It's time to end the tyranny of the open concept floor plan:

The case for rooms

quote:

It's time to end the tyranny of the open concept floor plan

I could not agree more!!! That's part of the reason why we wanted to buy this house, it was one of the few in our price range that had a traditional living room separated from the kitchen. Of course, our new house does have a half wall between the den/family room and the kitchen (I think the den was originally the dining room, and what is now the dining room was probably originally an open porch). But it's not at all what would be called open concept.

From the article:

quote:

Designing homes around “entertaining” that happens only a handful of times a year is a wasteful yet mindbogglingly popular practice.

quote:

Not separating cooking, living, and dining is an acoustical nightmare, especially in today’s style of interior design.

quote:

A large, single, continuous space is harder to get and keep clean.

I agree with all of those statements!

My mother just moved, of course she was downsizing, so that's part of it. But her new house (a townhouse/condo type place) has a sort of L shaped space with living, dining and kitchen all open to each other.

Guess what? It's noisy, it's a pain in the butt to keep clean, and most of the time everything looks super cluttered despite her attempts to keep things under control. And she likes to cook, so when she makes a big meal, the visual of the heavily used kitchen with dishes everywhere is always in your line of sight.

And let's not even get started on the noise issues. Or the whole "cooking grease on the piano" thing, which was another of my concerns.

We are a combination of open and closed. Living/dining are separated by a wide pass through door si you can extend the dining table. But the kitchen is separate.

I like divided rooms for larger gatherings. With open concept, all of the guests wind up in the same place. With closed, some are in the sen. Or kitchen. Or dining room. Or living room. It helps avoid everyone standing there in the kitchen watching me work.

Our current house has living/dining separate from the kitchen (which also has a largish eating area).

I've always found kitchens to be people magnets. I remember a open house-style Christmas party with 30+ people in our small house. The food was in the dining room and the music was playing in the living room, both planned to lure people into those areas and away from the kitchen. Despite my attempts to keep them elsewhere, I had something like 25 people trying to cram into the kitchen. I think I had to ask one guy to move away from the oven (he was standing in front of it) something like five times.

I've lived in open concept and traditional designs. There are upsides/downsides to each, but on the whole I think I prefer open concept.

quote:

I like divided rooms for larger gatherings. With open concept, all of the guests wind up in the same place. With closed, some are in the sen. Or kitchen. Or dining room.

+1
This way (closed) it's easier to have nice conversations because the sound is controlled better. It's also easier to move in and out of conversations without hurting someone's feelings! You can sort of excuse yourself, go into another room without making it obvious you don't want to talk to someone anymore. If everyone's in the same room, it becomes very obvious when you try to detach from one group and join another...

I'll let you know how it goes...

Next month we are downsizing to a condo close to Chicago's lakefront. 1400 sq ft. ONE BEDROOM!

It is an older office building, converted to residences. Ours has a bedroom and then one big room for the rest. (well, 2 baths too)

Big changes for us!

Wow. That's big, Ron.


(no pun intended, of course)

quote:

Originally posted by rontuner:
I'll let you know how it goes...

Next month we are downsizing to a condo close to Chicago's lakefront. 1400 sq ft. ONE BEDROOM!

It is an older office building, converted to residences. Ours has a bedroom and then one big room for the rest. (well, 2 baths too)

Big changes for us!

Very exciting!

quote:

Originally posted by well-tempered gardener:

I've lived in open concept and traditional designs. There are upsides/downsides to each, but on the whole I think I prefer open concept.

Me too. Mary Anna, however, does not.

I just joined a new gym, and I am much happier. Why? A large part is that it's just more wide open. One huge space. Bigger ceilings. Better lighting. I feel more comfortable in that environment.

And I'm not claustrophobic. I don't have a problem with MRIs, for example. But I just prefer more open spaces, bigger ceilings, lots of windows, etc.

Ron, wow, that's exciting!

How big is the place you're moving out of?

I grew up in a house with rooms and I loved it. Especially important when there is a large family living in it; one finds it easier to find a space to be/do what one wants without interference or interfering. When I was in my teens the wall between living room and dining room was torn down. There was a good reason for it: A new hearth and woodstove being installed to heat the whole space, but I didn't like it. But I'm fond of colonial houses. I'm especially enamored of entry ways and halls. Since I left the house I grew up in, another wall has been torn down eliminating the entry hall. Ugh.

I like rooms with walls away from my piano (e.g., on a different floor). But where I put my piano, I still prefer open floor plan so the sound from my piano has space to reverberate. Priorities, you know.

We live in a Victorian that is unusual in that it is "chalet-style" which is a bit more open than some 19th century plans. Rooms come off a central foyer, but they are separate rooms that close with doors...except for the kitchen which has no doors. The living room we usually keep open to the foyer but its two doors can be closed. The piano is in there, so it's nice to have it closed for practicing when desired.

It could be a nice party house with the inviting foyer and staircase.