Open Floor Plan Design Ideas

Great ideas for open floor plan decorating that will bring some some peacfulness

Visually overwhelming, open floor plan positions itself as a highly demanding space to turn into a functional yet visually overwhelming living space.
When you are faced with an open floor plan, it all comes down to proper decorating. Fear not – even though it seems an impossible mission to turn one huge space into several rooms and decorate it cohesively, you can achieve it all with proper choice of colors, rugs, dividers, and other little tricks we will share with you.

Additional Articles You’ll Also Like:

Article: How to Decorate a Living Room With Dining Area
Article: Top 5 Decorating Tips to Warm Up Your Living Room
Article: Ways to Incorporate Vintage & Modern Pieces into Your Home

Rooms Inside of the Room
Since you have one huge room, you need to visually section it into several smaller rooms and give them purpose by adding furniture and colors.
You will probably choose to go with a dining-room, living room and kitchen there.
If it seems hard to visually decide where one “room” ends and where the other one begins, you can use a rope to divide the “rooms” all while you are decorating. Keep all supposed furniture within the rope space until you are all done decorating.

Shelves
If you are absolutely no fan of open floor plan, give the space “walls” by putting up double-sided bookcases to construct a more separate, room-like effect. You can do this with tri-fold screens or cabinets.

Colors
Colors are also a great way to set the tone of the room and use it as a room divider. With an open floor plan, I’d suggest not going crazy with picking colors (for the reason I’ve given in the previous section) but rather something cohesive yet different enough to give the space visual division. For instance, use eggshell as base for the entire room. Then, add wallpaper in a pattern in the living-room area. Choose the wallpaper that has a beige or eggshell base while its decorations can be of any color cohesive with the furniture of the “room” you are decorating.

Furniture
Furniture is probably the best way divide rooms. A sofa, a coffee table and a comfortable chair are sufficient enough to set the living-room area. A dining table and elegant/matching chairs will go wonderfully with the “dining-room”, while the kitchen stands on its own, separated with a counter or a bar from the rest of the place.

Lighting
It’s a good idea to go with the same style or similar lighting options for the entire open floor plan space. Each designated area should have one big light fixture over it; for instance, have an overhead ceiling fan installed over the living room, a chandelier over the dining room table, and pendant lighting in the kitchen. For a complete lighting design, add recessed lights, dimmers or smaller fixtures throughout the three spaces.
Expect the light fixtures to have a large impact on the space, making or breaking the cohesiveness of the space. So, don’t rush with lighting – chose the style, size, placement and finish of each carefully.

Rugs and carpets
Another great way to visually divide the open floor plan is by using rugs and carpets. Decide which type of furniture you want for each “room” and then pick the rugs accordingly. You can play with shapes and colors as long as they all look cohesive or have at least a few elements in common. Open floor plan spaces are a bit tricky to decorate only because no matter what you do to it – it still is one space. So, it’s not really wise t have one part of the room decorate vintage style, the other one modern and the third one rustic – it would look like a person with no taste exploded in there.

Accessorizing
Accessorize can do wonders for a space! If you choose yours right, they will set each space up as a beautiful room on its own. Yet, they will tie all three together too, so they will coexist comfortably, creating a gorgeous space.
Whichever accent pieces you choose, make sure you arrange the same style all throughout the home. It’s preferable you don’t match the pieces, but keep the elements in the same tone. For instance, if you are a fan of glass accent elements, then make sure each room has at least a piece. If you love natural colors and elements (landscapes, stones, wooden décor), look for each space to have something of these pieces.

Open floor plan decorating does need a lot of thoughtful planning and ideas, but with the right mind and great tips, there is no way you’ll do something wrong with your gorgeous space!

By: Dianna Smith