Make an Open Floor Plan Feel Cozy

Open floor plans: We love them, but they pose challenges of their own. For example, what do you do when you have a big narrow room with no natural dividers? How do you make it feel functional and intimate?

The Brownstone Boys, Jordan Slocum and Barry Bordelon, helped us find this year’s REAL SIMPLE Home in Brooklyn and they’re designing the entire parlor level—a big, open space featuring the kitchen, dining room, and living room. Luckily, the couple dealt with a similar situation when they bought their own house (shown above), a 130-year-old—you guessed it—brownstone in the Bed-Stuy neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, back in 2018. So how exactly do you tame a big space? The guys gave us their best tips and tricks for creating zones within one big room.

Consider conversation

Most of the time, a living room or den will be used by a few people sitting around and chatting. So, you want to make sure your setup is conducive for that. “You don’t want the chairs too far from the couch,” Slocum says. “So if a space is too big, create two zones– otherwise, you’re screaming across the room.”

Create vignettes

Setting up a big sitting areas is great, but you can also create small moments throughout a room by grouping furniture together. “If it’s an armchair, a side table, and a lamp, you put those things together, and it becomes its own little space,” Bordelon says.

Add a rug

When dividing up a space, you want to give visual cues that denote separate areas. One way to do this is by grouping furniture together in conversation zones, and another, easier way is by using area rugs. Gather furniture together on or around the rug to section out the room.

Find a focal point

To figure out where each zone should be placed, it’s good to center them around different focal points. It could be an architectural piece like fireplace or chandelier, or you can create your own.
“Furniture can do this as well,” Bordelon says. “If you have to float a couch in the middle of the room, you can have a console table behind it to center it.” Just make sure you have walking space around each area to set them apart and keep guests (or yourself) from bumping into furniture. “We like to keep a clearance of three feet around most things,” Bordelon says. “You just don’t want the room to feel like a room full of furniture.”

Vary the color palette

The Brownstone Boys will be designing four “rooms” that lead into each other, including an entryway, living room, dining room, and kitchen. To make each of these spaces feel unique, they’ll each have different, but cohesive palettes. “Some spaces will be darker and moodier and some will be lighter and brighter,” Slocum says. Shades of off white, navy blue, and rose will be featured throughout, but deep blues will be the star of the vestibule, while peach and beige will reign supreme in the living room.