16 Ideas for Living Rooms with Wall Panels

⏳ Reading time: approx. 3 minutes

Wall panels enhance the living room in several ways: they are visually appealing and, in some cases, even improve room acoustics. Thanks to the wide selection of designs, there are practically endless design possibilities.

In this article, we present 16 diverse ideas for living rooms with wall panels. We show what the panels themselves can look like. We also provide inspiration for comprehensive interior design concepts.

1. Aesthetically Pleasing Lowboard Extension

A stone-look wall is an incredibly stylish backdrop for the TV. Authentically realised, it provides additional entertainment during evening television and indeed every time your gaze falls upon it.

Below the TV, for example, the handleless Livitalia Box Lowboard can be installed to create storage space. In the black finish, it harmonises perfectly with the dark stone wall.

To add an extra highlight, it is advisable to install a modern, abstractly designed glass wall panel with lighting effects as an aesthetically pleasing extension of the lowboard.

2. Eye-Catching Statement Piece

Using the wall panel as a backdrop for the TV or a chest of drawers is generally a good idea. If the panel is to function as a true statement piece, meaning the absolute eye-catcher in the room, it is advisable to keep the surrounding furnishing elements subtle or precisely coordinated.

For example, a simple white and black sideboard works well in front of a large metal wall panel with a brass look. To subtly pick up the wall's colour, you can place a small brass-coloured table lamp on the chest of drawers or a side table with gold-coloured details nearby.

3. Always Use a 3D Wall Panel as a Single Accent

Regardless of whether a 3D wall panel in your living room is intended as a statement piece or not, we advise you to always use it as a single accent – meaning to design only one wall in the room in this way.

This also implies leaving the visually fascinating 3D panel largely clear so that it can be optimally showcased. However, it should not remain completely unused, of course. As a TV wall with the Box Lowboard from Livitalia, this compromise is achieved.

4. Ensure Living Wall Harmony

Would you like to use a trendy acoustic panel as part of your living wall? Then ensure that the look of the panel harmonises with that of the wall-mounted furniture.

For example, the combination of an oak-coloured acoustic panel and marble-look tiles perfectly complements the modern Livitalia TV Living Wall C103 in matt white and natural oak veneer.

In front of it, you can add a living room table with a wood-coloured top on a white, cream, or light grey rug.

5. Velvet Panel for Theatre and Cinema Atmosphere

With a velvet panel on the wall, you create a soft, cosy ambience. Designed in dark red and a cassette look, it even creates a touch of theatre or cinema atmosphere right in the living room.

Furthermore, the fact that velvet wall panels often improve room acoustics contributes to the latter. Thus, a corresponding cladding for the TV wall is extremely effective both visually and functionally.

6. Stylish Backdrop for Simple Wall Shelves

A wall panel can accentuate simple wall shelves, such as those included with the TV Living Wall C101 from Livitalia. In addition to the three shelves, the set includes a floating lowboard.

To complement the solid, high-quality look of the living wall harmoniously, an acoustic panel is again well suited. Simply attach the shelf boards directly to the wooden slats of the panel – that truly looks impressive.

7. Combining Natural Materials and Modern Art

Natural materials are not only essential for the popular country house style but are generally on-trend when it comes to furnishing your own home. To make the natural elements appear as contemporary as possible, we recommend combining wood, rattan, and similar materials with modern art.

How can this be specifically implemented? Among other things, with a cotton-covered sofa in organic shapes and a creatively illuminated rattan wall panel that resembles an extraordinary work of art while exuding natural charm.

8. Spectacular 3D Light Wall with a Wow Factor

3D wall panels impress with an exciting surface structure, thus representing both a visual and a haptic highlight. Speaking of highlights: designed as a light wall, the element also provides indirect lighting in the living room.

As mentioned with other ideas, the wall panel should be furnished as minimally as possible. If it is only covered in the lower area with a TV and the minimalist Livitalia Lowboard Box, you can fully enjoy the special design.

Tip: A 3D wall panel with a spatula finish can also be implemented as a DIY project.

9. Classic-Elegant Interior Design Concept

The wall panel doesn't always have to be extraordinarily striking to give the living room that certain something. Sometimes, the well-known design principle “less is more” also applies here.

How about a monochrome wall design in herringbone parquet, which, while noticeable, overall subtly integrates into a classic-elegant interior design concept centred around the wall-mounted Box Lowboard from Livitalia?

The individually configurable chest of drawers can be comprehensively adapted to your wishes and needs, from colour to length. With its minimalist handleless front, it is an eye-catcher without screaming for attention.

10. Wall in Rustic Wood Panel Design

A wall clad with wooden panels brings a natural, rustic flair to the living room. If you are skilled in craftsmanship, you can also create such a wall panel yourself as part of a DIY project.

We advise you to make the panels of different sizes to make the end result look a bit wilder, more vibrant. Fancy some small lighting accents? With LED strips, you can illuminate the wall panel a little.

Tip: For light wooden panels, we recommend the Livitalia Box Lowboard in black, while for dark wood, in white – for an elegant contrast.

11. Setting Glamorous Accents

The Livitalia Box Design Lowboard is available in either matt or high-gloss finish. By attaching it in the high-gloss version to a black tiled wall panel, you truly set glamorous accents in your living room.

To prevent the wall design from appearing too smooth and thus boring in its glossy look, it is advisable to integrate rough details, for example, through effectively asymmetrically laid tiles.

12. Long Live Extravagance

Some wall panels are so extravagantly designed that they should be used just like a work of art in a museum. In plain terms: simply hang them on a free wall, observe, and thoroughly enjoy them.

To envelop your living room in extravagance, you can, among other things, place a velvet-covered sofa in an unusual colour – such as a deep blue tone – and a floating TV lowboard near the wall panel.

Tip: Exceptionally creative wall panels can be designed yourself from plaster.

13. Combination with Other Decorative Elements

If it is not already so exceptionally striking that it demands all attention, you can happily combine your wall panel with other decorative elements. For example, hang a picture.

The only important thing is that all items together form a harmonious whole without blending too much into each other. Example: A black and white picture looks excellent on a dark grey herringbone panel with the white Livitalia Lowboard Box.

14. Wooden Slats in Front of a Large Window Front

Anyone who owns a large window front in their living room, perhaps even with a view of beautiful nature, can count themselves lucky – and add an extra accent with an acoustic panel made of wooden slats.

Naturally, the wall panel should only cover a small part of the window front so that you still have an unobstructed view outside. Behind the TV on the Livitalia Box Lowboard is a suitable place for it.

Great side effect: A wooden slat wall panel creates a kind of bridge to the nature-rich surroundings that you can admire through your windows. As a modern extra, LED strips on a few slats are recommended.

15. Bright Design for a Space-Enlarging Effect

A 3D wallpaper that visually conjures up an “extra room” is by no means the only way to visually enlarge a small living room. A glossy or mirrored wall panel made of marble slabs also has such an effect.

In general, a distinctly bright design helps to “open up” the room, so to speak, making it appear larger than it actually is. For a light marble slab wall, you could add the following elements:

• the Livitalia Box Design Lowboard in high-gloss light grey
• a marbled living room table in white and grey
• light grey or beige upholstered furniture
• a beige short-pile rug

16. Connecting Wall and Chest of Drawers with Contrast

simple-dark-wall-cladding-with-white-illuminated-lowboard

Harmony is all well and good, but if you want to add visual depth to your living room and make it more interesting, you should create contrasts here and there. This also applies to wall design.

For example, you can combine black or grey wall cladding with the Livitalia Lowboard Box in purist white. If the parquet flooring is also dark, the light chest of drawers truly stands out between the wall and the floor.

Conclusion

Wall panels in the living room can partly improve room acoustics, but are primarily intended as special decor. They are available in various designs – from rustic wooden designs to elegant velvet fabric panels for a cosy theatre or cinema atmosphere, much is possible.

In principle, it is advisable to always clad only one wall in the room in an extraordinary way and to leave the chosen corner largely unfurnished. Flat-screen TVs and minimalist designed lowboards are generally the only elements that offer functional added value without impairing the effect of the wall panel.

Mira Celini

Interior Designer at Livarea

As an interior designer at Livarea – since 2012 one of Germany's leading online shops for designer furniture – I help customers create their dream homes. My tips come straight from practice: honest, inspiring, and always with an eye for the extraordinary.

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