Modern Tropical Living Room Reveal

From the immense response we got when we introduced this room, I know you all have been eagerly waiting for our Modern Tropical Living Room Reveal. So though this was the last space we introduced from our ‘White & Light Home‘, we are here with the reveal as soon as we could.

And why did we take so long over it? When we gave you a little sneak peek of this space with this pic on Instagram, Good Homes Magazine absolutely loved it. They decided to do a feature on this home, but part of the deal was, that we couldn’t share any more pics for a whole month after their feature. You can find a link to their article in our Awards & Features section.

But more importantly, the one month is up and so, FINALLY, here is our modern tropical living room reveal.

The Plan:

In case you missed our introductory post to this room, here is the plan to begin with. But if you do enjoy the design thought and process you must read the introductory post before you go ahead with this reveal.

Else, let’s start with the plan. Quite simply, we have the dining area on one side and the living on the other. All of it faces a long balcony with a beautiful view.

A full wall of glass doors always adds to the magic of a room, and this one is no exception!

But, first things first.

The Entryway:

The clients wanted a dramatic, statement entryway and I think we gave that to them. One of the items on their wish list was inlay work on the entryway floor. Whatever ready inlay work we looked at was over the top, either in terms of design or cost. They were looking for a modern feel to their home and didn’t want anything traditional.

This was our solution. We cut strips in the existing floor and inlaid black marble. This is a simple, modern look… and very dramatic.

Our grill door design, which we had finalised earlier, also fit into the scheme of things beautifully. That left the ceiling light.

Again, we were looking for something dramatic. The passageway is very long, but as you can see, the height above the door isn’t much. Any long beautiful light fitting we selected was too tall and would have hung lower than the door line.

We finally used simple LED strips in the same pattern as the flooring, and I love how the light fits in so beautifully with the rest of the foyer.

There is a small niche in the foyer, between the kitchen and main doors. We fit in a mirror fronted shoe cabinet there, along with a large mirror above. That mirror also conceals the main electrical boxes of the home.

Our Modern Tropical Living Room Reveal:

We step out of our bold, dramatic entryway into our modern tropical living room as we had planned it. The feel of the space is quite different as soon as you enter it.

The Living Area:

The base of our living area is this big, beautiful, wicker sofa while the focus is that TV wall.

After that bold, dramatic entryway, we toned down our colours and finishes to go with our tropical look. Pretty much everything is in shades of beige and brown with bits of white adding to the harmony. To this we have added whole lot of natural textures to go with the tropical theme.

Starting with this graceful rug. This is also beige and white, but notice the difference in texture along the pattern. It not only goes with our colours, but also adds texture to the space.

Then we have this live edge centre table. The unfinished, rustic edge is perfect for our tropical living room.

In the background you can see the TV unit panel. We’ve finished that in a cork sheet which has flecks of gold in it. They look lovely glinting in the reflection of the light and add… you guessed it.. more texture!

On the other side we have this wicker chair which was love at first sight for me. The solid wood side tables, the cement planter and the leather cushion are all little ways of gradually building up on our natural, tropical theme.

We’ve kept the fabric on the sofa quite simple because too much on a very large piece can be just that.. too much. The throw and the beautiful cushions help us to add different finishes here.

Which brings us right back to where we started. I love the open weave pattern of wicker on the sofa and that solid log of wood we have for a side table has my heart. It’s the heaviest piece of furniture in that house and how much it weighs is shocking.

It came packed in a carton (I have no idea how they did it!) which we thought we could easily unpack while we were opening the rest of the furniture. We opened it and tried to pull that table out, and it was absolutely impossible. In the end we had to tear open the carton and it took two men to push it off the base of the carton and over to this corner of the room.

The Dining Area:

As we complete the round of our living room and peek over this sofa, we can see the dining area behind it.

It looks lush green and oh so tropical. While we do have a lot of plants all over this living and dining space, we realised we’ll never get a lush, green, tropical forest feel with just real plants in here. Which is why we came up with the idea of using this beautiful tropical wallpaper.

It makes our dining area look like a mini-forest and the greens on the wallpaper merge right in with the real greens around. (See the live plant in the right hand corner?)

A surprise show stopper here is the stunning side board. We hadn’t planned for a side board at all initially, but the clients loved this piece when they saw it and so we made sure to make place for it here.

I love how it carries the black and white stripes of the entryway into our living room and makes a magnificent statement piece in this space.

Our bar fits into the wall just at the end of our dining table. So that sideboard also helps work as a bar counter when required.

As for the table itself, we went in for a live edge here too. We just had to with our tropical forest right there. The natural wooden pendants and the leather bench against the wall rounded up our dining space well.

That about wraps up the tour of our modern tropical living room and here is a view of the entire space.

The Balcony:

This doesn’t mean that we have forgotten our balcony. This open space with it’s full length glass is what adds the magic to our living room. We’ve used simple, locally sourced cane furniture on the outside. It goes perfectly with our tropical theme and there are always so many wonderful designs to choose from.

When you sit in the living room with the doors wide open, you feel like you’re transported into another world.

And the unending view of the skies is simply superb.

Before & Afters:

Here are a few before and afters… because they are the most fun part!

Our large blank TV wall…

Modern Tropical Living Room Reveal — Before

Which we broke visually with our cork finished panel.

Our small blank dining wall…

Which is now the heart of our tropical paradise.

That entire length of glass doors…

Which we had to cover for this photograph, but otherwise gives you a feeling of floating in the clouds.

So this bit with the windows open…

To give you an idea of what we’re talking about!

Get The Look:

If you’ve loved this look, here are links to some of the products that we’ve used in this makeover.

I hope going through our modern tropical living room reveal has made you as happy as it makes me every time I see one of these pics. It’s always exciting to see what you visualise come to life around you, and this one will always be special.

I would love to hear what you thought of our tropical paradise, so do write in below. Also, remember to sign up here for regular updates on all our projects.

Until next time,

Photography: Biju Gopal of @bizou.photos