Open Plan Living Room Ideas for a Stylish and Multifunctional Space

Feeling fed up with your home’s current layout, you pick up your phone and start searching for open plan living room ideas. An open plan space is something you’ve always considered investing in, but now you’re finally ready to take the leap and make it happen.

Letting your eyes wander around your living area, you begin to envision what your open plan living room might look like. The space is bright and inviting, with a perfect combination of natural light and unique light fittings illuminating every corner. Statement furniture pieces bring the space to life, while a coherent colour palette beautifully ties it all together.

Discover our inspiring open plan living room ideas to transform your living area and create the ideal space for socialising or entertaining.

Top tips for designing the perfect open plan living space

Open plan designs remove the barriers between different rooms or areas of the home, providing additional living space and allowing plenty of natural light to flow through. However, you’ll have to consider your design choices carefully to ensure the space looks cohesive and meets your needs.

If you’re looking to convert your living room into a stylish and multifunctional social space, these open plan living room ideas will get you started.

Create a layered lighting scheme

In a multifunctional open plan space, creating a layered lighting scheme is key to making sure you have the right type of lighting for every task and every mood.

To do this, there are three different types of lighting you’ll need to include:

• Ambient lighting: This is the general lighting that will provide overall illumination in your open plan living room. It typically refers to ceiling lights or wall lights that are placed throughout the room to keep it well-lit.
• Task lighting: As the name suggests, this type of lighting is designed to illuminate tasks. In an open plan living space, you’ll likely need task lighting above your kitchen island to help you see better when eating or preparing meals, for example. Pendant lights are a great option for this and also help to break up the space and define different zones.
• Accent lighting: This type of lighting is used to highlight certain features within a room and draw attention to key elements of the décor. Examples could include wall lights that draw attention to artwork, or a statement floor lamp that accentuates a cosy reading corner.

In addition to making your open plan living room more practical, creating a layered lighting scheme is also great for adding depth and visual interest to the space – especially if you opt for eye-catching designs.

You should also consider having your lights on different circuits and using dimmer switches to ensure the right mood for any time of day can be set with ease.

Unify the space with a coherent colour palette

One of the most common mistakes when designing an open plan living room is failing to incorporate unifying elements, which can lead to the space feeling disjointed and incoherent. The easiest – and most sophisticated – way to avoid this issue is by using the same colour palette throughout the entire space, tying everything together for a stylish and cohesive look.

“Choose a restrained colour palette of three to five hues that flow throughout the space, making it feel cohesive and visually pleasing.”

Ally Dowsing-Reynolds, interiors expert and co-founder of Dowsing & Reynolds

Matching the colour of your lounge area accessories to your kitchen area accessories is a simple and effective way to tie your open plan space together through colour. You might opt for the same designs for your living room lighting and kitchen lighting, for example.

Design tip: ‘You can change the feel of different areas by dialling up or down the amount of a specific colour’, says Ally. ‘Have a feature wall in a bold colour at one end, and then repeat that colour as an accessory at a calmer, more neutral end of the room.’

Use the same metal finishes throughout

Using the same metal finishes throughout your open plan living room is another brilliant but subtle way to unify your space and make sure it’s visually coherent. This includes your taps and metal lighting fixtures but also details like light switches and sockets, which can sometimes be overlooked.

The metallic accent colour you choose will play a large part in defining the aesthetic of your space, so think carefully about how you want your open plan living room to look. Gold is great for making a space feel more luxurious and high-end, for example, while matte black is ideal for a sleek contemporary look.

Create zones with statement pieces

It’s important to create different zones within an open space living room to help break up the room and make it feel more homely.

One of the best ways to signify different zones is through the use of statement furnishings and décor, which will draw the eye to each separate area within the space.

In the lounge area, it could be an eye-catching piece of artwork positioned above the sofa. If your open plan living room has an office workspace, this part of the room could be distinguished with a statement floor or table lamp. And as we’ve already mentioned, kitchen pendant lights are great for separating the kitchen area from the living area.

The different zones can be signified in whatever way you want – just don’t forget to incorporate unifying elements to ensure the zones flow seamlessly into one another.

Show us your open plan kitchen living room ideas

We’d love to see how you’ve used these open plan living room ideas to create a stylish, unified, and multifunctional space. Tag us on Instagram @dowsingandreynolds – we can’t wait to see your interior design skills in practice!