The Very Best Living Rooms of 2021

On the hunt for haute living room inspiration? We’re here to help, with a look at 12 of our favorite living rooms.

large living area with one brown leather sofa and one black leather face each other over a blue rug walls are paneled and textured and high
Helenio Barbetta/Living Inside

This past year called for a lot of time on the sofa, and our living rooms became havens for rest and relaxation. All of the living rooms we featured this year had a unique angle of their own—from oversize sofas, mixed prints, and material exploration (think marble and glass) to studied minimalism. Here, we present some of our favorites.

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1 Fabrizio Casiraghi
living room with three cushion sofa in a soft velvet light chocolate brown color and low black coffee table piled with books and objets and a large planter over the softa is a tryptch wih greek like sketches
Cerruti & Draime

In the living room of this Paris bachelor pad, designer Fabrizio Casiraghi referenced his heritage by looking to the work of Milanese artist Gabriella Crespi and Austrian architect Adolf Loos to create a saturated, comfortable cocoon for his client, a film agent.

2 Remy Renzullo
open airy living room with floor to ceiling french doors on either side of a light blue sofa with dark wood end tables on either end a low striated wood coffee table is in front as well as four chairs facing in a large floral painting hangs over the sofa
Isabel Parra

In the living room of this Southampton, New York, home, interior designer Remy Renzullo let the light lead. Soft-yellow Venetian plaster keeps the walls fresh and provides the perfect backdrop for a Larry Rivers painting, situated above a Billy Baldwin–inspired sofa upholstered in a silk moiré.

3 Cecilia Casagrande
large living room with dark blue walls and tufted l shaped dark blue sofa spanning two walls with a silver triangular coffee table at center and large artwork pieces hanging on the walls a white fireplace and chair face the sofa
Sean Litchfield

Blue rules in the living room of this grand Massachusetts Victorian. The lush tufted sectional plays off the deep-blue walls—the perfect setting in which to watch a fire crackle.

4 Kevin Dumais
minimalist living space with dark brown leather sofa with a oblong velvet pouf beneath a small table in front a light washed stool and modern chairs a large white and red canvas sits in the center of the wall opposite
Joshua McHugh

Calm, cool minimalism reigns supreme in this living room by Kevin Dumais on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. With architecture by Robert A.M. Stern, allowing the space’s clean lines to lead the way—and combining them with a soothing color palette—was a no-brainer.

5 Marsha Mason
large airy living space with tall red bookcases to the right and a high stone fireplace with an inset for logs and three statues on top several large diverse and colorful chairs populate the center seating area and a desk and chair can be seen in the foreground
John Gruen

In the Connecticut living room of four-time Oscar-nominated actress Marsha Mason, Technicolor comes home in bold shades of red and blue.

6 Alfredo Paredes and George Kolasa
farmhouse living room with a brown sofa with white stripes a striped natural rug and two white chairs flanking either side of two small tables in the center opposite is a large fireplace with colonial looking portraits framed on the mantel
Douglas Friedman

Classic meets cool in the living room of this historic East Hampton, New York, farm. Owned by one of the village’s founding families, its bones date to the 1700s, but its design—the work of Alfredo Paredes and homeowner George Kolasa—keeps the interiors firmly in the present.

7 Nicholas Obeid
large open living room with three floor to ceiling windows at the rear fronted by two white chairs and a brown sofa to the left a white fireplace facing the sofa on the opposite side of the room and several chairs populate the space around a low tufted table of sorts
Tim Lenz

To create a sense of intimacy in a cavernous living room in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood and bring calm to the space, designer Nicolas Obeid played with scale and smartly chose a muted palette of soft creams, earthy greens, and mottled browns.

8 Hannes Peer
large living area with one brown leather sofa and one black leather face each other over a blue rug walls are paneled and textured and high
Helenio Barbetta/Living Inside

Architect and interior designer Hannes Peer took notes from Milan’s renowned 1930s Villa Necchi, the Italian modernist Carlo Mollino, and Georgia O’Keefe’s New Mexican summer home to create this well-balanced Milanese apartment. The living room is appropriately anchored by vintage pieces: a 1980s daybed, a Willy Rizzo cocktail table, and midcentury Persian rug.

9 Civilian
high ceilinged living room with white fireplace and mantel and leather seating on either side of a punch out coffee table
Brian W. Ferry

The duo behind architecture and design studio Civilian combined function with fun, keeping things as simple as possible while considering their family’s needs. The living room of their Brooklyn townhouse features a vintage Gae Aulenti sofa and set of chairs, arranged around a table by New York–based designer Sam Stewart.

10 Linda Rodin
white painted and airy living room  with white striated fireplace and mantel at center and bright yellow modern sofas on either side of a long oval coffee table at center a large piece of artwork that looks like a die stands to the left of the fireplace at back
Chris Mottalini

In the Long Island living room of fashion- and beauty-world fixture Linda Rodin, color and texture complement one another in a pair of sunshine-yellow Hem sofas, a custom rug by MA Estudio, and a Noguchi lamp festooned with polka dots.

11 Mark Sikes
intricate looking living room with blue striped wallpaper and matching shades on tall window and blue striped sofa with poufs in a blue floral pattern serving as a coffee table side chairs are blue striped as well and the rug is light and dark brown diamond shapes
Douglas Friedman

In this Palm Beach villa by designer Mark D. Sikes, the client has their pick of several sitting rooms. This one stands out thanks to its all-over Fermoie stripe, complemented by two paisley-print ottomans by Peter Dunham.

12 Marie-Lise Féry
living room with long wrap around modern sofa in a red orangy velvet and modern tiered tables at center a large modern portrait hangs on the wall behind it
Pierrick Verny

In the joyful French country house of Marie Lise Féry, color explodes off every surface. In the living room, comfort is achieved with a Christophe Delcourt sectional, complemented by cocktail tables from his Collection Particulière and a painting by Françoise Pétrovitch.

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