In my home we have one area which is the kitchen, dining and living room. With any open plan area which serves a dual purpose you want to separate the functions but you also want to maintain unity. So you definitely don’t want a first-time visitor to your home to be unsure of the purpose of an area, as this can just make them feel uncomfortable. Our challenge was to maintain the idea of one big open space by not secluding one area from another and yet still allowing for each area to flow into the next. If we were to place a “traditional” 2 or 3 seater couch in front of the TV, the back of the sofa would have faced anyone walking into the house and it would have created the sense of two distinctly different spaces, by acting as a separator between the two areas. So we opted for a low-profile “modular” unit where each unit is actually separate and can be moved around.  This made it easy to arrange the seating to maintain an open and inviting look but still remain functional.

There are two simple and easy ways I would like to mention to join different elements in a large open-plan area. The first is the repetitive use of colour. As you can see I chose red to liven things up a bit given the white tiles and walls. From what you can see also, it is not necessary to use the same shade of colour. In fact, the different shades of red – from burgundy to a dark orange – still bring the look together. We also used silver subtly by specifically choosing a silver-grey rug and lamp-shade, and the legs of the sofa, dining and bar chairs are all silver. Even the curtains are grey. I specifically chose a neutral colour for the curtains (as opposed to red for example) to make the area seem bigger. Bear in mind that a warm or bright colour may tend to draw the eye inwards (advance) and thus narrow the space, and a cooler colour recedes a space – basically making it seem bigger. The different use of texture (i.e. a fluffy carpet and a suede type curtain and almost satin-like lamp-shade) makes the room seem more interesting and appealing.

The next element is shape. The backs of the dining and bar chairs are the same shape. They also mirror (although to a lesser extent) the rounded covers of the overhead hanging ceiling lights. The square shape is easily repeated by the coffee table and the dining table in the different areas. It is important not to underestimate the impact of different shapes in a room. Even something as simple as an empty vase allows you to make a room more interesting by adding a different type of shape to the area.

By simply following basic principles related to colour and shape, I hope I have given you some ideas for your open-plan living area.