An open floor plan provides an airy, modern atmosphere, but you can incorporate a little privacy without sacrificing the spacious feel. Use visual trickery to create individual or private spaces without the need for constructing walls. With a little planned distraction, you can hide clutter, add interest and form personal space.
How to Add Privacy to open floor plan
Bookcases
Open bookcases with wide, deep cubicles make a handy place to store rattan bins full of toys, loose photos or any other less-than-attractive miscellaneous items. The flow-through design means this style of shelving looks good from both sides. Use a bookcase outside of a bathroom door to create more of a hallway look rather than a full on visual of the commode when family members forget to shut the door behind them.
Plants
Open floor plans often have an abundance of natural light making the setting ideal for foliage. A row of tropicals along the floor, with some hanging above, creates a living wall of greenery. Use plants to direct the flow of foot traffic between spaces or as a visually interesting partition. In a large home, tall potted evergreens and shrubs could fit in nicely. If space is restricted, ornamental grasses provide a long, wavy, sleek touch.
Dividers and Screens
Simple three-panel dividers are a way to add privacy to open floor plan, an instant wall between two areas and close off the view. Set one in place behind a couch to form a more private conversation area. Close off the dining room on two sides to block the sight of the kitchen and another part of the home for a more formal feel. Dividers are available in many styles from Asian flair to clean and modern to ornate and curvy, and some have built-in frames for photos. Sliding screens, which hang from the ceiling are available with light-filtering art or patterns and can stack back when not needed.
Art
Art is in the eye of the beholder — and it’s in your face in the form of a wall when you hang it from the ceiling. Locate ceiling joists from which to support art that looks good from either side. For example, in an ultra-modern space, vintage doors could visually separate the dining and living room and add some much-needed quaint appeal; for the Bohemian abode, decorative metal art or tapestries provide visual distraction; and you could close off the country style kitchen from the entryway with stained glass mosaics.
