How to add color to an open plan living area

+ my 3 top tips!

There’s been much debate over the past few years as to whether the open plan layout trend of recent times, is in fact, over. It’s a contentious subject because like most things in life, each to their own. Some people love an open floor plan, others do not. Some houses were designed to have open floor plans, but many were not. Think American sprawling one-level mid century modern ranches vs English victorian terraces.

This is a fun read on it.

The homes at the center of this debate are those that originally had walls, and at some point, were removed to create a kitchen/diner or an even larger living room, kitchen, dining room combo.

Most of the homes I work on have layouts similar to this but most of them were actually designed this way. The living space feels open and inviting and the large openings between the rooms allow you to seamlessly move throughout. The kitchen is often tucked towards the back of the house and is rarely seen from the reception rooms, so there is often a separation of sorts between the living/dining spaces and the kitchen itself. But there are rarely any actual doors.

I’m currently working on a color palette for an entire first floor where the floor plan consists of:

a living space with a snug off to one side

an opening from the main living space through to an open kitchen and dining room where the stairs to the 2nd floor also live. There’s also a little nook with stairs leading down to the basement

off the back of the kitchen is an open entry way with a powder room tucked neatly off to the side.

I’m not sure if that made any sense to you, but the crux of it is, with the exception of the powder room, all the rooms are connected. And there are some walls, but they have large open doorways - no doors - and they are really only there to tell your brain that each of the areas is to be treated as a different room.

If you find yourself living in a home where there is little separation between the individual rooms, or there are large doorways, but no doors, it can be tricky to know how to use color without 1. painting everything the same color, or 2. ending up with a living space full of colors that don’t work together and feel all out of sorts.

I have to say, in my work, I mostly come across option 1. Folks tend to move into homes that have been painted a universally acceptable all-over-neutral shade for selling purposes, the idea being that the space feels bigger and the new homeowner can imagine all the possibilities of how they’ll change things and put their stamp on the place once it’s theirs. Only they don’t. Because it’s overwhelming. And unless they have some inherent design instincts and sensibilities, they likely don’t know where to begin and so, they don’t. Sound familiar? Well never fear because here are my

three top tips when designing color for open plan spaces:

1. Keep it simple

   The trick when designing a color palette for an open plan space, is to keep it really simple. And by that I don’t mean choose simple colors, I mean, choose a palette of 3-5 colors that relate to one another and won’t compete against each other when seen together. In an open plan living situation, you can always see at least one or two other rooms from the room you’re currently in. Therefore, you want all the colors in your palette to speak to one another, to be having a little conversation if you will. Use a color wheel to determine colors that pair well together. Or hire me to help you!

   This is an example from a home that I worked on where the rooms are all visible from most view points downstairs. See how the teal of the cabinets, mustard from the family room and peach in the living room all sit so well together. That. That’s what I’m talking about.

   

2. Create a loose theme

   Whilst you want to treat each space individually, you also need to take a holistic approach to ensure that there’s some consistency throughout the entirety of the space. Do you have crown molding? If so, is it going to be painted the same color as the walls or the same color as the ceilings? Whatever you decide for one room, should ring true for the other rooms too. Consider the trim throughout all the rooms. You don’t have to keep it the same color throughout, you could absolutely take the wall color onto the trim in some rooms and not in others, but keep the finish the same throughout to maintain cohesiveness.

3. Choose a neutral that you love to act as a palette cleanser

   I recently helped a homeowner with color in her center hall colonial home. She has this beautiful, large entry and hallway with rooms coming off to both the left and the right sides of the hall. There are large double openings to both rooms, so whether you’re at the front door, in the hallway, on the stairs or in either of those two rooms, you can see two other spaces at all times. She was toying with the idea of wallpaper in the hallway and couldn’t quite reconcile what to do with color in either of those two side rooms. The hallway runs all the way up the stairs and onto the second floor, too. I proposed the idea of keeping the hallway neutral as a bit of a palette cleanser and keeping the color contained to the side rooms where she could be a bit more adventurous and bold in her color choices. The two rooms could then be slightly more dramatic as they have this large neutral space between them which allows the to breathe. She also has some fabulously detailed trim surrounding the front door and a large picture window on the stair landing, so I suggested bringing the color in there so that the hallway doesn’t feel ‘forgotten’. Those colors can tie into the whole house color palette as a pop of color, without the entire downstairs feeling awash with various conflicting colors, textures and patterns.

   For East Coast light which leans blue and cool, Benjamin Moore’s Chantilly Lace and Simply White are my go tos.

In no way is this an exhaustive list of how I approach building a color palette for an open plan space, but hopefully it sets you off on the right direction. As always, you can schedule a 45 minute chat with me to talk through any color questions or dilemma’s you might have. I love, love, love to talk through these things, so get in touch! Need more help? I offer more extensive color consulting options too from single rooms to entire floors or homes even! Take a little look here.

Enjoy the weekend folks, back next week with another installment of the Spotlight series.