How To Decorate Open-Concept Spaces.
How To Decorate Open-Concept Spaces.
Open-concept spaces are all the rage these days - but how do you decorate them correctly?
First off, what is an open concept when it comes to your home?
An open concept living space is one where there are no walls separating the different areas of the home. This can include the living room, kitchen, and dining room all in one space. This means more open spaces to move around in.
All of these connected spaces make it easier for families to hang out together while doing different things in adjacent spaces. Open-concept design has won over hearts because it is a more convivial way of living.
Fewer walls and more exposed beams however change the way decorating works.
Not all open-concept homes are the same.
While two homes can have open floor plans, the way they feel can be vastly different. Home decor is something that adapts to the living area and not the other way around.
Some open floor plan houses have the same flooring throughout common areas whereas others have different flooring for different spaces.
What do you do with a large open space?
One decor element that almost feels like cheating is the use of area rugs. An area rug can help you carve out functional zones from wide-open spaces. The area rug essentially creates a room with no walls.
On top of defining the sitting area and the dining area from one another, the rugs give direction and sense to a big space.
You can then use thoughtful furniture arrangements to define an area. A coffee table for the family room, a long table for the dining space, and so on.
Living rooms and the breakfast bar.
You can be creative too.
Great rooms are not the only thing you can do with open floor plans. If you rarely entertain at home, you can have a small breakfast bar to make meals more intimate while leaving a lot of space for the rest of the living room.
Wall art and open concept living.
With the lack of walls, you have to be more discerning with what you choose to put on them. With the natural light that open-plan rooms invite, it would be a shame not to make the most of it.
Items of visual interest, like sculptures, paintings or other forms of art, anchor people's gaze. They create a focal point that people latch onto.
In an open-plan living room, however, it might be more difficult to maintain said attention with a piece of wall art. The focus then goes to less obvious things. Still, having one space reserved for the important things can be
How to make your open concept space feel cozy and intimate.
The first step to creating intimacy is to select a colour palette.
Choices of colours and tones can influence the mood we convey in our homes. Warm colours like red, orange and yellow create feelings of happiness or excitement whereas cool blue-greys or greens exude calmness and serenity.
To go for an intimate vibe, you might opt for a palette of rusts and golds or muted blues.
No matter what colour scheme you go with, it's important that the elements work together.
Open concept spaces can feel intimidating if they are cold and can remind people of offices or waiting rooms if not done correctly.
Home decor also plays a part in creating intimacy.
Using dark furniture, upholstery with patterns, and décor that draws the eye inward will all add to your spaces feeling more cozy and intimate.
Upholstered items can help soften hard surfaces while small, intimate spaces are best decorated with items that have a story or feeling attached to them.
Add some personal touches to really make your space feel like home.
Make your open-concept space feel like home by adding some personal touches. Whether it's a family photo on the wall or a vase of flowers on the side table, these are almost always necessary in any type of living space.
After all, the decor is supposed to help us own the spaces we live in and only we know what makes us happy.
While some open-concept homes have a fixed layout, others can be adapted to better suit various lifestyles. In the coming years, more and more open-concept houses will be built so it's best to understand how they work before you invest in one.
Open floor plan design is about more than design.
It's about building spaces in ways that make sense for the way we live. It's also about creating inclusivity by considering how to make all homebuyers—regardless of their age, family structure or mobility—feel at ease.
Home decor is a big part of what makes homes feel like home and interior design can play a big part in making homes feel open and inviting.
Creating a reading nook in an open-concept space.
A reading nook is a small, private space in your home where you can relax and read. It can be a cozy corner of your living room or bedroom, or even a separate room entirely devoted to reading. How do you then create a space like that in open floor plans?
While the lack of physical separation makes it difficult to separate 'work' and 'play', you can still have a reading nook.
Creating a comfortable space for yourself will also help foster creativity. And with the right items, you can create an intimate space even in open-concept homes.
A plush seating area covered in pillows, a small bookshelf, and a cute reading lamp are all the essentials for creating a nook of your own.
Tucking the reading nook in a less populated area of the home will also help it be its own space.
Designing around what you have.
Sometimes it's not the lack of walls that make an open-concept home feel less intimate, but just the configuration of its floor plan or rooms that dictate how you use certain spaces.
This can be especially true for homes with an open kitchen, where the only separation is a counter or bar between the cooking area and living room.
The goal of decorating a home with an open floor plan is not to mimic a traditional home, this may sound obvious but it's a mistake many fall into.
Use light right.
One of the big advantages of open floor plans is how much light you can let in. One window can bring in enough light to illuminate the kitchen and living room at once.
Open rooms with the right architectural details can help spread light throughout the open plan living area to make the living space feel even bigger.
While natural light is important, you can also use ambient lighting to create different moods for different areas of the great room.
Use something bright for the kitchen island, something softer for the dining table, and a dimmer for the open living room.
Actually, the better idea would be to install dimmers throughout the living spaces. Since they are all connected, you can create a single mood for the entire area or create a special ambiance for the kitchen and dining space for example.
As much as an open concept room is meant to feel like one room, during key moments, separating out one room from another using light is an elegant way to draw focus. Light, after all, is its own focal point.
Open concept rooms are the ultimate entertaining space because of how versatile they are and how they promote an easy flow of movement from place to place.
Great tips about what not to do with your open space.
Don't cover up all over your wood flooring.
If you are using area rugs to help give your great room more definition, don't cover up the wood flooring completely.
Not only would it go against the rugs' purpose but it would also remove some contrast in both texture and colour that could add a lot to your room's colour scheme.
Don't squander your home's unique architectural elements.
While you may be tempted to use dividers that create semi-walls to make the large room more manageable, instead try to work around the open space and the architectural elements that make your home different.
Having more space can be daunting but in an open floor plan, it's a gift.
Don't neglect your light fixtures.
Your light fixtures can provide you with enough light throughout your living spaces, no need to invest in floor lamps that can crowd out the space you can use in your living area.
Install dimmers, use bulbs that don't consume too much energy, and you will have a brightly lit large open space. It might seem like there's too much room for the light to hit everything but if you see dark and gloomy gaps, then it's a better idea to find a permanent solution than to add more furniture to the room than it needs in the shape of a floor lamp.
Don't leave your walls bare.
While you don't have many of them and it's not a good idea for your living area to have a wall full to the ceiling with paintings and pictures, there's nothing wrong with a back wall with family memorabilia and family artwork.
Don't obstruct the flow of traffic
Open floor plans have a huge benefit over traditional homes because an open floor plan helps people move around a room with far more ease. If you add furniture that blocks people's path then it will make the living room or dining room like rest stops in a maze.
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