Decorate

Room recipe: How to use a timber dividing screen

This family zone is now relaxed, warm and sophisticated.
Sue Stubbs

This renovated Californian bungalow used a timber screen to delineate the dining area from the from the living space.

“Repetition of materials and cohesiveness is how you achieve that relaxed feeling of home.”

Melissa Bonney, The Design Hunter, Interior Designer

“[The homeowners] wanted an open-plan living zone with an indoor/outdoor connection,” explains The Design Hunter Interior Designer Melissa Bonney. “They entertain a lot, have three children and have family to stay for extended periods, so needed space.” To create an easy flow, Melissa had the kitchen and living zone floors lowered to a uniform level, the same as the garden, adding steps, storage cabinetry and a timber screen to match the kitchen cabinetry and delineate the dining area from the living space.

What makes it work? Here’s our Room Recipe to show you how.

Room recipe: How to use a timber dividing screen | Home Beautiful Magazine Australia
(Credit: Sue Stubbs)

“We wanted to do something special for the screen, something you could see through – rather than a solid wall – that was beautiful and purposeful”

Melissa Bonney, The Design Hunter, Interior Designer

Ingredients

Custom built screen in Blackbutt timber via B2 Construction

Upholstered bench seats

Textural accessories

Natural fabrics in soft furnishings

Method

  1. Use consistency with finishes throughout the whole house – Blackbutt timber was used here for the dividing screen to echo the kitchen cabinetry
  2. Customise bespoke storage to separate living areas and maximise use of space – Dulux Vivid White 2-pac to echo the nearby kitchen cabinets
  3. Keep to a tonal palette. In the living area, the subdued hues of a Bayliss rug tie in with ‘Rustic’ natural flax fabric from Marpaso Trading, used for the custom upholstery on the divider unit seats.
  4. Work with existing pieces. The owners’ existing coffee table from Top 3 By Design marries happily with the timber finishes.

  

Get the look:

Room recipe: How to use a timber dividing screen | Home Beautiful Magazine Australia

(left) Lungört cushion cover in Grey/White, $6.99, IKEA | (centre) Tribal cowrie shell collar with stand, $64.95, Rustic, White & Wood | (right) Home Republic Savana vintage washed fringed cushion in Pale Blue, from $59.99, Adairs

  

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Divide & conquer: A living room and kitchen become one

Outdoor expert guide to decorative screens

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