The Very Best Living Rooms of 2021

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.