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12 Attractive Ways To Display Candles In A Living Room

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A cozy living room scene features a wooden coffee table with lit candles and a blue vase with dried flowers. In the background, there are more candles, fairy lights, and a sofa with cushions. Text reads: "Candle Living Room Decor Ideas - www.theGlossyNest.com.

How do you display candles in a living room without making things look tacky or fake? Or worse – creating a fire hazard for yourself and your family. Learn more about living room candle arrangements that are both safe and beautiful!

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Living Room Candle Decor Ideas

Not sure about you, but after a long day at work, I love nothing more than relaxing in my living room with the soft glow of candlelight.

But to be honest, for many years I would just light a simple jar candle on my coffee table and call it a day. It was a safe thing to do, but that was the limit to my candle creativity!

A cozy living room with a large sectional sofa adorned with brown and cream pillows. A wooden coffee table holds lit candles and a vase with dried flowers. A snowy landscape painting hangs on the wall, and a large window offers a view of snow-covered trees.

Eventually though I realized that there were lots of different candle arrangements I could use for creating a cozy atmosphere with candles in the living room.

Let’s walk through some of these ideas for candles in the living room so you can have a nice glow in your space too!

Coffee Table Centerpieces With Candles

How to display candles in a living room using a tray & candle holders

One of the best places to put candles in your living room is on a coffee table. Coffee table centerpieces using candles, trays and other decorative objects really pull a space together and can be a great focal point for a room.

The look above uses a few Luminara flameless candles, a candle stand, a tray and some dried eucalyptus with flowers. Super simple to do for living room candles and can easily be moved out of the way if needed.

A cozy living room with a wooden table featuring a blue vase with dried flowers, lit candles, and a woven basket. In the background, a white sofa is adorned with beige and blue cushions, creating a warm and inviting atmosphere.

Here’s another look for a coffee table centerpiece using candles, a vase and other decor items. I like the idea of using candle holders and candle stands to give some visual interest and add some height to your display.

A cozy living room scene with a wooden coffee table featuring a small potted plant and several white candles. A stone fireplace with a candle display is in the background, creating a warm and inviting atmosphere.

You can mix and match the candles on your coffee table display for a bit of variety. Also, consider combining both flameless candles and clean burning wax jar candles on your coffee table centerpiece.

Scented Jar Candles

Candles For Living Room Fireplaces

A cozy arrangement of lit candles of various sizes and colors sits on a rustic wooden mantel. In the background, twinkling fairy lights add a warm glow, creating a serene and inviting atmosphere. Greenery is artfully placed around the candles.

If your living room has a non working fireplace, consider placing candles in it to give the appearance of a real fire.

Having just a few candles displayed in your fireplace might not be enough. This is one of those decor scenarios where more is better.

If you need a bunch of candles, consider purchasing a flameless candle set. Most sets are reasonably priced and you’ll get quite a few candles to use for your living room fireplace decor.

Flameless Pillar Candle Sets

There are so many ways to decorate a fireplace with candles for a beautiful living room candle display. Using mirrors, grates, lanterns and more all enhance the look of your candles.

I talk more about how to decorate a living room with candles in a fireplace in this post: 20 Simple Ways to Decorate a Fireplace & Mantle with Flameless Candles

Candles For Living Room Mantles

A cozy mantel display with various lit candles and blue ceramic vases. The warm glow from the candles creates a tranquil atmosphere. Soft, out-of-focus lights in the background enhance the festive and peaceful setting.

Regardless of your decor style, using candles on a mantel is a timeless look. If you have small children or pets at home, mantels are a great place to use real candles as they are high enough off the ground to not be disturbed easily.

Consider decorating with a large grouping of candles on your mantel. Or choose a few candles grouped together in the center or near one of the sides. Lanterns and candles stands can also work well on a mantel.

Flameless Pillar Candles

If you have a mirror on your mantle, the light from the candle will be reflected back into the room, making it look like you have double the candles!

For more ideas on using a mirror on your fireplace mantel, check out my post here: The Best Fireplace Mirror Ideas For A Simple, Attractive Space

Candles On Shelves In A Living Room

How to display candles in a living room bookcase

Can you light up real candles on bookcase shelves? It’s a good question. I’ve always tended to play it safe by keeping any real candle flames away from the tops and sides of shelves.

I suppose if you have very tall shelves though, it probably wouldn’t be an issue for a living room candle display. Just remember to never leave a burning candle unattended.

How to display candles in a living room bookcase

Flameless candles look amazing on shelves and bookcases. The warm glow adds interest and dimension to your shelf styling and helps catch the eye.

I love the small Luminara LED votive candles in this shelf cubby for living room candle decorations. Consider using candles in lanterns, on top of candle stands or on trays in shelves displays as well.

Sideboard & TV Stand Vignettes Using Candles

A cozy arrangement featuring lit candles, potted plants, and decorative items on a white cabinet against a brick wall. A small sketch is pinned to the wall above the cabinet.

Flat surfaces such as sideboards or TV stands make for the perfect place in your living room to display candles. I love to create a beautiful candle arrangement with plants and other decorative objects to display on my living room sideboard. I change it up as the seasons progress throughout the year.

For those that like real wax candles, sideboards or buffet tables a good place to burn them. They are high enough off the floor from small kids and pets. Plus they are usually against a wall and away from traffic in the room.

Flameless Taper Candles

One of my favorite ways to get a little bit of height into my living room sideboard decor is to use taper candles. I like to switch between real wax varieties and flameless taper candles.

Window Candles For Living Rooms

How to display candles in a living room on a window sill

A candle in the window is a traditional look around the holidays. But have you considered doing it through the year as well? Depending on the style of your house, candles in the window may add the perfect touch to how your house appears from the street in the evening hours.

LED Window Candles

Flameless window candles are common, including both battery and plug in styles. I like that they add a bit of glow to the room inside as well.

Candle Wall Sconces In A Living Room

How to display candles in a living room using candle holders

Using candles in wall sconces was a traditional way to light a home before the days of indoor electricity.

Now, you don’t see wall sconces with candles as much anymore as most wall sconces are electric. But you can still find candle holders that mount to walls.

Candle Wall Sconces

I love the look of sconces paired on a living room mantel & fireplace. They also look nice on either side of a doorway into your living room. Flameless candles set to a timer feature will help ensure that your candle sconces are lit every evening.

How to display candles in a living room using gold candle holders

Another idea is to use candle wall sconces within a gallery wall display. This gives a bit of a glow to your artwork at night.

Living Room Decor With Floor Candles

You may not have thought of it, but candles can be displayed on the floor of your living room as well. This is often done near a fireplace using tall candle holders or large lanterns.

You can also display candles in a corner of your living room that might look a little empty. There are a few creative people out there that have made very tall candle holders out of old staircase parts. Something fun to try for those that like DIY projects!

Living Room Candle Arrangements Using Trays

How to display candles in a living room using a tray, lanterns & plants

Trays work well with lots of decor objects and candles are no exception. If you’ve ever wanted to create a candle garden or pull together a candle arrangement, then you know that a tray or some sort of vessel to hold your candles is a must have.

Candle Trays

Candles can be place in trays on their own or placed within a lantern, candle holder or hurricane for a more layered look.

A candle garden style would involve using a tray and lots of decor filler objects, such as glass or ceramic orbs, vase filler, beads, etc. Greenery is also great to use within a candle garden.

How to display candles in a living room using a tray & decorative orbs

You can tuck the candles in between the leaves and flowers. This is an easy thing to change as the seasons progress throughout the year.

Living Room Decor With Candle Lanterns

How to display candles in a living room using lanterns on a coffee table

There’s lots of ways you can decorate with lanterns in your living room, but personally, I think LED pillar candles paired with lanterns are a timeless style.

The nice thing about lanterns is that they come in some many different shapes, styles and colors, you’re sure to find something that works with your decor.

Candle Lanterns

I love how the candle light reflects off the glass of a lantern – it seems to make the room sparkle and glow in the evening hours.

How to display candles in a living room using lanterns on a sideboard

Lanterns are perfect for when you need to add some visual height to your living room decor. In the photo above, the large lantern takes up quiet a bit of space on the bottom shelf of a sideboard. Books can be used under lanterns for even more height and visual interest.

Candle Hurricanes For Living Rooms

How to display candles in a living room using candle hurricanes

Candle hurricanes are similar to lanterns, but are often used to somewhat hide a candle while still letting the light shine through. Most candle hurricanes have a wide open top, which lets you use them with real wax candles or LED candles.

How to display candles in a living room using candle hurricanes

Another benefit to using candle hurricanes in your living room is that they can hide jar candles quiet well. I love to burn a nice jar candle with a good scent. But the color of the wax and the jar don’t often look nice with my decor.

Candle Hurricanes

A solution? Hide the jar candle in a nice candle hurricane. You’ll still get all the benefits of the scent and be able to see the soft glow without having to look at the jar.

Living Room Decor Using Candle Holders & Candle Stands

How to display candles in a living room using gold candle holders

There are so many gorgeous candle holders and candles stands on the market today. It can be hard to choose one that is just right for your living room, but consider your living room’s overall decor style when deciding.

For example, the candle holder above is using Liown votive candles and would work best with a more modern decor theme.

Candle Holders

Also, consider the size of your candle as well. Some candle holders are for larger candles while others will work best with tealights or taper candles.

How to display candles in a living room using a tiered plant stand

It may sounds unconventional for living room candle ideas, but consider using a plant stand for displaying candles!

I love the look of using large flameless candles with candle rings on the shelves of a plant stand. It’s the perfect way to fill an empty corner of the room and add a little bit of light at the same time.

Enjoy decorating for the seasons and holidays? Me too! Get organized for seasonal decor this year with this FREE printable seasonal decorating schedule. Keep track of when to decorate for holidays & when to shop for decor. Sign up below for an instant download!

I hope this article gave you some good ideas on how to creatively use candles in your living room decor. Got any other ideas on how do you display candles in a living room? Share them with us below in the comments.

More Candle Decor Ideas

For more candle decor inspiration, tips and styles, check out these posts:

Pin It For Later!

How to display candles in a living room using lanterns on a coffee table
How to display candles in a living room using lanterns on a sideboard
How to display candles in a living room using a tray & candle holders
How to display candles in a living room bookcases using a tray & candle holders
A cozy scene with wooden shelves showcases candles of various sizes and styles. Some rest atop logs, surrounded by woven baskets and greenery, offering warm inspiration on how to display candles in a living room. Text reads: "Candle Living Room Decor Ideas.
A cozy living room scene features a wooden coffee table with lit candles and a blue vase with dried flowers. In the background, there are more candles, fairy lights, and a sofa with cushions. Text reads: "Candle Living Room Decor Ideas - www.theGlossyNest.com.

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