Operating points
In order to fully provide comfortable living for household members, a combined kitchen-living room must have all the necessary attributes. First of all, you need to competently organize the work area in which economic manipulations take place. The importance of this point is dictated by the fact that the comfort of the room largely depends on the arrangement of living conditions.
That is why the kitchen-living room is 22 sq. meters, attention should first be paid to organizing the “working triangle”. This concept includes a refrigerator, stove and sink. These are the most important elements of the kitchen, which are the most frequently used by any housewife.
To ensure sufficiently comfortable conditions for culinary procedures, you need to take into account ergonomic parameters. Their essence lies in compliance with certain rules and a convenient location of the vertices of the “working triangle”.
The distance between each important point should be between 1.2–2.7 m. If this figure is larger, the housewife will have to move too much while preparing dinners and cleaning. Over time, this factor will definitely affect her mood.
Layout options for kitchen-living room 22 m
Arranging furniture in a large room is rarely problematic. The extensive area allows you to implement any design ideas without the risk of getting a gloomy, cluttered room. The main principle when planning a kitchen-living room is compliance with ergonomic standards and unity of style. Otherwise, the headset placement options depend on the personal preferences of the owners, home communications and the geometry of the room.
When arranging kitchen-living rooms of 22 sq. meters most often resort to the following types of layout:
- L-shaped - this option is versatile. It is good for both modest and spacious spaces. In the case of combining the kitchen and living room, thanks to this layout it is possible to save more space for the recreation area. The main design rule when choosing such a kitchen set configuration is to place the furniture for guests parallel to the longer “tail” of the letter “L”.
- Linear - this option also suggests the possibility of creating more spacious areas for eating and for guests. This layout looks quite modest in a room with an area of 22 square meters. meters. You can enhance the feeling of fullness of space with the help of an abundance of decorative accessories and original furniture in bright colors.
- Parallel - this layout is ideal for rectangular kitchen-living rooms. In this case, work surfaces are placed on one side, and furniture for guests is located on the opposite side. The conditional division into zones is carried out using a dining table placed in the middle. However, it can be difficult to implement such an arrangement if the kitchen has an oblong geometry.
- U-shaped is the most optimal option from the point of view of ergonometric standards. The arrangement of furniture can be done by analogy with a parallel layout, or you can use a kitchen set with short “tails”, and fill the remaining free space to your liking.
- Island - the option involves a linear arrangement of work surfaces and placing a dining table or small buffet in the center of the kitchen. This method allows you to visually divide a combined room into different areas without additional decorative moves.
Studio interior design
To save space in an apartment of 22 sq. m., a sleeping place can be arranged upstairs: a loft bed on racks, a hanging bed or a podium, inside of which personal belongings can easily fit, is suitable.
A work and children's area for such an area is not an easy task, but it is doable. To help a family living in a studio, there are bunk beds and transformable furniture. If the apartment has a balcony, it must be attached to the living space or insulated and furnished as a separate room or office.
The photo shows a dark kitchen, which serves as part of the structure for sleeping and working.
If residents like to receive guests, it is worth considering zoning for the studio: it is not customary to meet friends in the bedroom, so the bed should be folded, turning the room into a living room.
In studios, the bathroom is usually combined with a toilet, so it looks relatively spacious. It’s ideal if there is space in the bathroom for a washing machine and you don’t need to move it into the kitchen. It is better to store household products in hanging mirrored cabinets, and reduce the number of open shelves as much as possible.
Entrance hall in a studio apartment of 22 sq. m. is small, so the optimal solution for storing outerwear is closed cabinets. If the corner is empty, it is advisable to purchase a corner cabinet: it is much more ergonomic than a straight one.
The photo shows a hallway with a mirror at the front door, a shoe rack and a small closet.
Zoning of the kitchen-living room 22 sq m
A room that combines several diverse functional tasks should be visually divided into thematic areas. The kitchen-living room is a complex of working, dining and relaxation areas.
The part of the room intended for culinary manipulations can be limited to 5 square meters. meters. By the standards of designers, this is quite enough for most housewives. Of course, if the room is designed for cooks who treat cooking with passion and passion, additional space should be allocated for household appliances, kitchen utensils and cutting surfaces.
The remaining space is designed as a cozy corner for receiving visitors and relaxing for household members. Zoning a room can be done using the following design moves:
- use of furniture. A dining table or an elongated soft sofa serve as a very specific delimiter of the kitchen space. Such thematic zoning does not require additional methods of division. Also, shelving, screens, and a bar counter can be used to symbolize different areas of the room;
- differentiation of finishes. The use of materials of different textures can also serve as a delimiter between the kitchen and living room into different zones. The practical option of finishing the flooring near the work area with tiles, and in the rest of the room with laminate or parquet, is widely used. Carpeting can also act as a delimiter. The apron and walls near the kitchen unit are covered with washable wallpaper, ceramics or plaster. Materials that contrast in texture are used to decorate the dining and guest areas. Another interesting move is the step separating the kitchen from the living room. Objects located on a kind of podium are visually separated from the rest of the room. Also for zoning the kitchen-living room 22 sq. meters, designers widely use plasterboard structures. These can be partitions, arches, drops in suspended ceilings;
- lighting. Placing different types of lamps in separate parts of the room will immediately make it clear where the boundaries of the zones lie;
- color scheme. Dividing a room into zones can be done using different tones in surface finishes. A light kitchen set, a wooden dining table and a bright, rich sofa for guests will clearly define the functional boundaries in the room.
Lighting
When planning lighting, you should be guided by the following rules:
- The more light sources, the better. Many people completely abandon the central chandelier in favor of spotlights, sconces, and pendant lamps for each zone. It is recommended to use at least 3 light sources with separate switching.
- Use of mirrors. The mirror surface visually expands the space. But the light should be reflected indirectly, not directly, as this will cause discomfort.
- Lamps must be open. Massive lampshades and closed structures will lead to a decrease in the functionality of the lamps, which is unacceptable in such a small space.
- Application of swivel brackets. This element will allow you to choose the direction of the light source depending on which zone is currently the most active. In addition, this will reduce the number of lamps and forget about dark corners in the room.
- No restrictions on natural light. You should get rid of massive curtains and multi-layer curtains. The more natural light there is, the more comfortable the apartment will be.
Lighting issues are thought through at the plan development stage. Often, kitchen units are also complemented by built-in lamps, as are ceiling structures and some pieces of furniture. More intimate lighting includes candles and LED lights with a dimmer.
Color palette
Despite the sufficient area, such a kitchen-living room can be slightly overloaded with accessories. Therefore, owners should abandon the abundance of too dark tones in the decoration of the room.
For basic colors, you should pay attention to light neutral options. You can also use yellow, blue, light green, beige colors. Bright inclusions, including fairly large ones, are allowed. The dining table, the decoration of a soft sofa, curtains and household appliances can be rich or colorful.
Furniture arrangement in an apartment of 16 m²
The basic rules for arranging furniture relate only to its functionality. It should not block the passage to any part of the room, while fulfilling its main purpose. Of course, the main emphasis can be placed on decoration, but then you will have to sit on an uncomfortable sofa, look for a place for lunch or dinner, and work on the bed without any comfort.
Usually, the sofa is placed in a corner, or occupies one of the walls if it is a transformer. This decision is made in order to separate the sleep area and make it as intimate as possible. In addition, then you can put a screen or cornice with a curtain. Another feature of the furniture is its multitasking. The bar counter can become a place for storing kitchen utensils, eating, working, studying.
If there is a niche, it should be used as a dressing room, where all things can fit perfectly. It’s better to avoid shelving, but hanging shelves will come in handy. You can also use the space under the bed, the area around the window, etc. for storage.
Tips from designers
Creating a kitchen-living room requires certain sacrifices from the owners of the room. It should be borne in mind that guests and household members who decide to relax on the sofa may be disturbed by the sounds and smells that accompany cooking.
Noisy household appliances are also not the best background for small talk. Therefore, it is worth considering in advance the measures by which unpleasant situations will be minimized. For a kitchen-living room of 22 sq. meters, you should purchase fairly quiet household appliances. Such devices are often more expensive than their noisier counterparts, but it is not advisable to skimp on comfort. Be sure to install a good hood.
Mountains of dirty dishes also do not add comfort to the room. It is unlikely that guests and household members will be pleased to see unwashed kitchen utensils while relaxing. If the housewife does not have the desire and ability to immediately restore order, she needs to think about places for temporary storage of dirty plates and cups. This could be a large dishwasher or a fairly deep sink.
To create a truly stylish kitchen-living room of 22 sq. meter, it is worth making sure that all accessories and finishing materials are harmoniously combined with each other. In such a large area this is more difficult to achieve than in modest premises. Nevertheless, it is necessary to maintain all areas of the kitchen in a single stylistic direction. Work, dining and guest areas should be permeated with the same spirit. Designers recommend using bright splashes of the same color in each area of the combined kitchen-living room.
