Whether you’re designing a room from scratch or struggling to make your current space work, these tips will help tear down the walls between you and a layout that suits your lifestyle.
Dividing the space
Partition the room into subspaces, or zones, according to their function. Ensure that each zone functions as its own room but that the zones interrelate comfortably and logically within the shared space. Take into account existing plumbing, doors, windows, fireplaces and other features you don’t plan to change.
One critical consideration when figuring out which zone goes where is how people will travel through the room. You’ll need at least 1 metre of width for paths of travel. The space between the kitchen counter and the dining room table should be at least 1.2 metres. In some cases, there’s so much clearance that groupings look like tiny islands in a huge ocean. In that case, you can scale up the size of your furniture or add pieces.
Privacy
Successful zoning is more involved than just dividing up a room and placid down furniture. The zones should be clearly defined and anchored, with visual and sometimes physical separation from one another. Strategic furniture arrangement has perhaps the highest impact with the lowest cost.
Lighting is also crucial for delineating zones. For example, a dining table usually demands a chandelier above it. Architectural details like ceiling beams, raised ceilings over individual zones, sunken conversation areas and cased openings between rooms can help reinforce the sense of separation.
Noise
One relatively easy way to reduce noise is to use fabric and other sound-absorbing materials liberally, particularly if you have a lot of large, hard surfaces, like sliding glass doors and tile floors. High, vaulted ceilings, which are popular in many contemporary homes, amplify sound. Lowering the ceiling in a portion of the space retains that lofty feel but reduces echoes and reverberation.
Smells
Install an appropriately sized ducted exhaust hood and use it when you cook on the cooktop. Leave it running for just a few minutes after you’re done to clear out any remaining particulates and odours. Consider a small secondary kitchen, “wet kitchen” or “spice kitchen” off the open kitchen area where you prepare more fragrant dishes.
Decoration
It’s easy for colours, styles and finishes to look incoherent when you’re trying to coordinate multiple zones, but it’s easy to fall into the matchy-matchy trap too. Take cues from your home’s architecture and adjacent rooms. Starting with a single flooring material and neutral paint colour for the walls will create visual continuity. You’ll want to repeat finishes across the zones too. Three to five finishes is usually about right in an open plan space.
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