Strategy is everything! When you’ve been given a kitchen and living room combined space to work with, a functional and beautiful floor plan is everything. Lucky for you, we’ve rounded up the best tips that will deck out your kitchen and living room space to the nines.

For space that’s a tad bit small, avoid making your kitchen the focal point of the entire room, by having it blend well. By having your kitchen in the same shade and color of the room. That said, white walls and ceilings call for white kitchen decor and furniture.

Breathe life into your living room space and have it steal the show by making your kitchen area as quiet and muted as possible. Not the airy, light feel the windows bring into the room from the kitchen space. The living room still looks immensely larger and more vibrant than the small, clean kitchen.

Have your kitchen and living room blend in beautifully together by having them share the same motif. Their color schemes will provide a united, clean look. Harmony is just as important as functionality.

You’ll want your kitchen and your living room having their own identities as well, so having them posses certain accent pieces, as well as using carpets and art work, will help define spaces.

Layout is key! Get creative with your limited space, and have your living room or kitchen incorporated into spaces like underneath the staircase, as well as slanted ceilings. You’ll be creating individual spaces that work magic together as a whole.

For spaces without any walls or dividers, having your space distinct and distinguished from one another is easy with the use of area rugs! Textures, materials, they do their job well too. Oh, and one more thing. When going about the process of rearranging furniture, avoid having your couch face the kitchen.

Lastly, having your dining set in between your kitchen and living room serves as a great accent, and doubles as a buffer zone too! Good luck, and have fun recreating these tips for your own space!