Jennifer Sheahan: How to use zoning in your home 

We still love open-plan living, but remote working has increased our need for private spaces, says the Home of the Year winner 

A peninsula separates the kitchen from the dining area in Jennifer Sheahan's home. Picture: Moya Nolan

Open-plan living blew our homes wide open in the 1970s. Cooking was no longer relegated to the scullery, dining became less formal, and TV dinners suited busy lifestyles. Walls were torn down, and rooms were merged into one big happy open space.

The desire for open-plan living has not abated, although the recent rise in working from home has increased our need for private spaces. Still, if you have bought a new home or are renovating an old one, chances are you’ll be looking at creating a vast luxurious space that houses your kitchen, living room, dining area, and whatever else you’re into yourself. However, sometimes open-plan spaces are just too — open.

Spacious and airy is wonderful but cavernous and echoey is not — and there is a fine line between the two. Humans like to be close together (but not too close), and so the extra space provided by open-plan living needs to be balanced with a sense of intimacy and cosiness. This can be easily achieved by effective zoning. Zoning prevents that exposed feeling by creating defined spaces which enhance the efficiency, atmosphere, and style of a room.

DEFINE THE FUNCTION

If you’ve been reading my columns here in Home or following my Instagram account for any length of time, you can repeat this familiar phrase after me — first, decide how you’re going to use the space. My education is in ergonomics, which was later followed by an interest in interior design, and so I was trained to always define the usability of a space before thinking about how it will look — a skill that has served me well. In an open-plan living space, this is arguably more important than any other room.

Yes, we have merged living, kitchen, dining, and more into one, but the result should not be a combined chaos; the function of each of these rooms remains paramount, even if walls no longer divide them. In your open plan living space, clearly define what functions need to be carried out — such as cooking, socialising, relaxing, working — and then create a clear zone for each of these functions. In my own open-plan rear extension, I have a living, kitchen, and dining room in one.

I love cooking and entertaining, so my dining area is right up against my kitchen area, but I don’t like other people getting all up in my business while I’m cooking, so I have a peninsula to separate the dining area from the kitchen. 

This allows me to chat with seated guests from my position at the stove, so we can socialise without them actually being in my cooking space (hey, we all have our quirks). You may prefer to be even further away from guests to cook in peace: Be honest about how you prefer to use each space in your home and factor this into your design.

A rug creates a separate zone for the living area. Picture: Moya Nolan

FURNITURE AND RUGS

The simplest way to instantly zone a space is furniture. If you work from home and your desk is in your bedroom, a piece of furniture that acts as a partition between your sleeping and working areas will instantly make both feel more effective in their respective uses. A chaise longue or ottoman bench at the end of the bed; a bookcase behind your desk chair; a folding room-divider screen — even turning your desk such that its back forms a barrier between it and your sleeping area can help to separate the spaces.

In large living areas, sometimes couches pushed up against a wall can counter-intuitively make a space feel smaller. Instead, consider having the back of the couch act as a divider between the living area and other zones. If the back of the couch is not pretty, you can put a slim bookshelf up against it. In my own living room, just adding a small side table with a tall bouquet of dried flowers on it has provided me with the divide I needed to make my living room feel like its own cosy space.

If furniture is not an option for the size or shape of your space, rugs also serve as excellent zoning. Choosing the right rug is a whole other article in itself, but I like to get the largest one possible for the space or use layering to create the perfect delineation for your zone.

COLOUR AND LIGHTING

Finally, colour and lighting are invaluable tools in creating distinct zones. Changes in lighting brightness and temperature create different atmospheres and signal the intention of the space —bright task lighting defines functional areas while diffused accent lighting creates relaxed and social spaces. A feature pendant over a dining table clearly signals a different function than spotlights in a kitchen.

Similarly different flooring, a change in paint colour, or some accent wallpaper can delineate distinct spaces. Bold colours can stimulate interesting conversation at the dining table, while softer tones invite relaxation in the living area afterwards. A statement piece of artwork will also draw attention and create a demarcation. Play around with it and don’t be afraid to create clear definitions between the zones in your open space.

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