Ignore the wall between the living and dining rooms and create a new lifestyle.
The dining room may be an endangered concept as people opt for unusual residential conversions, smaller spaces and a more informal lifestyle. In a loft, a combined living and dining room is standard. In some suburban homes, the living areas are designed as an open plan. In an apartment, keeping pocket doors wide open creates free flow between rooms. In an historic building, dining space may be carved out of another room entirely. Follow a few simple design precepts to plan the merger of a living and dining room and create visual harmony in a dual purpose space.
Instructions
1. Use color to unify two spaces into a large open space. Paint all the walls one color and keep to the same floor treatment throughout. A new home with tile floors and neutral walls is a blank canvas for personal design. Choose lighter colors to maximize the sense of spaciousness and fill both dining and living areas with the clean lines of minimalist furniture. Pull together adjacent rooms in a smaller space with a shared accent wall in a vivid burnt orange or jewel-like jade green. Hang art on the accent wall that moves seamlessly from the dining to the living areas -- a framed photography collection, ethnic masks, a mix of sketches and paintings. Use the same neutral Sherpa pile carpet under the dining table and in the seating area of the living room.
2. Preserve what is unique about an awkward space. Exploit the history of the architecture when you convert an old building to a residence. Keep the sweeping arches of a faded brick wine cellar and fill them with a kitchen that flows into a dining area and rounds out in a living room. Let the patina of age provide the only d cor. Use furnishings in elemental materials: Industrial metal appliances, a wooden refectory table, a low modern sofa in unbleached hemp or linen. Install uplighting and a few discrete spotlights to highlight the architecture. Letting the space speak for itself creates a balance between its history and present use.
3. Undecorate. Choose focal points in a long skinny room that houses both living and dining areas. Compensate for a narrow layout and uneven light with an open expanse of floor, walls ceiling and trim painted a single color and spare window treatments that let in light. Spotlight large paintings on the walls in both areas to avoid creating a fussy ambiance. Fill clear glass vases at opposite ends of the space with masses of the same, large showy flowers or with bare twisted branches. Polish an inherited wood dining table and leave it bare of tablecloths and decoration. Pick up the textile colors of the dining chair cushions with pillows in similar patterns and hues on the solid fabric sofa and matching upholstered chairs in the living room area.
4. Expand your small living/dining space by sizing necessary furniture to scale. In small spaces, pick a love seat over a full sofa, an armless chair or a molded modern bucket rocker over a fat club chair with padded arms, a perfectly square table for four over a full dining set. Replace a chandelier with a sleek, flat pendant in a low-ceiling space. Keep the art small and simple and let the existing architecture -- features like fireplaces or unusual windows -- take center stage. Build custom shelves from floor to ceiling, but paint them to match the walls for maximum storage with minimal visual impact. Use blond wood to blend in with light furnishings, instead of dark wood, which tends to arrest the eye.
Tags: dining room, living areas, living dining, , accent wall, dining living, dining living areas