How can you keep that echo in your living room from being a distraction and an annoyance? Here are a few ways to eliminate that echo and brighten up your space!
1. Heavy Curtains
Curtains are a great and fashionable way to make a room less echoey. Echoes are sound waves bouncing off of surfaces, and curtains absorb that sound, so they keep the noise to a minimum. The heavier the curtains are, the more they absorb those echoes.
The soft fabric will absorb more echoes than curtains made of something like plastic, so go for a felt or velvet curtain to really quiet the room. Plus, those curtains will look fabulous and block out unwanted light coming from the windows. It’s a win all around! Give your living room that classy look while you eliminate that echo.
2. Bookshelves
Bookshelves are a favorite because they just come with so many advantages on top of absorbing echoing sound. Filled bookshelves will prevent even more sound than empty ones, so fill them with your favorite books, statues, trophies, and anything else you want up on display!
Bookshelves are unique to you because only you have those items you’re displaying on the shelves! This is a great way to make the space more “you” as you give it that homey feel and keep it from being too echoey. Also, you can put in as many or as few bookshelves as you’d like! They’re a very flexible fix.
3. Rugs
Rugs will keep sound in the living room from echoing off of the hard floor. Plus, they can really tie a room together! The soft fabric is going to feel better on your feet, and rugs have that flexibility where you can get however many you want in whatever sizes, style, and colors you want.
The softer and thicker the rug, the less of an echo you’ll end up with, so while you don’t need the three-foot-deep shag carpet, it will make your living room that much quieter! Choose wisely, and if rugs just aren’t your cup of tea, you can also use any of these other tips to quiet your living room.
4. Make the Space Smaller
The bigger the space, the more echoes you’re going to get, as the sound in the room has lots of space to move around! You want to minimize that space. You can add things to the room to take up space and make the echoes smaller.
Putting up real or temporary walls of bookshelves or furniture is going to help a lot, as is adding any knick knacks you have to decorate.
Anything that disrupts the sound waves will work, but the softer something is, the more it will absorb those waves, so keep that in mind.
Don’t be afraid to take up that space and spread out as much as you’d like. The more you do, the less those loud echoes will bother you.
5. Potted Plants
Is there a more fun way to fill up a room? Not only will your plants be absolutely beautiful, but they keep sound from traveling in a room.
Plants aren’t a smooth surface or wall for the sound to reflect off of, so their chaotic leaves will break up those echoes.
Heavy pots will also absorb that noise, as mass is what keeps sound from traveling. The more mass in the room, the less noise can travel!
All in all, plants are a fun and beautiful way to break the silence in your living room. If having a green thumb really isn’t your thing, then you can use plastic. They won’t work exactly as well since plastic reflects sound, but at least it is something.
6. Wall Hangings
Walls are gonna bounce that sound back at you, so cover them with something that will absorb that sound instead if you don’t want an echoey living room. Paintings are pretty and can double as a decoration for your living room.
You want something that isn’t reflective because that won’t fix the problem, so mirrors aren’t going to help. Neither is anything else that’s too reflective, like glass or plastic. However, any plastic or glass that isn’t smooth should still work.
You’ll want something with texture or is soft, as fabrics that are soft or have texture are the kinds of materials that will best absorb sound.
Fabric, especially heavy fabric, is going to work best when preventing echoes, but anything that isn’t smooth will also work. So, frames with grooves and swirls, fabric or yarn hangings, and paintings.
7. Soft Furniture
We’ve covered that fabric is great for eliminating echoes, so the natural conclusion is that fabric furniture will do that too.
Furniture also fills up that empty space that makes echoes and breaks up sound waves. Broken sound waves won’t echo, saving you the headache and distraction.
Any kind of furniture is going to help, but the less smooth the furniture, the better. So, plastic or leather furniture isn’t going to be as effective because those smooth materials will bounce sound back, making the echoing worse.
If you do have that kind of furniture, don’t fret! You can use blankets to get that same fabric effect without redoing your entire set of living room furniture. Just drape some stylish blankets over any chairs or couches you have.
8. Soundproofing Foam
If you’re really desperate and nothing else is working, there are soundproofing materials to keep that echo minimal.
Soundproofing foam is large sheets of foam that can absorb that echo and have extras surface area to get as much of the sound as possible.
This is also going to keep sound from other rooms from getting in, and sound in the living room inside the living room.
It’s not as pretty as some of the other options, but it will work, so don’t write it off too soon if the noise is just too much! A little bit of noise can feel like home, but echoes are just a reminder of all the empty space. Fill the space up, and have fun doing it!
