If you’ve ever walked into a custom luxury home in Utah County and thought, “I want my lounge room to feel exactly like this,” — you’re not alone. The lounge room is one of the most personal, powerful spaces in any home. It’s where families gather, where guests form their first real impression, and where your design choices say everything about your lifestyle and taste.
As the team behind Ashtin Group UT, one of Utah County’s leading luxury custom home builders, and Designly Done, our full-service interior design studio, we’ve designed and built hundreds of high-end lounge rooms across Provo, Orem, Lehi, Saratoga Springs, Eagle Mountain, Springville, and beyond. What we’ve learned — after building dream homes across all of Utah County — is that a truly stunning lounge room doesn’t happen by accident. It’s intentional, layered, and deeply personal.
In this guide, we’re giving you the exact framework we use when decorating luxury lounge rooms in our custom homes in Utah County, Utah — and you can apply every single principle to your own space.
What Is a Lounge Room (and Why Does It Matter)?
The term “lounge room” is used interchangeably with “living room” in many homes, but in luxury custom home design, the lounge room carries a slightly distinct identity. It’s a space designed for comfortable, elevated relaxation — not just casual TV watching, but a room that invites conversation, showcases curated art, and envelops guests in warmth and sophistication.
In the luxury custom homes we build across Utah County, the lounge room is often one of the most carefully designed spaces in the entire floor plan. It sets the tone for the rest of the home.
Whether you’re moving into a brand-new custom home in Provo or refreshing a lounge in an existing residence, the principles below will transform your space.
1. Start With a Clear Design Vision (Before You Buy a Single Piece of Furniture)
One of the biggest mistakes homeowners make when decorating a lounge room is shopping before they’ve defined their design direction. At Designly Done, our Utah County interior design team always begins with a mood board and a style brief before a single purchase is made.
Ask yourself:
- What feeling do I want this room to evoke — airy and serene, warm and cozy, bold and dramatic?
- What design aesthetic speaks to me — modern organic, transitional luxury, mountain contemporary, or classic elegance?
- Who uses this room, and how?
For luxury homes in Utah County, we most often design toward what we call Mountain Luxury Contemporary — clean architectural lines softened with natural materials like stone, wood, and linen, drawing visual inspiration from the Wasatch Range just outside the window.
Pro Tip from Designly Done: Save 20–30 inspiration images before you start. If you notice patterns in what you’re drawn to — repeated color palettes, furniture silhouettes, or textures — that’s your design DNA. Build from there.
2. Nail Your Color Palette First
Color is the single most transformative tool in any lounge room, and it’s also the most misunderstood. When decorating a luxury lounge room, resist the urge to choose paint colors based on swatches alone. Instead, think in layers.
The Luxury Color Rule: 60-30-10
Professional interior designers — including our team at Designly Done — follow the proven 60-30-10 color distribution rule:
- 60% — Dominant color (walls, large sofa, area rug)
- 30% — Secondary color (drapery, accent chairs, throw pillows)
- 10% — Accent color (artwork, decorative objects, trim details)
For luxury lounge rooms in Utah County, our most requested palettes include warm greiges, deep charcoal with brass accents, soft sage with natural linen, and creamy white with moody navy. These palettes photograph beautifully and hold their sophistication over time — which matters tremendously for resale value in the competitive Utah County real estate market.
Don’t Overlook the Ceiling
In the custom luxury homes we build at Ashtin Group UT, we often extend the wall color onto the ceiling or use a slightly deeper tone to create an enveloping, cocooning effect. A painted ceiling in a lounge room is a simple luxury upgrade that dramatically elevates the space.
3. Choose a Statement Sofa — Then Build Around It
Your sofa is the anchor of the lounge room. It takes up the most visual real estate, it’s used the most, and it’s often the hardest thing to change once it’s in place. In luxury lounge room design, the sofa should be the first major investment you make — and it should be extraordinary.
What to Look for in a Luxury Lounge Sofa
- Frame construction: Kiln-dried hardwood frames are the gold standard. Avoid sofas with metal or engineered wood frames for long-term durability.
- Cushion fill: Down-wrapped foam inserts offer the perfect blend of luxury comfort and structure. Pure down is soft but can feel shapeless; pure foam can feel stiff.
- Fabric: For high-traffic lounge rooms, we recommend performance velvet, tightly woven linen blends, or leather. In Utah County’s dry climate, leather holds up especially well.
- Scale: Your sofa should be proportional to your room. As a general rule, the sofa should take up roughly two-thirds of the wall it sits against.
At Designly Done, we source custom and semi-custom sofas for every lounge room we design. When we work with clients building new custom homes in Utah County through Ashtin Group UT, we coordinate the sofa selection with the room’s architectural details — crown molding height, window placement, and fireplace surround — so everything works as a cohesive whole.
4. Layer Your Lighting — It’s More Important Than You Think
Lighting is the most underestimated element in lounge room decoration, and it’s one of the most important. A beautifully decorated lounge room with flat, harsh lighting will still feel disappointing. A simply furnished lounge room with expertly layered lighting will feel like a luxury hotel suite.
The Three Layers of Lounge Room Lighting
Ambient Lighting — The overall illumination of the space. This is typically your overhead fixture — a chandelier, flush mount, or recessed lighting.
Task Lighting — Functional light sources near reading areas, consoles, and side tables. Floor lamps and table lamps serve this function.
Accent Lighting — Decorative light sources that add drama and warmth. Think: picture lights over artwork, LED strips under console tables, fireplace glow, candle sconces.
In our luxury custom homes throughout Utah County — from new builds in Lehi and Saratoga Springs to custom estates in Springville and Spanish Fork — we pre-wire every lounge room for all three layers during construction. If you’re working with an existing space, adding floor lamps and table lamps is the fastest, most affordable way to upgrade your lounge room’s atmosphere immediately.
Dimmer switches are non-negotiable. Every lounge room lighting circuit should be on a dimmer. This one upgrade costs almost nothing and changes everything.
5. Define the Space With an Area Rug
An area rug does three essential things in a lounge room: it defines the seating area, adds texture and warmth, and grounds all of the furniture into a cohesive arrangement.
The Most Common Area Rug Mistake
The most common mistake in lounge room decorating — and we see this constantly — is choosing a rug that’s too small. A rug that only fits under the coffee table leaves the furniture looking unmoored and the room looking small.
The rule: All major seating pieces should either sit fully on the rug, or at least have their front legs on it. For most luxury lounge rooms, this means a rug that’s at minimum 9’x12′, and often 10’x14′ or larger.
Best Rug Materials for Luxury Lounge Rooms in Utah County
- Wool: Soft, durable, naturally stain-resistant. The best all-around choice for a luxury lounge room.
- Silk or Silk Blend: Stunning visual depth and sheen, but best for lower-traffic lounge rooms or rooms without pets.
- Performance Wool Blends: Our top recommendation for Utah County families — all the luxury of wool with enhanced durability for real life.
- Natural Fiber (Jute, Seagrass): Beautiful for layering under a smaller decorative rug, or for a relaxed, organic luxury aesthetic.
6. Curate Art and Accessories — Edit Ruthlessly
Nothing tells the story of a luxury lounge room like the art and accessories that live in it. And nothing undermines a beautiful room faster than clutter dressed up as décor.
At Designly Done, our interior design philosophy for accessories is simple: fewer, larger, better. One large-scale piece of art above a sofa makes far more impact than a gallery wall of small prints. A single oversized sculptural vase on a console table is more powerful than a dozen small objects competing for attention.
Art Placement in a Luxury Lounge Room
- Hang artwork so the center of the piece is at eye level — approximately 57–60 inches from the floor.
- Above a sofa, the artwork should be roughly 2/3 the width of the sofa.
- In custom homes with high ceilings (a hallmark of our builds at Ashtin Group UT), consider oversized art — 48″x60″ or larger — to fill the vertical space with intention.
The Power of Organic Materials
In 2026, the most sought-after luxury lounge rooms blend refined, high-end finishes with the organic warmth of natural materials. Think: a hand-thrown ceramic vase, a driftwood sculpture, a live-edge wood console, or a woven grass basket as an accent. These elements bring a sense of authenticity and warmth that manufactured décor simply cannot replicate.
This approach is central to the design aesthetic at Designly Done — blending the natural beauty of Utah’s landscape with sophisticated, elevated interiors.
7. Window Treatments: Don’t Skip Them
Bare windows are one of the most common signs of an unfinished lounge room — even in expensive homes. Drapery and window treatments do far more than control light; they add softness, height, texture, and a sense of completion that no room should be without.
Luxury Drapery Tips for Utah County Homes
- Hang curtains high and wide. Mount your curtain rod 4–6 inches above the window frame, or at ceiling height in rooms with high ceilings. Extend the rod 8–12 inches beyond each side of the window. This makes windows look dramatically larger.
- Let drapes puddle or kiss the floor. Drapery that floats above the floor looks timid. In a luxury lounge room, drapes should just touch the floor or puddle slightly for a more dramatic effect.
- Choose the right fabric weight. Light linen sheers add airiness; heavier velvet or thick linen panels add drama and luxury. In Utah County’s bright, high-altitude light, having a blackout or room-darkening lining option is always smart.
In many of the new luxury custom homes we build in Utah County, we work with our clients at Designly Done to spec custom drapery as part of the home’s interior finish package — so the window treatments are designed alongside the architecture, not as an afterthought.
8. Furniture Arrangement: Flow, Function, and Conversation
Even the most stunning lounge furniture will fail if it’s arranged poorly. Furniture arrangement is a science as much as an art, and it’s one of the most impactful (and completely free) ways to improve your lounge room.
Lounge Room Furniture Arrangement Rules
- Create a conversation zone. Arrange seating so that people can comfortably talk without shouting — generally no more than 8–10 feet apart.
- Float your furniture. Pushing all furniture against the walls is one of the most common decorating mistakes. Float seating pieces toward the center of the room to create intimacy and flow.
- Allow traffic pathways. Leave at least 30–36 inches of clear walkway around furniture groupings.
- Balance visual weight. If you have a heavy sofa on one side of the room, balance it with a substantial bookcase, art piece, or pair of accent chairs on the other.
9. The Finishing Touches: What Separates Good from Extraordinary
The difference between a lounge room that looks “nice” and one that looks like it belongs in an Ashtin Group UT luxury custom home comes down to the finishing touches.
- Throw pillows in odd numbers. Three or five pillows always looks more curated than two or four.
- Books styled by color or size on a coffee table or shelf add sophistication and personality.
- Fresh or high-quality faux botanicals bring life and oxygen into the space. An oversized fiddle-leaf fig or olive tree in a statement planter is a signature move in our Designly Done projects.
- Candles and scent. Luxury is multisensory. A thoughtfully chosen candle on a coffee tray adds warmth, romance, and a design moment all at once.
- Cohesive metallics. Pick one or two metal finishes (brass and black, nickel and chrome, unlacquered brass and bronze) and stick to them throughout the lounge room.
Why Partner With Ashtin Group UT and Designly Done for Your Utah County Luxury Home
When you build a custom luxury home in Utah County with Ashtin Group UT, you have the unique advantage of working with a design-build partnership that integrates architecture, construction, and interior design from day one.
Justin and Ashley Kuhni founded both Ashtin Group UT and Designly Done with one mission: to build and design luxury homes in Utah County that feel as extraordinary to live in as they look. Too often, homeowners build a beautiful home with one builder and then scramble to find an interior designer after the fact — resulting in disconnected decisions, costly changes, and missed opportunities.
Our integrated model means your lounge room is designed for your life, your architecture, and your aesthetic — from the placement of electrical outlets and pre-wired sconce locations to the custom built-ins designed to perfectly frame your art collection.
We serve luxury homeowners across all of Utah County, including Provo, Orem, Lehi, Saratoga Springs, Eagle Mountain, Mapleton, Springville, Spanish Fork, Payson, and the entire Wasatch Front.
Frequently Asked Questions: How to Decorate a Lounge Room
Start with a clear design vision and mood board before purchasing anything. Define your color palette, aesthetic direction, and the primary function of the space. Every other decision flows from this foundation.
Focus on the highest-impact changes first: lighting (add lamps and dimmers), window treatments (hang them high and wide), and a large area rug that anchors the seating area. These three upgrades transform any lounge room.
For most lounge rooms, a 9’x12′ rug is the minimum. In larger or open-concept lounge rooms, a 10’x14′ or larger is ideal. All front legs of major seating pieces should sit on the rug.
Warm neutrals (greige, warm white, cream), deep sophisticated tones (charcoal, navy, forest green), and earth-inspired palettes (terracotta, sage, warm brown) all feel luxurious when layered thoughtfully. Avoid harsh, cool whites and flat, uniform color schemes.
Designly Done is a full-service interior design studio based in Utah County, specializing in luxury residential design. Founded by Ashley Kuhni, Designly Done works both independently and as part of the Ashtin Group UT custom home building process.
Ashtin Group UT, founded by Justin and Ashley Kuhni, is a premier luxury custom home builder serving all of Utah County. We specialize in high-end custom homes with integrated interior design through our partner studio, Designly Done.
Ready to Build or Design Your Dream Lounge Room in Utah County?
Whether you’re planning a new luxury custom home in Utah County or looking to redesign your current lounge room with the help of a professional interior designer, Justin and Ashley Kuhni and our teams at Ashtin Group UT and Designly Done are here to bring your vision to life.
Ashtin Group UT — Utah County’s Luxury Custom Home Builder 🌐 ashtingrouput.com
Designly Done — Full-Service Interior Design in Utah County 🌐 designlydone.com
Serving Provo, Orem, Lehi, Saratoga Springs, Eagle Mountain, Springville, Spanish Fork, Mapleton, Payson, and all of Utah County, Utah.
Justin and Ashley Kuhni are the founders of Ashtin Group UT, a luxury custom home builder in Utah County, Utah, and Designly Done, a full-service interior design studio. Together, they lead an integrated design-build team dedicated to creating extraordinary custom homes across the Wasatch Front.
