Hi,

I'm new to this so been following a few threads, picked up a few tips and now feel confident enough to share my own dilemma.

I've just bought an apartment with combined kitchen / living area (21.5ft by 11.6ft) with the windows facing North. As you'll see from the attached pics, the room looks bland and lacks "soul". I think the kitchen cabinets don't fit the rest of the room especially the laminated floor (dark wood trim, high gloss cream cabinets).

I've found a room planner app that allows you to design rooms etc and attached are pics from my 1st draft. I'm keen to have a demarcation between kitchen and living space and am toying with the idea of using a L shaped sofa to achieve this. Any thoughts? If so is it best to have it against the wall in a room this size? (The white seats in my draft are Florence Knoll leather sofas that I can get cheap)

I've picked up on the idea of feature walls I was planning on using mouldings to split the east facing wall into 2 sections. However a colleague who is tuned into design suggested that this works best with high ceilings and when used in in a normal height room, it makes it the ceiling feel lower than it actually is. Instead, he's suggested painting the TV & window wall with Crown Paints Fashion New York and the other wall (not kitchen) with Almond White (Dulux) to create a statement.

I'm also going to put wooden blinds in but am undecided on colour, slats etc.

Please note that all furniture (except the TV cabinet) is borrowed to get me up and running so there's no sacred cows if you want to criticise.

I'm on a limited budget as I overspent on the apartment itself so I hoping that because the room is practically a blank canvas, it'll appeal to peoples creative and innovate spirit. Any feedback will be much appreciated and gratefully received.

Many thanks,
Raj.