space in Living Room
- Best Floating Shelves for Living Room
- How to Decorate Living Room Corner using Shelves
- Creative Decor Ideas for Living Room with Yellow Walls