Great schemes with mix-and-match living room chairs

Liven up your living room with mix and match prints, textures and colours on your walls and with your furniture.

Give your living room a relaxed and sunny feel with this soft and pretty scheme. Take a cheery yellow floral wallpaper as your starting point, then balance out the colour with understated flooring and a neutral-coloured sofa. Instead of a matching suite, bring more sunny accents into the room with a bright yellow armchair, then finish with co-ordinating cushions and tonal accessories.

Hydrangea wallpaper
Laura Ashley

1/10 Similar armchair

Laura Ashley Made To Order

2/10 Grey living room with orange accents

Create a relaxed living room scheme with a palette of neutrals, greys and burnt orange. Keep background colours soft and muted, with neutral walls and pale wooden floors, and take a mix-and-match approach to furniture with a relaxed range of styles. Bring in stronger tones from your palette to layer the effect; try a grey sofa and rug, with accents of burnt orange and copper on throws, cushions and accessories.

Similar sofa
Loaf

Coffee tables
Ikea

3/10 Smart grey and navy living room

Smarten up your living room with a common room-inspired scheme. Pale grey walls and floor-to-ceiling library shelves give the room a formal feel, while a tailored navy blue sofa and classroom-style wooden drawers add to the scholastic scheme. Bring in more 'schoolroom' accessories for added character, with an aged leather armchair, framed classroom posters and a wooden step stool. Complete the look with soft furnishings in school uniform colours of navy, grey and red.

Sofa
John Lewis

Leather armchair
Sofa Workshop

4/10 Fresh green and white living room

Go for a fresh, uplifting colour scheme in vibrant green and white. Choose simply shaped furniture with clean lines and no fussy details. Try teaming a neutral sofa with an accent armchair in a botanical fabric for contrast. Add more green in accessories, such as prints, glassware and cushions. Arrange in neat rows or groups to give a controlled and symmetrical effect.

Woodland Ferns upholstery fabric
Sanderson

Similar rug
Habitat

5/10 Pretty pastel living room

Create a calming, restful scheme with a palette of soft pastels. Choose a barely-there grey as your starting point – it makes a calming background and a neutral setting for almost any accent colours. Co-ordinate your upholstery in tonal pastel shades; try a sofa, chair and footstool in a mix of grey, pale blue and shell pink, then add cushions and throws in matching shades. Line shelves with pretty pastel accessories, as rows of books in sugary tones will complement the scheme.

Sofa and armchair
Multiyork

Footstool
The Dormy House

6/10 Country-style blue and cream living room

Update an uninspiring neutral living room by introducing a soft slate shade into your scheme. If you already have a neutral sofa and flooring, add a statement colour by painting walls in a chalky blue-grey hue. Give the scheme a well-balanced feel by using equal amounts of warm neutrals and cool blues and greys. Accessorise with subtle accent colours, such as softer blues, touches of white or ivory and a hint of denim.

Sofa and armchair
Loaf

Coffee table
Oka

7/10 Green living room with patterned armchair

Bring a mid-century vibe to your living room with this retro-inspired scheme. It's all about lively patterns and mellow colours, so start with a lively motif wallpaper in a warm shade of olive green on one feature wall. Carry on the colour theme with a co-ordinating sofa and perhaps a patterned accent chair in a similar retro motif. Choose dark, mid-century-style furniture with more olive green accents around the room.

Garland wallpaper
Villa Nova

Armchair
Harveys

8/10 Grey living room with Chesterfield sofa

Revamp a traditional living room with a mix of old and new. Update walls with a feature wallpaper and choose a modern twist on a classic pattern, such as this oversized damask in a soft, silvery shade. Give a mis-matched sofa and chair a new lease of life by reupholstering in a new fabric – keep to a muted neutral shade that will co-ordinate the two. Combine the best of past and present when it comes to accessories, by mixing up antiques and vintage finds with quirky buys and modern pieces.

Sofa
House of Fraser

Similar coffee table
Loaf

9/10 Grey living room with leather armchair

Mix classic and contemporary to create a living room with its own unique sense of style. Go grand with a large sofa as the focus of the room, then offset the traditional with a modern statement chair, tough metal shelving and a raw wood table for contrast. Keep the colour scheme cool and calm with a sophisticated mix of grey, mushroom, taupe and tan, and a soft range of patterns. Supersize accessories with an oversized table lamp, large framed print and giant glass jar.

Sofa
Furniture Village

Swivel chair
House of Fraser

10/10 Neutral living room with leather armchair

Give a simple living room a personal touch with an eclectic mix of pieces. Put a tan leather armchair against a plain calico-covered sofa, with a mix of linen cushions to co-ordinate the two. Add wooden shelving so you can showcase your favourite finds, from atlas prints and botanical sketches to glas bell jars and leather-bound books.

Leather chair
Sofas & Stuff

Sofa
Ikea