Living and Dining – Daastan

Did the foyer of Daastan mesmerize you last week? Let’s move in from there today, into the living and dining of Daastan. If you loved the bold geometrics and pop of yellow in the foyer, then stay with me and let the vibrant colours and patterns of the living and dining of Daastan sweep you off your feet.

Living and Dining of Daastan

The living and dining of Daastan is a large, spacious room with generous floor to ceiling sliding doors on one side, opening into the long balcony. We divided this hall into a living, dining and bar area. Let me show you how.

The Plan

As you enter from the foyer, you first walk in to the right part of the hall. This was planned as the living area. Beyond that, to the left, we placed the dining table. The entire living and dining set up centres along the television, so that it is easy to watch it from either of the spaces.

The lower wall of this hall is common with the kitchen. That area also forms a sort of passageway, connecting the doorway on the left, which leads to the guest room, to the doorway on the right which leads to the other bedrooms. We placed a long sideboard here that doubles as the bar counter.

Given the distance between the kitchen door and the dining table, the client also wanted a service window from the kitchen. We placed this above the bar counter. This makes it easy to use the bar counter as a breakfast counter for a quick meal too.

The balcony, though really long, is also very narrow. We placed a pair of chairs with a small table in the slightly broader section, and a large, comfortable swing in the narrower part.

Let me take you through all of these areas individually.

The Living Room

The seating in the living area consists of a large, comfortable sofa with a chaise on one side and a chair on the other. These are all centred around the TV unit.

To the left of the television, we have this beautiful unit, which makes the mandir.

All the seating makes a cozy circle around this coffee table island. Just as in the living area of Taru, we used a pair of tables instead of a large single piece so that it looks lighter and gives more flexibility in terms of usage.

The Dining Area

Just behind the living area, and centred to it, we have the dining table.

We have a bench placed along the wall and chairs along the other three sides.

Pushing the table closer to the wall gave us extra space behind the sofa to be able to fit in this slim console. The main idea of using these consoles is to take away the focus from the back of the sofa. So when behind the sofa, instead of looking at its back, you’re looking at the front of the console, which obviously makes a prettier view.

But it doesn’t enhance only the back of the sofa. Placing a planter, lamp or sculpture on the console makes for a prettier view from the front of the sofa too.

We have small drawers in this console, which also make space for dining cutlery, napkins etc.

The Bar-cum-Breakfast Counter

We had a long empty passage wall to the left of the living and dining area. We placed the bar counter here.

The client also wanted a service window from the kitchen opening into the living room. I am usually a little wary of such windows. Our Indian kitchens tend to be a little chaotic and overstaffed, especially when we are entertaining large groups. Imagine soft music, dim lights, scented candles… and the sight and sounds of freshly frying ‘puris’ in the kitchen.

But I do see the advantage of being able to serve breakfast hot at this counter every morning before school or work. So we designed this window to look like artwork when it is closed. You’d never guess at first glance that this is a window that opens into the kitchen.

We have storage on both sides of the bar unit, with space in the centre for the bar chairs. On one side is space for bar ware and bottles. On the other for crockery for the dining area.

The Balcony

The balcony is long and narrow, so we split the seating into two. This area is a little wider, so we placed two chairs and a small table here. The pretty wooden pendants add to the outdoorsy vibe.

The opposite side is narrower still, so we have a single large swing here. It makes a great place to sit peacefully for some me-time.

Look and Feel

Do you remember the black and white foyer with the pop of yellow? We carried the same vibe into the living and dining are of Daastan.

Though the clients loved the yellow, they wanted more colours here, so we started with this rug. It adds peaches and reds so beautifully to the mustard, and we did the same.

We picked the earthy peach off the rug and used it on the sofa to make this the predominant colour of the living and dining space. The mustard cushions on the sofa bring in the required pop of yellow.

Since the sofa is a solid colour, we could pick light prints for the chaise and the armchair.

We took the same colours and fabrics across to the dining area too. The double fabric on all the seating adds variety while maintaining consistency.

Next, we brought in the blacks from the foyer into the living room.

The black and gold finish is a common thread between the clock, the TV unit and the mandir to the left of it.

With all the bright colours spread across the living and dining, we went with monochrome on the bar too.

The bar unit is entirely grey, with black metal art on the wall above it.

In the evenings, it lights up with these black spotlights to make a really pretty picture.

Though the photo gallery wall consists of coloured photographs, the large white mount-board along with the black frames gives it a monochromatic feel too.

Finally, we have a black marble top dining table to complete the look.

With all the vibrant colours and prints, we kept the curtains light and easy on the eyes. The heavy drapes and sheers are both off whites with light peach embroidery on them. The curtains have a larger motif while the sheers have small polka dots.

Before and Afters

Here is a look at the living room before..

Instead of having the living and dining areas side by side, we laid them out back and front, with the bar unit taking up the entire side.

The TV wall..

Though the television stayed in its original place, the seating now circles around it so it is easy to watch.

The balcony…

We used the wider part of the balcony to fit in a couple of chairs. We placed the plants on the sides instead of in the front so they don’t get in the way.

Get The Look

And finally, I’m linking to a few pretty products that we have used in this living room.

| – 1 – Sleek Black & Gold Wall Clock | – 2 – Calabah Swing Chair | – 3 – Regalia Peach Cushion Cover | – 4 – Modern Retro Quilted Cushion Cover | – 5 – Box Office Armchair | – 6 – Falcon Sofa | – 7 – Multicolour Floral Rug | – 8 – Ceramic Planter | – 9 – Bespoke Console |

And that brings us to the end of Act 2 of ‘Daastan’. This one was quite dramatic, wasn’t it? Last week I showed you the matching rug and door design in the foyer, and told you it was one of my favourite design elements from the home. Another favourite is from this living room. Can you guess what it is?

Yes, the service window above the bar. When the window is shut, you would never guess that it’s a window. It’s just as cool when seen from the kitchen too… but I guess you’ll have to wait for the kitchen reveal to see what it looks like in there!

Remember to sign up here to stay tuned to all of the drama of ‘Daastan’… there is a lot more coming!

Until next time,

.

Photography: Biju Gopal of @bizou.photos 

Note: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links