Room Tour: Our Eclectic Open Plan Living & Dining

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Where we do the living, laughing and loving

This is the space that made us start our Instagram ❤

Like most homeowners, it was the space we wanted to tackle first, as it’s where we sit, eat, watch, chat and simply be. We also had a bun in the oven at the time, so we wanted to get this area out of the way!

Little did we know that we wouldn’t get it “right” for a couple more years, but hey – good design takes time.

Like many Australian homes built in the 2000’s/2010’s, our home has a big open plan living area, that combines a living space, dining space and kitchen.

It also has a ‘theatre room’ to the side (which is now our library) and a ‘study’ adjacent to our kitchen (which is now our playroom).

Here’s how our living room looked when we first moved in.

The previous owners had a fish tank in that recess and TVs in the theatre/library and ALL of the bedrooms.

We only wanted one TV in the house and this seemed like the obvious place – directly in front of seating and in full view when washing the dishes!

Gallery Wall Shelfie

Before we even moved in, we knew we wanted a gallery wall & bookshelf situation of epic proportions.

We specifically hunted for a house that had a large uninterrupted wall just so we could create what we envisioned.

We bought 7 Billy bookcases from IKEA, the last of which had to be cut down on an angle depth-wise to sit flush with the window edge (you can barely tell until you look close).

We started collecting frames and artwork slowly in the year before we moved in, knowing that the house we would be home to an obnoxiously large gallery wall.

When we started hanging the wall, we were still a few frames shy, so we bought a few more from the opshop just to fill the wall.

Since we first moved in up until now, 5 years later, pretty much every single frame has changed or been moved.

The great thing about the gallery wall is while the whole entity visually reads as one, it’s not static and we can switch out pieces as we feel.

🎬 WATCH: How to hang a gallery wall

Living Room Furniture

Another one of our first purchases was our sofa.

We were both pretty set on buying leather; the distressed kind.

We wanted it fairly deep but with a minimalist shape to complement the maximalist gallery wall. We ended up buying this now discontinued lounge from The Furniture Gallery for about $4k.

One of my friends reckons it looks like a sausage roll!

It’s been perfect for cleaning up any spillages, and if any little scratches appear it kinda adds to the charm of it.

Another early purchase was our teak root coffee table from East West Design in Fremantle, here in Western Australia.

East West Design is one of my favourite furniture stores (not affiliated, by the way) and we really wanted a statement coffee table that we would keep forever.

The round shape of the glass and the organic shape of the root base work perfectly with the linear shape of the lounge.

This coffee table (along with the lounge) was a splurge for us – we were only able to do it because our house deposit was a fair bit less than we anticipated, so we had some cash leftover for key furniture pieces.

Our two lime green corduroy armchairs came much later.

Initially, we had a super comfy loveseat on the right hand side and a big fiddle leaf fig on the left. Although both beautiful, the space wasn’t feeling right.

What the space was missing was symmetry. We found these armchairs for a steal on Facebook Marketplace via a divorcee who just wanted to sell everything and move on.

Adding the two armchairs not only created some aesthetically pleasing symmetry, it also created a conversation circle and took focus away from the TV.

We keep a sheepskin rug on one of the armchairs to add some softness and texture, and of course lots of cushions we buy mostly from our local Spotlight.

Living Room Rug

I LOVE RUGS.

Our current rug is the washable Anyel Rug from Miss Amara.

When we got our two lime green armchairs, we needed a very specific rug size to accommodate the extra furniture.

I cannot handle when a rug is too small for a space – it is one of my biggest pet peeves in interior design!

Having said that, we have been guilty of it:

We’ve had four different rugs over the course of five years!

The first was a traditional-style green rug from IKEA. Lovely colour and design, but it was way too small for the space. We should’ve either measured up accordingly or waited for our furniture before we bought a rug.

The second rug is actually in our library now. This one is beautiful but was too big in here!

The third rug is the Alice rug from Miss Amara. It was sooo soft and luxurious under foot, and while we loved it for a while, once we got our lime green armchairs it was too small for the space.

I wanted all the front feet of the couch and armchairs to be on top of the rug. I also wanted the rug to be wider than the couch but not wide enough that it hit the shelf. So we needed a rug that was around 370x280cm.

This isn’t the most common rug size, however Miss Amara‘s washable rugs happened to be this size. We didn’t necessarily need or want a washable rug, but the size was crucial so that’s where we ended up.

I used their rug visualiser to find the best colour/design and Anyel was the winner!

It’s a low pile so not as soft as the previous rug but I really love the colour and it’s easy to keep clean so I’m very happy to stick with it! Fourth time’s a charm!

TV Unit

Our TV is mounted to the wall, with black damask wallpaper behind it. Our thought process here was that when the TV is off, it would just blend into the background and not be too much of an eyesore. Nowadays, we have a YouTube playlist of artwork to mimic the Samsung Frame TV (which we’ll buy when this TV dies).

Below that, Martin made a built-in entertainment unit. The drawer fronts have painted Easycraft Silhouette Convex panels on them and the speaker (in the centre of the unit) is disguised by spray painted rattan.

For the top of the entertainment unit, we bought a huge mango dining table and cut it up to size. I’m going to take credit for this idea! Turns out it was a cheaper exercise than buying the raw material and arguably a better end result.

🎬 WATCH: Built-in entertainment unit

Dining Table & Mismatched Chairs

The dining table was another early purchase, thanks to that leftover house deposit cash!

We bought the dining table along with the coffee table from East West Design in Freo. At their shop, you can choose any table base you like and pair it with a table top of your choice!

We ended up buying this farmhouse style base with a round mango timber top. We really wanted to go round – it’s good for conversation and board games!

So we splurged a little on the dining table, but made up for it with how cheap the chairs were.

We wanted to go mismatched with the chair (the inspiration for our name, by the way) but all in white to tie in with the table base.

Initially, we sourced six individual chairs from Marketplace, ranging from $5 – $50 each. We gave them all a lick of white paint and voila – it’s feeling cohesive.

🎬 WATCH: White mismatched dining chairs

Recently, we’ve upgraded from the white chairs to 3 mismatched pairs. The white chairs got a little grubby, so I was keen to get some black and neutral chairs instead.

I really wanted a replica Cesca chair, but I wasn’t keen on introducing any chrome. So I found a black powdercoated option with a black fabric seat cushion and rattan back.

I also found some beautiful bobble legged chairs from Luxo Living and a pair of more simple black and jute chairs from Freedom.

Dining Table Rug

Under our dining table is the Paloma Rug from Miss Amara.

When we first moved in, we didn’t consider a dining table rug.

Miss Amara offered to send us a jute dining table (the rug we had before this one) and soon as we put it under the table, we didn’t know why we didn’t consider one earlier.

The rug works to zone this space and make it distinct from the living area and kitchen… and honestly it all just looks better because of it.

If you’re considering a rug under your dining table, please just make sure it is big enough that your chairs are still on the rug when you pull them out to get up.

And if you’re worried about food and spills (like many people on Instagram seem to be) then don’t worry – it’s not that big a deal! We have a 4-year-old and most of the spills end up on the table, clear of the rug. But if you are still worried but still want one, I’d suggest getting a jute or washable rug to relieve the stress.

🎬 WATCH: Unrolling our dining table rug

Lighting

We have layers of lighting in our open plan living space.

We have simple white pendants which were fromIKEA (now discontinued) centred above our dining and coffee tables. We rarely turn these on though! It’s all about natural light or mood lighting – instead, we treat overhead lighting like sculptures for the ceiling.

We have lots of mood lighting on the shelf, including two el cheapo lamps, a portable rechargeable gold mushroom lamp, the ‘Kiss Kiss Lips’ neon light by Jen Du from Neon Will Studio, a disco ball light, strip lighting around the TV and a bunch of candles.

This row of lighting along our shelf creates cosy ambiance when we’re watching TV at night.

Upcycled Hutch

We had some wall space near the dining table and against a dividing wall beside the kitchen that needed a little something.

Our kitchen is surprisingly small given the amount of space elsewhere. We have a living room, a theatre/library, a study/playroom, a big laundry…. and a tiny kitchen.

So we wanted a little more storage for glassware and servingware.

We found a pine hutch for $80 on Facebook Marketplace and upcycled it, using British Paints Ocean Charm and new hardware sourced from Amazon.

We’ve styled the hutch with a collection of ornate gold photo frames and plants, including a bouquet of Lego wildflowers.

🎬 WATCH: Upcycled blue hutch

Window Furnishings

Our sliding doors are adorned with S-Fold Tahiti Sheer Snow Curtains from Blinds Online. We’ve hung them high to give the illusion of higher ceilings.

I love how much light they still let in, while giving us a feeling of privacy at night.

When the curtains are open, we use curtain holdbacks from Spotlight – a nice yet functional finishing touch!

🎬 WATCH: Hang your curtains high

We also have two small windows on both sides of the TV recess, which have the Express Pure White Wooden Blinds also from Blinds Online.

We positioned our disco ball diffuser from Amazon right near the blinds, which sends mirror reflections all around the room and is so beautiful in the morning.

This was probably one of my proudest purchases and it didn’t cost much. If you end up buying a disco diffuser light (seen below our Great Wave of Kanagawa poster) make sure it’s near a window or it’s not going to work.

I live laugh love this space ❤

And yes, I still love our gallery wall all these years later! I think it works because the actual furniture and styling of the rest of the space is quite pared back, with lots of white, beige and brown to let all the colour and maximalism of the gallery wall take centre stage.

Along with our library room, this space is bursting with our personalities – which a home should always do.