A dark, concrete-look kitchen wall now anchors the ground floor, while the timber ceiling and staircase keep the room from feeling hard. The house began as a modest corner dwelling in a worn state, but the renovation turned it into a home renovation into an open plan living kitchen with a clear spatial rhythm: low, grounded tones below and a quieter white zone upstairs. The result is compact, but not cramped. Every surface seems to have been asked to do more than one job.

Home renovation into an open plan living kitchen as a spatial starting point

At the rear, a new extension houses the kitchen and gives the plan its clearest gesture. The kitchen extension as a central object is not treated as a separate room tucked away at the back; it works as the hinge between living, dining and the route to outside. A long countertop in beton ciré runs through the space with a raw, almost monolithic presence. Against it, the dark cocoa-coloured wall continues up to the ceiling and out toward the veranda, drawing the eye beyond the main interior.

That open plan kitchen renovation is read through details rather than through a single big move. The worktop stretches in a straight line. The wall treatment stays dark and matte. Light catches the timber above, then drops to the darker base level again. The kitchen does not try to disappear. It sits in the middle of daily movement, acting as the clearest object in the room and giving the compact layout a stronger centre.

From grounded tones to a quieter upper floor

The colour palette is restrained, but it is not flat. On the ground floor, warm browns and greys give weight to the room and make the timber details and textiles register more clearly. Upstairs, the palette shifts to a quieter white, which softens the transition from one level to the next. The change is deliberate and visible. The lower floor feels denser, with more material presence; the upper floor strips that back and lets the rooms breathe through empty wall planes, pale surfaces and reduced contrast.

That controlled shift recalls the simplicity often found in Japanese interiors, although here it is expressed through actual material decisions rather than references. Old and new furniture sit together without being matched into a set. Natural linens, plain upholstery and unshowy finishes keep the room from becoming overdesigned. The overall effect comes from restraint: less colour, fewer gestures, more attention to surface and proportion. In such a small house, that discipline does the real work.

Timber, jute and the value of touch

The warm minimalist wood finish is most visible in the ceiling and staircase in the living area. Pine was treated with Sansin so the grain remains readable and the surface keeps a soft, natural depth. The wood is not sealed into a glossy skin. It still shows the direction of the boards and the edges where light hits them. That choice gives the room an immediate tactile quality, especially when set against the darker kitchen wall and the lighter upper storey.

Jute interior wall material adds a different register. It was used as the base material for walls and floors, and it also covers the kitchen cabinets and the bathroom. Because the woven surface absorbs the mineral-based Raw Paint, the finish gains depth rather than a flat coat of colour. The texture remains visible through the pigment. Small irregularities, frayed edges and the possibility of fine cracks in the concrete all belong to the same idea: a room that accepts variation instead of hiding it.

Materials that hold the tension

The renovation was approached as a place of testing, and that experimental attitude is visible in the way different materials meet. Smooth concrete-like surfaces sit beside rougher fibres. Timber is treated so it can still read as timber. Jute appears on vertical and horizontal planes, which makes the room feel wrapped rather than simply finished. These are not decorative choices made from a catalogue. They are part of the spatial structure, shaping how the rooms catch light, where the eye pauses and which surfaces feel close to the body. Home renovation into an open plan living kitchen remains connected to the layout, materials and daily use of the home.

The project also leans into the contrast between polish and imperfection. Shrinkage cracks in concrete are not treated as interruptions, and the frayed edge of jute is part of the visual language. That approach keeps the interior from becoming overly controlled. It leaves some room for the hand-made and the unfinished. In a compact house, that matters: the walls, ceiling and joinery need to carry the atmosphere without being overworked, and here the materials do that through texture rather than ornament.

Hospitality without borrowing a hotel script

The renovation was handled with a hotel-like level of attention, but the result is not generic or staged. The rooms feel welcoming because they are legible. You can read where to move, where to sit and where the eye should land. The kitchen sits as the clearest anchor. The staircase rises alongside the living space with enough openness to keep the ground floor connected. Outside, the dark wall colour continues toward the veranda, so the threshold is not abrupt. Even in this small footprint, the house opens and closes in measured steps.

What stands out most is how little the project relies on overt decoration. The impact comes from the long line of the countertop, the shift from dark to light, the grain of the wood and the woven density of the jute. Together they create a compact interior that feels settled without becoming heavy. The house now reads as a place for staying put, working, cooking and passing through, all within a small number of well-defined surfaces.

Small rooms, clear details

The bathroom continues the same thinking in a smaller format. A recessed niche, a round mirror and a clean-lined basin give the room a clear centre, while glass and pale surfaces keep the enclosure open. The bedroom is quieter still, with soft walls, a ceiling-mounted curtain rail and a bed placed by the window. These rooms do not shout for attention. They carry the larger project language into more intimate scales, where the material palette becomes easier to read and the light does the rest.

In the end, the home renovation into an open plan living kitchen works because each room keeps to the same set of rules without becoming repetitive. The kitchen remains the focal object. The lower floor keeps its darker, earthier weight. The upper floor pulls back into white. Wood, jute and beton ciré hold the spaces together, but they never smooth out the differences between them. That tension is what gives the house its character and its unusual sense of roominess.

A compact house with a clear spatial order

Seen as a whole, the project is less about adding size than about making each metre count. The rear extension solves the kitchen placement and gives the ground floor a stronger centre. The stair, ceiling and wall treatments guide movement without visual noise. Material choices are few, but each one is allowed to stay visible: the absorbent jute, the treated pine, the dark kitchen wall, the pale upper rooms. The house feels edited rather than decorated, and that is what makes the spatial order so easy to follow.

Photography: Alexander van Berge Home renovation into an open plan living kitchen remains connected to the layout, materials and daily use of the home.