Would you love to sink into a luxurious bean bag at the end of the day...
...but are worried that it'll look out of place in a sophisticated living room?
After years of researching bean bag furniture for Armadillo Sun, I can confidently state that a modern luxury bean bag will make a stylish statement in your living room.
Not only will it look good, it will be the most sought-after seat in the house!
Bean bags were conceived by Italian designers to break the rigid norms of traditional seating. By eliminating the hard lines of sofas and chairs, they add flexibility and comfort to the formulas of interior design.
Embracing a more relaxed style has led to an association with casual settings, like TV rooms, playrooms, and student digs.
But bean bags are making a comeback with a well-deserved return to grown-up living spaces.
Drawing on years of experience working with interior designers, I have gathered together the best ideas and advice on choosing and styling bean bags in a living room.
You can enjoy bean bag comfort and a beautifully styled living room!
About the author: Caroline Lomax is commissioned to create premium furnishings and décor for high-end homes. To meet her clients’ requests for ultra-comfortable, versatile, and stylish seating, she designed her own range of luxury bean bag furniture in 2018. It was a huge success and Armadillo Sun was born!
How to use bean bags in a stylish & comfortable living room
1. What type of bean bag to buy for a luxury living room
2. Where to put a bean bag in your living room
3. How to style a bean bag to complement your living room design
A bean bag sits flat on the floor and is lower in height – perfect for creating a seating area in front of large living room windows without blocking the light.
1. What type of bean bag to buy for a luxury living room
Bean bag chairs radiate character and laidback style. They were invented as a cutting-edge, convention-breaking, statement piece in 1968. More recently, bean bags were used as the seating for a Bottega Veneta fashion show in Milan!
However, cheap materials and poor craftsmanship will make a bean bag a juvenile – even tacky – choice for a living room.
Consider my advice below and choose a well-shaped bean bag in quality fabrics to ensure you enjoy the self-indulgent comfort it offers without sacrificing style.
The best shape for a living room bean bag >>
How to match bean bags to your living room colour scheme >>
Which fabric should a living room bean bag be made of? >>
A perfectly-shaped living room bean bag sits like a chair with support between the shoulder blades and under the knees; is outrageously comfortable but not so soft that you slump awkwardly; and feels relaxed but holds high enough off the ground to make getting up easy.
The best shape for a living room bean bag
The variety of sizes and shapes of bean chairs available today is mind-boggling. Before launching Armadillo Sun, I spent years finding the best shape for a bean bag.
For a living room, I strongly recommend choosing a bean bag shape with some upright structure because,
- it offers back support, making getting up easy, which is especially important for older guests who don’t trust their knees;
- it holds you in a comfortable sitting position, ideal for reading, watching television, and chatting, rather than slumping you into a V-position with your backside sinking too low;
- it won’t collapse in a splat on the floor, which looks untidy; and
- it can be positioned anywhere in the room, without the need to be propped against a wall or another piece of furniture.
We use a triangular teardrop design for Armadillo Sun bean bag chairs and loungers. The original sacco bean bag was a similar shape, but I have lengthened the seat to give the sitter more space. This design retains the essential bean bag capability of moulding around the sitter's body but, unlike bean-filled sacks and doughnut shapes, it does not sag or cause the sitter to slump.
I trialled cube-shaped bean bags but their backs are too high and push the shoulders forward unnaturally. In comparison, a triangular shape allows the sitter’s shoulders to relax and encourages a good sitting position.
“I am absolutely delighted with our two bean bags. They are such high quality and look great in the house and in the garden. I broke my back six years ago, and this is by far the most comfortable seat I have come across since. When other people sit on the sofa, I sit on one of the bean bags! The support is excellent and I can sit there all day.” ~ Armadillo Sun customer review
The teardrop is a classic bean bag design. Sleek and streamlined, with bags of character, it fits effortlessly into modern interior designs, whether they lean towards minimalism or maximalism.
The soft edges of this bean bag shape are inviting and cosy, encouraging you to relax back into it, but without sinking and slumping. The firmness of the filling, plus the larger seat of an Armadillo Sun bean bag, provides plenty of leverage if you like to use a little push from your arms to get yourself up.
Alternatively, a larger seating option is a modular bean bag sofa. This is particularly useful for replacing traditional furniture in a room with difficult access.
How to match bean bags to your living room colour scheme
Bean bag chairs are available in a wide range of modern, aesthetically pleasing colours – we are a long way from the garish options of the 70s!
With the variety on offer, it is easy to find a bean bag that will tone and blend with your existing living room colour palette. If you can’t find exactly what you want, have a bespoke bean bag made in the fabric of your choice.
Alternatively, rather than seeking to ‘blend in’, a bean bag can provide the perfect pop of contrast within a more muted living room colour scheme.
Interior colours for 2025 are trending towards earthy tones: the 2025 pantone of the year is mocha mousse, a comforting rich brown, suggestive of chocolate and coffee. A bean bag chair is a simple way to lean into this modern colour trend in your living room without needing to re-decorate. For example, a dusty pink and taupe bean bag, like the one below, warms up a cooler colour scheme.
Warm up your living-room colour palette with a bean bag chair in modern earthy tones.
Personally, I am a lover of colour and pattern. If, like me, you like to layer and play with colour in your living spaces, then bean bags are a flexible way to have fun and be a little daring. If it doesn’t work for you anymore, it’s easy to re-position your bean bag (or, in the case of Armadillo Sun's indoor-outdoor bean bags use them in the garden) and try something new.
Which fabric should a living room bean bag be made of?
The choice of bean bag fabrics is vast, from leather to plastic to wool to faux fur. It’s also possible to swap out different covers depending on the season – for example, you could zip a faux fur cover over your bean bag for a cosy spot to curl up in.
Choose a fabric texture that is inviting to sit on and suits the atmosphere you want to create in your living room. Velvet is plush and shouts decadence, whilst linen is airy and embodies the Scandi vibe. Faux suede is a popular option for trend-led interiors.
However, do consider a nod to the practical too. Today’s high-performance premium bean bag fabrics are stain and water-resistant but are tactile and softer than cotton. You don’t have to settle for crinkly, shiny, nylon when you want a bean bag that’s easy to clean!
What’s inside your bean bag is almost more important than the outer fabric. Make sure that your bean bag is filled fully and properly and that the beans are high quality and will hold their shape. This will allow the beans to move freely, to give the lovely hug the bean bag is known for, but without the sagginess.
I recommend avoiding foam filling for bean bags. It makes them bumpy and lumpy, and more difficult to fluff up. Absorbent foam can also be difficult to clean, when the inevitable drink is spilt.
At Armadillo Sun we have very deliberately chosen not to include an inner bag to our bean chairs. The beans tend to clump and stick within it, leaving uncomfortable bumps and gaps in support for the sitter. Instead, our beans free-flow around the outer bag and are easy to top-up from a zippered opening. We recommend a top-up every 3-4 years to keep your bean bag full and airy.
Whatever fabric you choose, a high-quality finish is essential. You absolutely cannot risk seams splitting and beans escaping. I double-stitch every one of our bean bag chairs and loungers, using my years of experience making bespoke and designer soft furnishings.
Armadillo Sun bean bags are made from soft luxury weatherproof fabric and are perfect for indoor-outdoor use, making them a beautiful, but versatile, piece of furniture.
2. Where to put a bean bag in a living room
With their unconventional shape, bean bags change how you can use your living space. Their dropped height and lack of hard straight edges, create the opportunity to think differently about where and how to position seating.
You can place bean bags where you wouldn’t put a chair or sofa.
Here are some positioning ideas to maximise the qualities of bean bag seating within a living room:
In front of other furniture - create seating on different levels or facing inwards. For example, perhaps you’d love a cosy place to chat as a family after a long day at work and school but, like so many of us, your furniture is positioned to focus on the television. Add bean bags, turned the other way, towards the sofa or chairs, and encourage conversation.
In the centre of the living room – there is a tendency to push a bean bag into a corner as a cosy nook, but they are brilliant in the centre of a room too. They are inviting but don’t dominate a space. In open-plan designs particularly, they will enhance, rather than block, the flow of your living room.
In front of windows – to enjoy the view without blocking the light.
In fluid space – if you adopt the principles of feng shui, you’ll want to offer pockets of space that can be changed and used freely. The lightweight movable nature of a bean bag encourages this.
To replace traditional seating – a bean bag need not just be the extra chair in a living room but given prominence as the primary option. Replacing sofas with bean bags emphasises space and flow within a room and makes an effective design statement.
Wherever you choose to place a bean bag, it must have a function for it to belong in your living room. It can be tempting to use a bean bag to fill an empty corner, but without a purpose it will fall flat.
Position your bean bag with intention and utility in mind: place it where you need it most. Perhaps next to a book case as a reading spot, or around a coffee table for a drink and catch-up.
If it doesn’t work in the way you expect, bean bags are easy to move!
Have a role in mind for your bean bag, whether for reading and relaxation, or conversation and socialising.
3. Bean bag styling ideas that will complement your living room
You’ve chosen a bean bag you love for your living room – it’s a high-quality piece of furniture with a role and function to fulfil in your home. Now to elevate it with style and accessories. Please don’t lob it in a corner hoping it’ll work.
Give your bean bag space - not just physical space, but frame it amongst other living room furniture. Use a circular rug to make a bean bag a focal point and emphasise its fashionable curves. With a low side table and standing lamp you can create a loosely defined, but inviting, space for your bean bag.
Take décor lower – create a living room zone that functions at a lower level. Bring down the height of wall art or framed photographs. Perhaps hang a plant close by. [image from Pinterest]
Layer on the texture – if you’d use cushions and throws on your sofa, do the same on your bean bag. Layer textures and patterns to make it extra inviting.
Double-up for balance – I love having two or more bean bag chairs in a room. They are designed for socialising so look natural and balanced clustered together, perhaps around a coffee table. Set two on either side of a fireplace, or with a floor lamp between them, for an inviting conversation spot.
Emphasise design contrasts – highlight the structure of traditional furniture versus the looser form of a bean bag. Consider placing it between square side tables, surrounded by a wall of rectangular framed prints for a juxtaposition between straight and soft edges. Or position it between two tall straight bookcases to emphasise height.
A bean bag is perfect for offering seating in a space where you would not put a traditional chair or sofa.
Enjoy your living room relaxing on ultra-comfortable bean bags!
Bean bags are no longer secondary seating options. Available in premium luxe fabrics and ergonomically designed shapes, they deliver on both comfort and style. They deserve their spot in your living room!
Offering functionality and versatility, bean bags enable you to use your living room differently and experiment with layout.
This nod to practicality, and a move away from static rigid spaces, cements the humble bean bag’s move back into sophisticated living rooms.
Armadillo Sun’s bean bags are available in a wide range of colours and patterns. If you would like to check the colour match with your living room décor please get in touch – we are happy to provide fabric samples. You are always welcome to visit our showroom in Kent too. If you can’t find exactly what you want for your living room, please call us to discuss a bespoke option.