Does your living room need a facelift for the new year?

We asked some experts to share some simple changes you can make that will give your living area a fresh new look. They also provided some insight into what trends will be hot in 2012.

Additional Photos

Designers suggest that customers purchase one really nice piece of furniture covered in something that will last, like leather. Broyhill’s Medici sectional comes in “high-performance” leather, an alternative that offers the look and feel of leather but at a fraction of the cost. Courtesy Broyhill

This piece can be used as a buffet or entertainment center. It has an HDMI input that allows you to connect a laptop to a 42-inch monitor. Open the doors up, and out pops a mini-desktop work surface. Courtesy Aspenhome

A dual desk/entertainment/storage center serves a variety of purposes, which appeals to consumers looking for ways to multitask as well as relax. Courtesy of Aspenhome

The same versatile unit, arranged differently. Courtesy of Aspenhome

• Change an area rug, or buy new covers for your pillows.

• Change your lamp shades. Try a plaid fabric in winter, linen in summer.

• Throwing on some new paint seems a little obvious, but it does actually work to transform a space. And you don’t have to paint the entire room. Paint a single accent wall, or maybe two, to provide a refreshing pop of color. If you want an interesting design instead of an accent color, try using wallpaper instead.

• What colors should you use? Grays, believe it or not, are huge in both paints and upholstery.

Gray has been one of the leading upholstery colors for more than a year, according to Jaclyn Hirschaut, vice president of marketing at the American Home Furnishings Alliance in High Point, N.C.

“Gray, to me, is like a perfect neutral,” she said. “It can go with virtually any color. It looks great with blues, it looks great with purple, it looks great with black or red — even orange.”

Nicola Manganello, owner of Nicola’s Homes, a design studio and boutique on Commercial Street in Portland, said her clients seem to be using more color in general.

“I think with the economy and everything, there’s just a general overall gloom and doom,” she said. “I think color is kind of coming back as making your space a happier place to be.”

Deep blues, with accents of yellow, are really on trend right now, according to Manganello. A beige room with more blue in it would “definitely be a little bit more edgier of a look,” she said.

• Add some texture with new window treatments, luscious throw pillows or grasscloth on the walls.

Lynn DiPierro, a designer at Crockett Interiors in Gorham, says Roman shades now come in woven material that look like wood, but they’re fabric. “It really warms up a room,” she said. “I’ve done a lot of those this past year.”

Manganello says grasscloth is having something of a resurgence right now.

“It’s sort of a safe move for people to add texture to a room,” she said. “Your artwork hangs off of it wonderfully, and it’s a nice sort of matte background for a wall space. I’m definitely seeing more grasscloth being used.”

• Add one really nice piece of furniture covered in something luxurious that will last, like leather.

DiPierro said her customers are using their living areas more frequently now. Instead of spending money on traveling or some other costly activity, they’re putting that cash into their family rooms. And they’re looking for furniture that can stand up to kids and pets.

“They’re going for durability, longevity,” DiPierro said. “They’re willing to spend more money because they want it to last, so leather is hot right now.”

If leather’s not in your budget, try one of the new leather upholstery alternatives that offer the same look and feel but can be had for a fraction of the cost.

Bonded, or “high-performance,” leather is leather that hasn’t gone through the tanning process. It’s ground up and mixed with other materials to create an alternative product that contains just 12 to 18 percent leather.

“The price of leather is going through the roof,” said Mindi Brothers, vice president of marketing for Broyhill, which just launched some new bonded leather products last year. “This offers the great look, the great feel, the leather smell, the durability, at 20 percent of the cost when you’re talking about the finished product.”

• Big arms on chairs and sofas are out, clean lines are in.

“People like high backs, clean lines,” DiPierro said. “Condo-sized furniture is huge. Huge. People are downsizing, and they’re tired of having their furniture dominate the room.”

“Urban industrial” style — minimalist combinations of metal and wood — and eco-friendly decor with a more natural look are also in.

• Don’t think that you have to fill the entire room with new furniture, Hirschhaut advises. Better to buy one piece at a time and choose the best quality pieces you can afford so they will last longer.

• Take all of your decorative accessories — anything that’s not a big piece of furniture — off walls and tables, and shuffle them around. Put some in storage for another day, and place the rest in different spots around the room. It will freshen the room, but you’ll still be using your favorite pieces.

• Add a fabric-covered ottoman. There are so many styles available, from skirted to square, it’s an easy way to change the look of a room. And ottomans are functional too.

“You can put your feet on them, but at the same time you can bunch them together and use them as a cocktail table,” Hirschhaut said. “Everybody’s looking for more functionality in their furniture. Storage, I think, is one of the most important things, but we’re also seeing connectivity.”

• Yes, connectivity. Manufacturers know that Americans are spending more of their lives multi-tasking with their laptops and smartphones, so they’re making furniture that helps people relax in their living rooms while they connect with the rest of the world.

And, oh yes, you can store more of your stuff in these new pieces too.

One piece created by Aspenhome can be either a two-person work desk, an entertainment center or additional storage for a room.

Another is a server you could use as a buffet or to store your china, but it can also be used in the living room. It has an HDMI input that allows you to connect your laptop to a 42-inch monitor. Open the doors up, and you have a mini-desktop work surface.

“Desk surfaces and dining table surfaces are both 30 inches high,” notes Bryan Edwards, vice president of sales at Aspenhome. “We created this 30-inch-high temporary work surface that you can pull out and then pull back in.

“So this one piece of furniture can be a dining buffet, it can be an entertainment console, or it can serve as a temporary desk. And we did that piece in three different collections.”

• Move smaller pieces in from another room.

Say you’re an empty nester, and your child’s old chest of drawers is just sitting in his old bedroom, unused. Move it into the living area, pick out a nice lamp to place on top, and store your hats or mittens in there.

“It’s a totally different piece, but yet it’s got storage,” Hirschhaut said. “You can put hats or mittens in it or something, and still get a lot more life out of it.”

Staff Writer Meredith Goad can be contacted at 791-6332 or at:

mgoad@pressherald.com

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