Despite its name, many of us use our living rooms more for relaxing than for life’s activities. However, as many as 14% of homeowners say their furniture makes them feel more stressed, not less. They admit that their living rooms are feeling downright gloomy. This could be due to a number of factors, perhaps the most prominent of which is a lack of understanding surrounding modern design.

Living room furniture doesn’t need to make you feel glum. You don’t need to hire an interior decorator to make your living room look like contemporary interiors in a magazine spread. There are tricks and tips interior designers know how to use to make rooms appear inviting and soft, or sleek and contemporary. Such as, some furniture pieces can meld with existing furniture better than others, so choose carefully.

When furnishing a room, especially a living room, it is best to decide early on what type of decor you find most appealing. Whether rustic decor makes you feel at home, or only mid century modern furniture will do, there is something out there for everyone. You just need to know two things: where to find it, and where to place it.

Take for example Danish modern design. This style of furniture took flight in the 1920s with Kaare Klint, an artist who was inspired by the Bauhaus movement and encouraged other designers to apply analytical thought to the pieces they created. The result was affordable furniture pieces with clean, spare design lines.

Danish modern design still appeals to many novice decorators because of its simplicity. When participants in the above survey said their furnishings felt gloomy, it was probably due to the colors and design lines. Heavy furniture gives the impression of taking up more space, as does using heavy or stiff fabrics in darker colors. While very large rooms can benefit from these types of pieces, the average living room in an apartment cannot.

In smaller spaces, large pieces of furniture look out of place because they eat up so much space. Danish modern design, as an example, emphasizes compactness with its flowing lines and spareness of details. These pieces are also frequently made from lighter building materials such as plywood. The colors are usually all one color, or very simple pattern.

Interior decorations should work together to create the right atmosphere. The number of people who are actually happy with their home furnishings is only 20%, likely because they choose pieces at random instead of with a coherent plan that focuses on their needs.

We spend most of our time relaxing in our homes, not outside of them. Yet this task is made more difficult when our homes are filled with furniture we end up disliking intensely, to the point of feeling stressed just looking at it.

Unless you are going for an eclectic design, it is important to choose your furnishings carefully with an eye towards how the pieces will work together in the space you have set aside. While modern furniture may make this an easier job for many novices, deciding on a design style is ultimately up to you.