Living room is the lobby of the hotel. This is the place where visitors are welcomed and family members met. If the house is quite old, try to make some improvements without spending too much to make the room look better.
The easiest will be the lighting. You can start by walking around the room. Should there be blind spots, you can try removing some items, or change the color of the bulbs.
Sometimes this is not enough, so you may need to add some lighting fixtures such as a chandelier or a few more lights in certain areas of the room. Once done, you will have a clear picture of other things that need improvement.
You can also change the color of the walls. This can be done by buying some paint that will work well with light to make the room look like during any time of day.
If there are paintings on the wall, they can be alive, by creating a shelf underneath. This may keep some small picture frames or candles that can make the room look cozy.
People who live in colder climates can make do with a centralized heating system or try to improve the home with a fireplace. There was a time when you had to make a big hole then rolled concrete to get it started. These days, hardware stores have pre-assembled models to choose from, which saves a lot of money compared to hiring a contractor to do the work.
Flooring is another thing that may need some improvements. You can replace this with the same type of materials or just tape it for something new. An example is wood. This may come in different sizes, but because of termites and aging, cracks will soon appear.
You can still finish by trying a wood laminate floor. This looks like wood, but it is not. These are flat and can be easily installed using a little glue on the back then just paste it on the ground. Connector must be set to act as a divider between living room and other parts of the house.
Just know that home improvement projects will cost money. You need an estimate, buy the right materials and thus prepare the proper tools that once the project started, this can be done in a few days.