How to Combine a Living Room and a Kitchen

The living room and the kitchen are traditionally separate quarters of most homes. However, studio apartments and open space loft plans might not have dividing walls and doors acting as boundaries between them. While many apartment dwellers might be used to combining the kitchen with the dining room, combining the living room with the kitchen poses a more daunting challenge.

Rectangular kitchen table
Chairs
Contrasting or matching couch
Living room furniture: Armchair, bookshelf, coffee table
Mini-bar

Instructions

- 1
  Purchase a rectangular kitchen table. Place it in the middle of the kitchen/living-room space, near the food preparation area. Surround chairs around it, except on one of the long sides; the side which faces away from the cooking area.
- 2
  Choose a couch color that either boldly contrasts or clearly matches your kitchen table. It all depends on whether you want your kitchen and living areas to combine, yet with sharp contrasts, as in the first option or to seamlessly blend together, as in the latter option.
- 3
  Slide the back of your couch along the empty long side of your rectangular kitchen table. Now, the space that the couch faces onto represents the living room area.
- 4
  Furnish the living room area as you normally would, as if it were a separate room. Hang a television on the wall in front of the couch. Add an armchair, bookshelves and coffee tables.
- 5
  Place a mini-bar in between the kitchen space and the living room space as a further bridge between the two areas. Display a wine collection and glasses, other bottles to further assist the transition between the kitchen and living room.

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