Nate Berkus Proves How One Unique Addition Can Totally Enhance Your Living Room

Living rooms are known for their standard fare—a couch or two, a coffee table, and other seating options, likely pointed at a TV. Above all, the living room is a space where we do just that—live. From movie nights to big games to a family game night, the more areas to fit more people, the better. Enter: the chair. While some may view chairs as solely a way to seat more people in a room, they're actually a versatile design tool. HGTV star Nate Berkus frequently discusses design how-tos on Instagram, and chairs are one of his favorite topics. 

"I think chairs are the most sculptural furniture in a room," Berkus wrote in an Instagram post. In his example, a stacked plywood impression chair with its straight lines added visual interest to a reading nook, while a boucle club chair screamed cozy and comfort in a den. A leather and chrome chair, meanwhile, gave a uniquely vintage spin to an otherwise modern living room. 

Alternatively, look to other rooms for inspiration in your living room. Try brining in a chair from a different room — perhaps a dining room or a den — into the living room to mix things up. Above all, remember that your space is meant to represent you, not the latest design trend. As Berkus told Real Homes, "If it's true to your aesthetic, it will fit in no matter where you live or how you change your home decor over the years."

Planning zones in a room is key, whether you're dealing with a large space or a small one. By utilizing chairs, that task becomes easier. Simply angling a chair towards a television is all fine and well, but offsetting it to create its own area can enhance a living room. In the Instagram post above, Nate Berkus showed off a small, New York City space he designed — the living room featured a stunning green chair underneath a window. Next to the chair sits a side table, making it the perfect place to sip a beverage and indulge in a book, while those seated on the sofa talk amongst themselves.

In a large space, zones are arguably more important and can keep a room from feeling overwhelming. In a YouTube video for Real Simple, Berkus and his design partner/real-life husband, Jeremiah Brent, broke up a large open space by placing the couch towards the middle of the room and arranging two sizable chairs behind it. A small table and an ottoman completed what they dubbed a "coffee area," the creation of which prevented the room from having an awkward dead zone.

Templates showing how to arrange furniture in your living room are easy to find and copy, but thinking outside of the box can lead to better results. Nate Berkus shared a video on Instagram, showing off a chair that he and husband Jeremiah Brent purchased on a trip to Paris. Brent had placed the oversized, dark chair turn towards a fireplace, but Berkus opted to move it. Berkus placed it near—but not against—a living room wall, angling the chair a different direction from nearby items in order to create more interest in the room.

When considering chair placement in a room and other choices, Berkus told Homes & Gardens that people shouldn't stick to tried and true design rules.

"I want people to have permission to know that a well-crafted space is one that feels assembled and layered over time," he said. "The only way you can do that is to allow yourself to break what feels like 'rules.' These rules are a construct that makes us believe that you can't do certain things unless you do them right."