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The best of both: a colorful shared living-sleep area

When there just isn’t enough space for a conventional setup, creativity quickly becomes your best friend. Divide up the living room with fabric, introduce some lightweight, multi-purpose furniture, infuse with a whole lot of color and pattern and this is where you’ll land: a welcoming and fun space where sleeping and socializing can coexist in harmony. Making do? More like making magic!

A woman on an UTÅKER bed with various colorful cushions and throws, with a man standing behind by some plants.
A woman on an UTÅKER bed with various colorful cushions and throws, with a man standing behind by some plants.

Best of three

Softly divided down the middle with a luscious array of indoor plants, the shared living zone in this room is just for that – living! Lightweight, mobile and multi-purpose furniture makes it easy to flip the function of the space or make some extra room when the gang pops over for an impromptu checkers tournament.

A woman on an UTÅKER stackable bed plays with cards. Behind a room-dividing combo of a plant swath and a curtain sits a man.
A multicolor HANNELISE cushion on a dark-grey LINNEBÄCK easy chair by a grey TINGBY side table on a TÖMMERBY rug.
A pair of hands holding colorful spools of thread and balls of yarn.

Want some planet and wallet-friendly furnishing tips?

Interior designer Chiara Effroi Lutteri has some knowledge to share when it comes to making a more sustainable home, dispelling the myth that living more consciously needs to be costly.

Live more sustainably on a budget

Color is the word

While a lot of the furniture in this room is dark, you’d never describe the space that way. Bright pops of color and warmth are brought through in the art on the walls and the soft, textiles – both patterned and plain – throughout.

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Dark red FYXNÄS table lamp on a black-brown LACK wall shelf, two black BOSNÄS footstools with storage and two pine boxes.
Dark red FYXNÄS table lamp and various items on a black-brown LACK wall shelf above two black BOSNÄS footstools with storage.
Over the side of an UTÅKER stackable pine bed droop a pink throw and a dark-green INGRUN throw.
A multicolor HANNELISE cushion on a dark grey LINNEBÄCK easy chair.
A grey TINGBY side table with various items on top, on two dark green/off-white TÖMMERBY flatwoven rugs.
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That’s just so you

Pull the textile curtain aside and look: a zone dedicated to sleep and personal storage is revealed. IVAR cabinets offer a very practical clothing and shoe storage solution, with space above for hats and smaller boxes. But really, it’s those doors that steal the show. Embroidered into the metal mesh is a bright and unique geometric pattern, adding a lovely personal touch to an IKEA favorite.

See all IVAR combinations
A corner of a room with three high, grey IVAR cabinets with mesh doors filled with clothes, and storage boxes on top.
A section of a grey IVAR cabinet holding clothes and accessories. There's embroidered decorations on the door's metal mesh.
See all IVAR combinations

Living more sustainably starts in the home

From shopping at As Is to selling back your older furniture through the IKEA Buy back program, there are all kinds of ways to bring some more sustainable thinking (and doing) into your home.

Find circularity initiatives at IKEA
A store interior where a man inspects an untreated, natural-wood chest of drawers.
Find circularity initiatives at IKEA