The open-floor home is here to stay
Having an open heart is a great virtue. Since the kitchen is the heart of the home, it makes sense that the open kitchen floor plan is more than just a trend; it’s timeless. However, you need a cohesive design plan to really open up your home and make the best use of the space, making your kitchen, dining room, and living room flow seamlessly from one to the other.
Space planning your open floor home
When you are designing an open floor kitchen, dining, and living room, you have to be able to see the whole picture. Each little section can have its own personality, but you have to make sure that each design choice will mesh with other design choices. If you try to incorporate too many ideas, too many colors and patterns, you’re going to suffocate your home, which is counterproductive to the idea of the open floor plan.
The idea is to make your home functional, efficient, and comfortable. Being comfortable in your own home is perhaps the single most important aspect of great home design, with function coming in at a close second.
There will be natural boundaries and borders that a professional designer can help you work around, but you also need to consider how many people are living in your home. Do you love to entertain and hold big dinner parties? If so, you need to allow for a large dining table, and seating in your kitchen so that you have room to entertain guests.
Choose elements that will be consistent throughout
Having similar lighting throughout the space is a simple solution to making the whole home feel like one cohesive design. You can also play with shades of color on your walls, going from light to dark but sticking to the same color palette to keep it all connected. Go for the lightest shade in your kitchen where you want plenty of light, then slowly darken the colors as you travel to the dining area, and finally use the deepest shade in the living room. A deeper hue of the color in your kitchen will make your living room feel warm and cozy, and the light hue in the kitchen will make it feel bright and clean.
If you have natural wood cabinets, find ways to use the same species of wood or the same stain in a few places in each room. You can match your kitchen island to your dining room table or on the hardwood floors. In fact, consistent classic hardwood floors that run throughout your entire home is a very smart trick that many designers use to create symmetry and harmony to an open floor plan.
Include few bold details
Every open floor home should have a few statement pieces; something bold and dramatic that will draw the eye and give your home some flair.
Make your kitchen island a different color and texture from your kitchen cabinets, or get some fun and funky emerald green leather dining room chairs. You want to add little splashes of your own personality to make the home feel like you.
The Kitchen Showcase (TKS) is located in Centennial, Colorado. TKS has been helping homeowners, builders, and interior designers fall in love with their homes for over 30 years. We are a family-owned business that specializes in best-in-class brands and expert service and design.