Sustainable Living Room Trends in 2020
Last Updated: Apr 11, 2025Trend forecasting is big business, especially when a decade is ending, and the predictions are focused on residential design. Type the keywords "sustainable," "living room," "trends," and "2020" into any browser and watch the prognosticators have a go. Sustainability is there but often buried within discussions of color, texture, pattern, and style influences. Isn't it about time that sustainable design became a necessity?
Probably one of the most used and high-traffic rooms in the house, the living room (or great room, or family room) serves multiple purposes. It's where we gather, converse, read, study, stream movies, nap on the couch, play with our pets, and more. Here's how to make your living room as sustainable as can be.
Table of Contents
- Living Room Color Trends
- Restyle Existing Furniture and Decor
- Repurpose Antique Lighting and Accessories
- Reclaimed Wood
- Non-toxic Carpeting
- Energy Efficient and Recyclable Televisions
- Give Fair Trade a Fair Home
- Made With Renewable Resources
- Healthy Home Furnishing Labels To Look For
Living Room Color Trends
Choosing that perfect living room color that celebrates your taste, style, and stand the test of time may seem daunting, but it's easier than you think. In 2020, designers are not only concentrating on one color but using complementary colors to bring more life to a room. Complimentary colors provide your living room with balance, comfort, and help introduce your personality and style.
Cloud white, soft grey, light beige, lavender, taupe, and powder blue can provide a robust, warm base that helps set the tone for the room. These colors are also an ideal choice if you are looking to brighten up a room that lacks natural light or make the room feel spacious. A living room should feel welcoming and comfortable, not dark and restrictive.
Next, select a friendly, playful tone to compliment your color selection. Light shades of charcoal, sky blue, red apple, sunny yellow, bright pumpkin orange, rose quartz, and sage green are perfect complementary colors. Using a color swatch, overlap your primary color on top of the complementary color. This will provide representation as to what the colors will look like once the walls are painted.
It's also important to consider your furniture and decor. While the conflict between these design decisions may not be a show stopper, they are details to consider. The same color swatches can be held up with furniture and decor in the background. The clashing of color with your furniture and decor will be more noticeable during the natural light of the daytime or in the evening when the room is lit with light fixtures. These are the ideal times to put your new color preferences to the test. Don't be afraid to let your style shine. Living rooms are a place to spend time with your family and friends. It's perfectly fine to be a little self-indulgent and ensure the room reverberates your style.
Restyle Existing Furniture and Decor
Many companies and designers are experimenting with how to restyle existing furnishings instead of relegating them to landfills. One designer is Carter Averbeck of whose company, Omforme, is dedicated to an eco-friendly, circular economy by restyling previously owned furnishings.
Averbeck argues that "older furnishings are built with quality materials and techniques not likely to be reproduced in today's market." His process of "optimistic rediscovery," he says, drives the studio's mission to create unique pieces that bring an individual sense of style in homeowners' living spaces.
Some homeowners, desiring unique character or personality in their living rooms, learn how to design and construct furniture. Seek local artists, furniture makers, and small companies for unique décor made with recycled materials. It not only supports their work but reduces embodied energy added through transportation.
Businesses in search of solutions to the tremendous amount of waste we generate are also figuring out how to make furnishings from recycled and repurposed materials. Rhianna Miller, an outdoor design and home improvement expert with Rubber Mulch, argues that "green furniture can be manufactured without harmful emissions, and will not be wasteful with our planet's materials."
Make sure the manufacturer isn't greenwashing you. If you're considering new furnishings with recycled content, look for a label or other information stating the exact percentage of recycled material. Please pay close attention to whether it's made from post-consumer or pre-consumer (post-industrial) recycled content.
Repurpose Antique Lighting and Accessories
Purchasing existing lighting, and accessories from antique shops and thrift stores is also an excellent way to repurpose used furnishings and keep them out of the waste stream. Matthias Alleckna, an energy analyst at EnergyRates.ca, is an advocate of smart lightbulbs, "which are proliferating and getting smarter. You can customize the warmth, the color, or the intensity. You can set controls so lighting responds to voice commands, your smartphone, or your Amazon Echo. There's a variety of smart bulbs from different brands in different price ranges," to meet every homeowner's needs. Many smart bulbs can be used with traditional lighting fixtures.
Camille LeFevre
Camille LeFevre is an architecture and design writer based in the Twin Cities.
