Eight open-plan living areas with mix-and-match flooring

This lookbook collects eight homes with spacious open-plan interiors, where different floor designs have been used to subtly define areas for cooking, dining and lounging.

Open-plan interiors are an enduring trend in residential design, used most commonly to blend kitchen and living spaces and create a social heart for the home.

However, this is now competing with an increase in homeowners opting for broken-plan layouts that cater to different activities and bring more variety to their interiors.

In this roundup, we explore the middle ground: open-plan rooms where mix-and-match flooring is used to softly demarcate kitchens, dining and living areas, visually reducing the size of the space without truncating it.

This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring discreet lifts, concrete bathrooms and non-boring beige home interiors.

Photo is by Mariela Apollonio

Cas 8 House, Spain, by DG Arquitecto

A decorative range of mosaic tiles is used across the floors of Cas 8 House, a 1920s penthouse in Valencia that was recently modernised by local studio DG Arquitecto.

As part of the project, the studio created an open-plan living area with an integrated kitchen. Here, the tiles help to set apart zones for lounging and food preparation, without breaking up the room.

Find out more about Cas 8 House ›

Kitchen and dining room with mix-and-match flooring — Photo is by Nicholas Worley

Hackney House, UK, by Applied Studio

London architect Applied Studio used mix-and-match chevron flooring in the rear extension of this house in Hackney, where two different finishes help divide the space.

On one side, black granite tiles outline the kitchen area, complemented by jet-black timber cabinetry. The opposite side of the room, which is used for dining, is lined with wooden planks teamed with white walls and matching furnishings.

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Open-plan kitchen and living room of Klinker Apartment by Colombo and Serboli Architecture — Photo is by Roberto Ruiz

Klinker Apartment, Spain, by Colombo and Serboli Architecture

Colour-blocking marks out different spaces in the Klinker Apartment, which Serboli Architecture created within the shell of a fire-damaged residence in Barcelona.

In the open-plan living area, a terracotta-hued strip of micro-cement flooring decorates the kitchen, which has a matching ceiling, splashback and cabinetry that is contrasted with a neutral tiled lounge area.

Find out more about Klinker Apartment ›

Kitchen and living room with mix-and-match flooring — Photo is by José Hevia

Villarroel, Spain, by Raúl Sánchez Architects

This open-plan cooking, dining and sitting area in the Villarroel apartment is divided into two sections by the flooring, which marries grey-coloured stone slabs with warm wood.

This reflects architecture studio Raúl Sánchez Architects’ overall design strategy for the home, which was to arrange it into zones without partition walls, opting for “material codes” that distinguish rooms from one another instead.

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Interior of Mài Apartment in Vietnam designed by Whale Design Lab — Photo is by Trieu Chien

Mài Apartment, Vietnam, by Whale Design Lab

Chunky white-marble terrazzo is teamed with smooth cement for the flooring of this monolithic, multi-purpose room in the Mài Apartment in Ho Chi Minh City.

The graphic terrazzo used for the kitchen and food preparation area also covers its cabinets and worksurfaces, making the area feel like its own room despite opening out into the dining area.

Find out more about Mài Apartment ›

Kitchen in House Mellinet by Atelier Fréderic Louis — Photo is by Tim Van de Velde

House Mellinet, Belgium, by Atelier Fréderic Louis

Architecture studio Atelier Fréderic Louis opted for a more subtle terrazzo for the floor in the kitchen of House Mellinet, which shares the same room as the dining area.

While the terrazzo gives a functional feel to the kitchen, the dining area adjacent has wooden parquet flooring that establishes a warmer and more intimate atmosphere more suited to gathering at the dinner table.

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Kitchen and living room of Nagatachō Apartment by Adam Nathaniel Furman — Photo is by is by Jan Vranovsky

Nagatachō Apartment, Japan, by Adam Nathaniel Furman

Designer Adam Nathaniel Furman designed the colourful Nagatachō Apartment in Tokyo as a “visual feast”, with open-plan rooms that are filled with an eclectic mix of colours, patterns and textures.

At the heart of the plan is a candy-pink kitchen suite, which is finished with watermelon-green vinyl flooring. It connects to a sitting room with a contrasting soft lilac carpet that “looks like icing”.

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Parisian apartment with mix-and-match flooring — Photo is by David Foessel

Apartment in Paris by Septembre Architecture

Sleek poured-concrete flooring is juxtaposed with rustic wooden planks in this large, light-filled multi-purpose room, which is located in a renovated Parisian apartment.

The concrete is used to mark out the kitchen area, which is overlooked by a lounge and dining space with Les Arcs chairs by architect Charlotte Perriand and a statement Tulip table by architect Eero Saarinen.

Find out more about this apartment in Paris ›