Living and Dining - Taru • One Brick At A Time

Hi there, again! I hope you had a good look at Taru’s foyer and are ready to step into the home now because I am more than ready to walk you through the living and dining of Taru today.

Living and Dining of Taru

The foyer we walked through last week, flows seamlessly into living and dining of Taru. This harmonious transition is largely because of the use of natural finishes and similar colours across these spaces.

But before we get to the finishes, let me show you the layout.

The Plan

The narrow foyer opens into this large, spacious hall which we divided into the living and dining of Taru.

We placed the sofas and television in the area just as you enter this hall. The dining table went on the far end, since that is also closer to the kitchen.

As you enter this space, the left side is like a continuous passageway running from the foyer on the living end, to another long passage on the dining end, which leads to all the bedrooms. Using this area as just a passage would mean that almost a third of the hall would be wasted as passage space. So we made our seating circle larger, by adding a pair of chairs along the ‘passage’ wall too.

At the dining end, we used this space by fitting in a bar. This was a long, continuous wall across the entire length of the living and dining of Taru. We broke down a part of it that opens into the kitchen. We made a partition further back, so that the bar fit in along the length of the wall. This allowed us to use the entire width of the dining area too, without obstructing the entrance of the bedroom passage.

Finally, the balcony was planned quite simply. We have a pair of chairs on one end and a swing on the other.

The Living Room

Standing at the entryway between the foyer and the living room, you can see right down the passage on the other side, leading into the bedrooms. We didn’t want this entire length looking like one long, continuous passage. So we extended the living seating up to the wall on the left.

We have a pair of comfortable chairs here along with a little side table in between. We picked smaller sized chairs so that they don’t block the passageway since this area is used all the time to enter and exit the home.

As you step into the living room, you see the entire living area, with the dining area beyond.

We have two sofas placed next to each other forming the main seating area of the living room. The television is placed along the entrance wall.

We had plenty of space between the sofa and dining table, so we placed this slim console behind the sofa. The drawers are great for storing dining cutlery, napkins etc. Also, isn’t this a much prettier view than facing the back of a sofa?

The Dining Area

The dining table and chairs are on the far end of the large hall, behind the sofa. The dining area is completely in keeping with the natural materials and colours used in the foyer and living. We have a beautiful live edge dining table paired with the handsome wooden dining pendants. Also the use of wood, green and black accents are in harmony with the rest of the space.

This sideboard is very much the show stopper here. The handed painted drawers and shutters completely disguise its utility. It looks like a piece of art and you can easily forget it’s large size and the amount of storage it provides.

The Bar

Tucked away neatly into the wall near the dining table, is our bar in disguise. The lower part has loads of storage for bottles, glasses and crockery. The upper portion is divided into two parts. The open shelves on either side make an elegant display unit.

You can slide the shutters sideways to cover the shelves and open out the bar.

Also notice the glass door to the right of the bar?

That door opens into the passage leading into the kitchen and all bedrooms of the home.

We sandwiched an embroidered sheer fabric between two layers of glass to make this door. This way the homeowners can move around with complete privacy on the inside even when there are guests in the living room. Yet, the glass door allows light to filter in. As you can see, the passage has no window and would be completely dark without light from this doorway.

The Balcony

With no high-rises in front of this building, this balcony has a beautiful, uninterrupted view. Since it is super long, with less width, we placed seating on the two ends. On the left we have this swing…

And this pair of large, comfortable chairs on the right.

We also enclosed the niche at the far end with shutters to make the ‘garden storage’. It’s perfect to store the extra soil, fertilisers and gardening equipment.

Look and Feel

The living and dining of Taru are an extension of the natural, earthy vibe that you saw in the foyer. Only, while the foyer was dark and low-lit, the living and dining are light and bright.

To start off, we needed to select a suitable rug. The beige, white and olives of this rug fit right into the scheme of things. I also love how the diamonds are more organic than geometric. They give the rug a more natural and earthy feel, don’t they?

Our mainstay of this living room is predominantly beige and white.

We interspersed this with a lot of wood tones and black accents, just like we did in the foyer. So our wooden table also has black legs, and our end table has a black geometric, inlay pattern on its white base.

Our heavy use of wood extends to the dining area too, with this beautiful live edge dining table and the wooden pendant lights above it.

As also in our all wood bar-cum-display cabinet.

What about the predominant green on the foyer wall? You saw that sprinkled into the living room in the rug and cushions. The hand painted artwork on the shutters carry the greens into the dining area.

Placing artwork above artwork can become quite messy, so I put a lot of thought into the selection of these photo-prints. These black and white florals look almost like shadows of the artwork on the side board, yet hold their own against them. The photographs and the cabinet compliment and enhance each other instead of diminishing and canceling each other out.

Before and Afters

The entire hallway as seen from the foyer.

Is now the gorgeous living and dining of Taru. Don’t you love the expanse of whites made warm with the beautiful wood tones?

The dining area of Taru.

The handsome live-edge dining table fit’s comfortably into this large space. That stunning sideboard is as useful as it is beautiful. Along with the artwork above it, this wall makes the focal point of this living and dining space.

And we turn around for a look at the opposite end…

Where the seating of our living space circles around the television.

Get the Look

So many gorgeous things went into making the lovely living and dining of Taru. Here are links to a few beautiful pieces.

I’m done with this walk through… but I just don’t feel like leaving this space. Don’t you feel like hanging around here and soaking it all in a little longer? Feel free to stay a while… and write me a note below while you are here.

Remember to come back again next week, so we can tour the master bedroom together. If you think you might forget, remember to sign up here before you go. That way I can send you a reminder.

Until then,