Gorgeous Sunken Living Rooms: Designer Ideas
Welcome to our gallery of sunken living room ideas. Sunken living rooms are ideal for creating a cozy living environment inside of a larger space. Often found in contemporary and modern home designs with open concept layouts. A sunken living room can help emphasize a space and create a luxurious feel. Many sunken living areas utilize custom-built-in furniture to match the homeowner’s desired look.
Sunken living rooms, or living rooms placed on a recessed floor level of a house, are typically employed on modern or contemporary homes, and is basically a modern idea. However, a similar, but subtler concept can be found applied even to older structures and homes. This type of living room allows the living room to feel like a separate space from the rest of the house, while still being able to employ on open layout for the space. Sunken Living spaces also define a smaller area within a large floor plan, giving it a sense of privacy, as well as emphasis.
This type of living room can also be seen in classic structures and a variety of architectural styles. It can be applied to French-style homes or Mediterranean homes—your imagination is your limit. You just need to find the right balance of appropriate furniture pieces, materials, and depth to make the look work according to the effect you are aiming for.
Designing Sunken Living Rooms
Sunken living rooms definitely make a home look more unique and fit the unique architectural styles of a custom design. However, there are some considerations you need to make before applying this design to your own home’s remodel. Below is a basic guideline to help you decide:
Available space – determine if you have sufficient space for the sunken living area. As a general rule, they work best with larger spaces, especially those which uses an open floor plan. This and the next item in the guide go hand-in-hand, as you need to determine the amount of space you need for the type of sunken area you want to make.
Intended use – this will help you determine the answer to the next item in this guideline. You need to determine what you intend for the space: a full living area, a small sitting area by the fireplace, a semi-private huddle area, a reading nook, etc.
Depth of Sink/Recess – are you planning to do a shallow floor recess only? Or would you want a significantly lower floor level for the living room? Is it structurally possible to do for your space?
After considering such aspects, you also need to take not the different advantages and disadvantages of sunken living rooms. Although it varies depending on the situation, space and application, below is a helpful general list of its advantage and disadvantages.
- It makes the living room feel more open without having to raise the ceiling height. Especially helpful for spaces with uniform ceiling heights – this gives the living area more emphasis.
- Separates spaces without using barriers or walls while creating a more private/intimate atmosphere within its bounds.
- Helps emphasize spaces and make it stand-out from the rest.
- Can be claustrophobic if too small.
- Can cause accidents, especially if the floor level change is subtle or not easily noticed.
- Could possibly cost a lot to build, especially if you’re simply renovating an existing space.
Below, we have listed an excellent selection of sunken living room ideas. This list includes examples from a variety of layout styles, as well as architectural and interior period styles.
The sunken living room in the picture above is part of a massive open layout home. From its vantage point, you’ll see the modern curved staircase, a pool/game area on the left, a small entertainment nook on the right, and the kitchen on the far back. For this particular design, it gives that feel of privacy, and the recess on the floor is quite deep. The living area is a circular cut-out from the polished dark oak floors, which is also mirrored by the circular recess of its ceiling. Although quite small, this makes for a very cozy sitting area, perfect for conversations and gives a feeling of privacy, encouraging communication among its users. The sofa is built-in on the recess and is upholstered in a bisque velvet fabric with a matching round ottoman at the center. It can be accessed via the two 4-level steps right beside the two semi-circular sofas.
This is a gorgeous contemporary living space with an open floor plan. The living area is adjacent to the kitchen area and is separated by a long bar counter. The large living room area is only slightly sunken, so it doesn’t have that closed-off feel that deeper sunken living rooms usually have. Also, the lower floor level helps emphasize the high ceiling and the exposed I-beams of the structure. The wood beams, plain white paint, and golden teak wood floors, doors, and windows are a warm contrast against the industrial feel of the charcoal-painted metal beams. Furniture pieces are basic loose furniture pieces such as a large modular L-shape sofa with pebbled light gray upholstery, a leather bench, a black modern coffee table, and a simple console table.
The unique architectural style of this house creates a unique and dynamic open layout for the interiors. It has a high ceiling with skylight, making the interior even brighter, as most of its walls are fixed with floor-to-ceiling windows. Style-wise, it mixes different furniture styles, but keeps a neutral, muted color scheme for a well put-together look. The sunken living area has a unique shape that follows the geometry of the architecture. The area is quite large, mainly serving as a sitting or receiving area, as it is not equipped with entertainment units. Modular sofas almost completely surround the sunken area, except for the fireplace and its steps. You will notice the use of Modern Modular sofas, Chinese lacquered table, classic French round area rug, and other elements, creating a very eclectic mix.
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