How to Decorate Around Contemporary Leather Furniture

Whether you have a black leather sofa, a brown leather sofa, or a white sectional sofa next to your coffee table and other modern furniture in the living room or family room, there are great ways to decorate them and make them look even better.

Here is your one-stop shop for interior design color recommendations for each color of leather furniture:

Black Leather Furniture

Colors that work best with black leather furniture are light blues, steel blues, reds, oranges, light grays, whites, and other bright or soft colors. For a soft-looking room, use light colors like creams or light greens. For a bold contrast use white.

If you are looking for a color that you want to stand out against the black, go for reds, oranges, yellows, and light blues. Use two colors on accessory pillows to contrast the darkness of the leather.

White Leather Furniture 

Colors that work well with white leather furniture are grays, greens, purples, blacks, light blues, silver for accessories and other furniture, light browns such as wooden tables or a wood floor. The best colors to contrast with white are blacks and grays.

Best colors to stand out on white furniture are greens, purples, and light browns. Colors that can make a room with white leather furniture look soft are light blues, silver or gold.

Gray Leather Furniture

Colors that work the best with gray leather furniture are whites, off-white, light neutral colors like a pastel peach, blacks, greens, lights blues, light and dark browns. For a soft look to the room use whites, light grays, off-white and neutral colors.

For a bold contrast use both black and white to create a monochromatic look. If you are looking for colors to either compliment the gray furniture or make it stand out nicely use browns, greens, and blues with gold for accessories and other furniture.

Brown Leather Furniture (light, medium, dark)

The best colors that work well with browns are whites, blues, greens, oranges, light neutral colors such as a light tan, light yellow, white on the wall, shades, and hues of browns or reds. For a soft-looking room, go for the neutral colors.

For a bold room go for the oranges, reds and try an accent wall painted in a medium shade of orange, green, or yellow. Greens, blues, and whites work best for accessories and complimenting furniture.

Tan Leather Furniture 

Colors that suit tan leather furniture best are lights browns, navy blue, light greens, mustard yellow, creamy white hues, light purples, red, and ivory white.

Set of Leather Furniture or a Single Piece?

Do you have a complete set of leather furniture or just that one beautiful leather piece? With a single leather furniture piece, you can make it the center point of the room. With a set, you can break it up and use different pieces in different rooms or keep it together to have a more matching type look in the main room you are decorating.

Space- How much space do you have? 

The size of the room should be taken into consideration when decorating with leather furniture. Some styles of leather furniture can be large and some can be rather slim depending on your tastes. Always make sure to measure your space and all furniture both leather and other that you intend to place in the room you are decorating.

You also don't want to put so much in the room that you can't easily move around it, but you don't want to put too little and make it feel empty. The trick is to find a balance between too much and too little.

Leather furniture makes a great focal point in any room. Sets of leather furniture can make a big space feel more homely, while one or two pieces of leather furniture in a small space can make it feel spacious without looking empty or too cluttered.

What type of room are you decorating?

Are you trying to make a welcoming living room to entertain family and friends? A comfy, warm dining room to host dinner guests? A luxurious study or office? A relaxing sunroom or den? Or maybe a cozy bedroom? Each room can be decorated with a variety of leather furniture pieces depending on what look you want for each room.

Windows—yes or no?

If a room that you are decorating has windows, they should be taken into account when placing leather furniture in that room. Since direct light and direct sunlight affect the leather it is advised to place the furniture away from the windows if possible.

If there are no windows then the only worry is making sure the furniture fits your design and doesn't block entry and exit paths into and out of the room.

Do you want a more spacious look, a warm, welcoming look or maybe even a mix of both?

Leather furniture makes a great focal point in any room. Sets of leather furniture can make a big space feel more homely, while one or two pieces of leather furniture in a small space can make it feel spacious without looking empty or too cluttered.

If you have a large spacious room and still want to keep it spacious in style then opt to use more pieces of leather furniture (a sofa, chair and ottoman) and add throw pillows to add balance if needed.  

What Kind of Style are You Wanting to Achieve?

There are various styles or looks to choose from when decorating a room. Some looks to choose from are: Scandinavian, bohemian, mid-century modern, industrial, nautical, farmhouse, urban modern, Victorian, and many more.

Despite all the various types of styles out there, contemporary leather furniture will work within all of them. It all depends on your tastes, the idea for the room you are decorating and budget.