5 Things to Remember When you're Decorating Open Plan | Clarendon Homes

5 Things to Remember When you’re Decorating Open Plan

22-01-2025 Blog

With a rise in open plan homes and layouts, decorating the space can be overwhelming. With no walls or traditional dividers to guide you, the design possibilities are endless. Open plan living spaces, which often blend kitchen, dining, and living areas, require careful planning to balance the space. Done right, they can feel cohesive and chic. Done wrong, they can become easily cluttered and disjointed. Which is why we’ve put together some pointers to help you make the most of your space.

A tall ceilinged living/ dining/ kitchen area, well lit and furnished in pale colours. Looking from the living room with an ashy wood coffee table and grey sofa. Two blown glass lampshades cover low hanging bulbs

Functionality

Perhaps the most important part of decorating your open plan living space is understanding the flow and functionality. Consider things like where the doors and power outlets are located. Is there a carpeted area? Where is the light? A lot of open plan living covers kitchen/ dining/ living room spaces, so understanding the flow of movement through the room will really help you furnish the space.

Often, a show home, or the previous owner’s setup will help you get an idea. However, it is your home, so make it your own by having low set sofas and space to move. Don’t overestimate the space you have and embrace a bit of empty floor.

360 Furniture

Having furniture that can be seen from all angles is a huge part of open plan space, that’s why you often find inspiration interior décor images and magazines to have funky chairs and fun coffee tables. These statements pieces are perfect to fit in an open plan living space. It’s important to acknowledge that you can’t push all your furniture to the walls.

Having hollow storage, a matching throw for the back of the sofa, or even a bench at your dining table can really push your space into a more ‘showroom’ and elevated feel. The small décor, even if it is to cover up the back of your old sofa, makes all the difference. It also invites you to have a bit more fun when buying new furniture. Get the chair with the funky legs, you’ll thank us later.  

A dining/ living area with one wall full of windows and double doors at the centre. The walls and furniture is pale neutral and the dining table is a cool wood, the chairs warm with cotton woven seats.

Sectioning

Sectioning an open plan room to decorate can be really easy, it can also be increasingly awkward. It might be easier to start with the floor and go upwards with this one; adding a rug, having it partially carpeted, or even a change in hard floor surface could really break a room up. On the floor, you could have furniture to block the spaces. For example, you can use an outcropping shelving unit, or a console to make a physical room barrier.

The walls can be cohesive and dividing at the same time such as a statement colour on the ceiling and specific details limited to a living area. Wall art, statement walls, large mirrors, and lighting can be used to divide walls and create dimension in a square space. The only risk with larger statements is that it could have the opposite effect and make a room look a lot smaller than it really is. Moderation is key to creating an illusion of separation.

Lighting

Lighting might sound like a small problem, but if your space is spanning over your kitchen, dining area, and your living room, having universal lighting might not be atmospherically ideal. For example, the bright LED light people often have in their kitchens, isn’t really welcome in the living room of an evening when you’re trying to unwind.

Breaking up the space with different overhead lights and remote controlling the sections is the easiest way to do it. A floor lamp over a sofa, and some under cabinet lighting can also help with division of the space. Even having more yellow/warm lights in the living room, and then white lights in the kitchen. As long as it’s divided by space, it’s easier to adjust and divide.

Storage

Oftentimes with open plan spaces, it’s easy to forget about the storage you would immediately associate with closed rooms. Every inch of space counts, and it’s easy to dismiss shelving or cupboards for aesthetic appeal. Storage is not only used from a practical standpoint, but it can also be used to help section a room- a large unit can make a room more broken plan then open plan. Fun, tall, units with open shelving or dividers structural details are popular for this kind of unit.

Otherwise shelving, bracketing units, and clever table units are popular to find in open plan decorating. Having furniture items back-to-back can also help with the 360 problems, especially if your sofa has an ugly back.


Got any questions or feedback on the article? Or maybe a topic you would like to be covered in a future blog? Email caitlin.willis@clarendonhomes.co.uk today, I would love to hear from you.