How to combine a living room and a bedroom: the best ideas

Unfortunately, it is not always possible to allocate a separate room for the bedroom. It can be either a studio apartment, or it is necessary to organize a sleeping place for parents or children, and there are also no extra rooms. A wide variety of design ideas and moves come to the rescue, which will help you still choose a comfortable place to sleep, combining it with the living room.

This is the most difficult zoning, because both the bedroom and the living room need a lot of space, and both zones perform completely different functions.

Advantages and disadvantages of the bedroom-living room

In order to choose the right environment, comply with all the requirements for both parts, while not sacrificing beauty and convenience, you need to understand well both the advantages and disadvantages of such a room.

The undoubted advantages include:

• The complexity of the task always pushes for a flight of imagination, so the combination will awaken the most incredible ideas and give room for imagination and creativity.
• There is an opportunity to rationally use every centimeter of the room, using the most advanced options.
• With joy, you can allocate a part of the room to children who will have a place to engage in educational activities, play, invite friends, while not interfering with parents.
• Everything you need to relax is usually nearby, you do not need to purchase an additional TV for a separate bedroom, you can watch your favorite TV shows without getting out of bed.

However, there are many disadvantages:

• People with different biological clocks will probably have a hard time in such a room.
• You always need to think about how to hide the bed and everything on it from prying eyes.
• There may not be enough space for a work area, and many people just need it.
• Reception of guests is complicated.
• It is quite difficult to retire in such a room.

Having considered all the pros and cons, taking them into account, you need to start arranging and decorating.

Zoning rules for a combined bedroom-living room

To emphasize the advantages of the bedroom-living room and hide obvious shortcomings, there are several rules:

• Be sure to take into account the size of the room, the way in which you delimit the space will depend on it.
• In any case, the stylistic unity should be preserved throughout the room.
• Determine the type of zoning: reversible, i.e. mobile, and irreversible, i.e. stationary, not moving and not moving apart.
• It is better to place the sleeping part at the window and try to ensure that it is by no means a walk-through, but is still somewhat to the side.
• Be sure to make a design project first before starting the arrangement.
• It is necessary to determine whether there will be any other functional areas in the living room other than the bedroom, for example, a small home office.

Ways of zoning

The choice of methods and techniques for defining boundaries in the combined space of a living room combined with a bedroom is a great many. You just have to decide, of course, taking into account the listed general rules.

What can designers offer?

Lighting

It is clear that each individual zone will have its own light. It’s good if natural lighting helps artificial lighting. Having a large window will make the task much easier.

The whole family gathers in the living room, guests are received here, celebrations are held. The choice should fall on the central chandelier, but at the same time it is necessary to provide an option when you want to turn off the overhead light, sit with a book on the sofa or in an armchair, watch TV or just chat in a quiet environment. For this purpose, floor lamps on a high leg, wall lamps, table lamps will serve.

If you zone the bedroom-living room space, then there should be at least two light sources.

The bedroom, especially if it is located by the window, does not require much light in the form of a hanging chandelier. Night lights, sconces with dimmed lights, spotlights, neon lighting are quite suitable here.

For complex lighting, it would be good to use the smart home function.

Partitions

Popular partitions are screens that move apart according to the principle of a wardrobe, an accordion or a book. They will allow you to hide the bedroom at the right time, but they cannot be moved from place to place, because they are attached to the floor and ceiling with special guides. They can be perfectly selected and decorated in accordance with many styles.

Mobile partitions made of some lightweight material. They can simply be assembled and set aside, completely combining the space. They also allow you to close or open part of the zone.

Stationary partitions require a lot of effort, because they need to be built into the room. After the redevelopment, it will be problematic to change something. Think about it right away: won’t such zoning annoy you later. Nevertheless, the built wall will serve for a TV, an artificial fireplace, and can even become an art object if you decide on bold actions in terms of home decoration.

There will be no feeling of compression if you choose a glass partition. For example, through frosted glass, flowing natural light will add mystery and lightness to the entire interior.

Shelving and cabinets

The range of ready-made racks and cabinets is large, but it can also be made to order, according to individual projects. The second option is preferable, because all the features of the room will be taken into account here.

Then you can afford to use a wardrobe as a border. Moreover, sliding doors should be placed on the bedroom side, and the back part should be adapted as an additional wall, paintings, photographs, and a mirror should be placed on it.

Shelving is a great solution. Shapes and models for every taste: both with open and through shelves. You can arrange anything on them: a library, a greenhouse, an exhibition pavilion for souvenirs and other items. A shelving can become a headboard, on the one hand, and a small home office, on the other.

Textile

This is the cheapest zoning option, but no less attractive. Consider, for example, this option: two-layer curtains of contrasting colors. On each side, choose the color to match the wallpaper. You will get double zoning – with the help of curtains and different wall finishes.

Curtains gathering in beautiful waves can be repeated by drapery on the wall at the head of the bed. This will create a very cozy atmosphere.

Podium

Quite a popular technique, especially if the ceilings in the apartment are high. Raise the bedroom higher than the living room. Actually, the bed will not even be needed, a properly arranged podium will perfectly cope with the role of a place to sleep. Moreover, storage spaces in the form of deep drawers will be added under it.

Transformer furniture

Modern manufacturers offer a variety of furniture designs that are easy to hide or turn into something else. For example, a bed hidden in a closet. With the help of special mechanisms, the bed can be lifted and turned into a part of the wall.

Why not use a sofa bed in the bedroom. When folded, it will represent an additional soft zone.

Multi-level ceiling

With the help of drywall, you can create a ceiling of any configuration. Consider this design: make the ceiling of the living room area oval or curly, in the center of which you can fix a chandelier. And in the sleeping part, lower the ceiling level lower and equip with spotlights.

Wall and floor finishing

You can easily determine the boundaries of the two components of one room using the color and texture of the walls and floor:

• Wallpaper with the same pattern, but different color.
• The color of the floor can be left the same, but choose a different surface, for example, laminate in the living room and carpet in the bedroom.
• The walls in the living room are covered with wall panels, in the bedroom there is fabric wallpaper in the same shade.

There are many variations on this theme. Determine the style of the room and choose the right finish.

Indoor flowers

With the help of forged stands, hanging planters, low racks on which pots with flowers will stand, zoning will not only be useful, but very pleasant.

Moreover, you can place flowers and plants at different levels: in the form of a ladder, an arch, in a staggered order. Professional florists will always tell you the combination of plants among themselves, as well as which ones to choose so that the care is not burdensome.

Interior Design Styles

In what style is it better to design a bedroom combined with a living room?

Classic style

It is important to observe the basic rules of the classics:

• Symmetrical arrangement of furniture and finishes.
• The use of natural materials.
• Color scheme: all shades of brown, gold, beige, white and other light tones, but avoid too flashy shades.
• Try to create solemnity and aristocracy when choosing furniture and accessories.

Most of the room should be taken under the bedroom, because a rather massive bed is required in this style direction. A high headboard, a canopy, a beautiful bedspread are signs of style. Instead of a headboard, you can use a wall, making it soft and pleasant to the touch with the help of special upholstery. This technique of color and texture will separate the bedroom from the living room.

The window should be dressed in thick curtains with drapery to match the bedspread and pillows. The same textiles should be used in the sofa area. In the remaining space, organize a place to rest. A false fireplace, even a very small one, will do well. It will not take up much space, but instead of a large sofa around the fireplace there will be a cozy corner for watching TV, intimate conversation, reading. A small rug at the feet will complement the picture of peace.

There shouldn’t be a lot of accessories and decorative elements, but it’s better to choose those that look quite expensive: paintings in gilded frames, candlesticks, antique figurines.

Minimalist

For a combined space, it is almost an ideal option: nothing superfluous, everything you need.

Design Tips:

• Strict lines in the furniture: a bed without a headboard or with a very small one, a sofa without armrests, poufs and banquettes instead of the usual armchairs, a simple coffee table – rectangular or square.
• Finishing material: wood, metal, glass, stone.
• A minimum of decor and decorations.
• It is better to abandon heavy curtains, and use blinds, roller blinds, Roman blinds.
• A rack or partition will serve as a zoning method.
• The color scheme should be calmer, although it is also possible to play with contrasts.

Provence

The advantages of Provence for a bedroom-living room is that the color scheme allows you to make the room bright, airy, spacious, without paying attention to the size. All shades of lavender, green, beige, pink will create an atmosphere of fresh air and push the boundaries. Floral prints on textiles, upholstery, and wall decoration will be mentally transferred to fields and meadows rich in herbs, and there will be no feeling of crowding in the room.

A light screen, curtains, a lattice partition, a rack with cells where fresh flowers and indoor plants will stand will perfectly cope with zoning. It is better to choose furniture on legs, so airiness will be created in the interior. No need to choose a massive bed, but it would be nice to fit a wicker rocking chair in the bedroom.

As a decoration, choose caskets, vases, framed photographs on the chest of drawers, on the wall, table lamps with lampshades with Provencal colors, a mirror in an aged frame.

Scandinavian interior design

First of all, we need to think about the flooring and ceiling. These should be light shades. A suspended ceiling is unlikely to fit, but a painted white or milky color is just what you need. The floor, lined with a light board, echoes the ceiling.

The division into zones will be very conditional. To do this, use a glass partition or a narrow rack with through shelves. Another conditional method of division can be a large floor mirror between the bedroom and the living room.

Accent spots in a monochrome Scandinavian-style interior are acceptable. White, blue, gray colors reminiscent of the cold climate of Scandinavia, soften with bright details: pillows on the bed and a soft corner, a painting with landscape motifs.

Furniture will help to dilute the monotony: a white bed with the same textile garment in the bedroom and a blue sofa in the living room.

Loft style

With the help of a modern style that allows the combination of textures, materials, colors, the space is easily zoned. Masonry, the use of a concrete surface and wood will organize an island of primitive dwelling in the living room, which will smoothly pass into the bedroom, decorated in the same, but slightly softened version.

A bed made of natural wood of a simple shape, a small chest of drawers or console, painted walls to match the living room, but without the brutal and rough brick – it’s all a loft.

The style requires a lot of natural light, so it is better not to close the windows, and choose lighting with a glow close to natural.

Ethno-style

Consider the African version. Yes, exotic and unusual, but it’s worth it. Remember that there were hardly many rooms in African dwellings. Combining there is a common thing. Why not try to create something similar in a modern apartment.

The advantages are that there will be little furniture, some can be abandoned altogether. For example, arrange a sleeping place right on the floor, i.e. on the podium, which will divide the zones.

There is only a low table in the living room. Chairs can generally be replaced with frameless furniture that takes up little space, but is so comfortable. The color scheme matches the African savanna: sandy, beige, brown. Spread an artificial leopard skin on the floor, repeat the same pattern on pillows and blankets.

There is no way to do without the decorative and applied art of the peoples of Africa in the decor: masks, wooden bowls instead of vases, ornaments made of branches, animal figures. Ethnic motifs should be present everywhere: from carvings on the wooden frame of the mirror to textiles on windows and beds.

Combination of a bedroom and a living room with a loggia

If you are the happy owners of a spacious loggia, then it can and should be used in the bedroom-living room.

The main thing is to meet some requirements:

• Carefully insulate the balcony, a variety of technologies have been developed for this, reliable and safe.
• The sleeping place should be placed in the side of the loggia or even on the balcony itself, if the volume allows it.

Such an unusual solution will add additional space, for example, for a study or a corner for a storage system.

Combining a living room and a bedroom for children

Parents are not always ready to sacrifice a space where they can retire and relax. Therefore, we will consider options for how to arrange a place for a child in the living room. It’s difficult, but it’s possible. Moreover, the functionality of the room will be at its height: a living room, a game room, a place for classes, a bedroom.

Zoning in such a room is not much different from dividing into sections where adults completely rule. But there are still nuances:

• It is better not to choose zoning methods using solid partitions, glass, lattice or fabric will be much more convenient.
• In the children’s territory, it is necessary to think over the heating system, because it is not good to be constantly near a hot radiator.
• The location of the sleeping place at the very doors threatens drafts. In this case, either choose another place for the bedroom, or move the doorway.
• Take into account the interests and hobbies of the child in the design and arrangement.
• Choose the right furniture, comfortable and safe.

Design and modern technologies in the furniture industry will solve the problem that parents face when they decide to equip a children’s corner in the living room.

Here are some examples:

• A bed house. It is in a sense a bunk bed. The place for sleeping itself should be located on the second floor, having decorated it in the form of a house, hut, wigwam, etc. Install the structure on high pillars. A table with an armchair will stand perfectly under the bed, a slate will be placed on the wall. In this format, there will be enough space for a game room. Therefore, the living room area should be marked with similar elements, at least choose the same color scheme as in the children’s bedroom.
• Children’s jungle. With such an unusual fantasy choice, it is necessary to use elements of ethno-style. In the sleeping area, it will be a podium couch with a lot of pillows that can be replaced with soft toys in the form of animals. In the living room, the ethno-style will continue, but in an adult variation: an ottoman, poufs, ethnic decor.
• For a more adult child, you can choose a less exotic design, but also interesting. A room in the form of a carriage compartment. You can zone a room with sliding doors like a compartment on a train. And already on each half to organize the necessary space. It will be a concise design, but performing all the necessary functions.

Furniture in the bedroom-living room

The combination of a bedroom and a living room forces you to abandon some object in the setting. Let’s determine what is quite enough in such a room.

• Bed and sofa group. If necessary, they can also be connected using a sofa bed.
• Coffee table. To save space, a soft pouf can serve as a table if you provide a separate table top made of tempered glass.
• You can refuse chairs altogether. Instead, use comfortable chairs or frameless models.
• There must be a TV, because no living room can be imagined without it.
• Partition cabinets, shelving, a place under the podium, drawers of upholstered furniture will give enough storage space.

Thus, any space will become comfortable and stylish at the same time, if you approach its arrangement according to all the rules.

Photo gallery of bedrooms combined with living rooms for inspiration