What do people think about open plan living?

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missdaisy

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Hi, I just wondered generally what people think of open plan living. We have bought a 3 bed semi-d house which we are upgrading. There are 2 stages to the upgrade, firstly upgrade the house that is there and then there would be potential to put a 2 storey extension on in future years.

At the moment mrdaisy and I are having some disagreements about the downstairs layout. We consulted with an architect who advises knocking walls and having a full open plan kitchen, dining, sitting room and a separate utility. This looks lovely but it would be the full extent of our living space. I think I would go with it if we had a second sitting space that would be closed off from the kitchen but we won't have that, certainly for many years.

I like the idea of having a separate sitting room but mrdaisy and architect are all about the open plan and the light etc.

Just wondering in general what are people's thoughts about the open plan arrangement!?
 
missdaisy said:
Just wondering in general what are people's thoughts about the open plan arrangement!?
Click to expand...

Its really a personal preference. Im into open plan, space and light etc... But I know other people who like a smaller cosy room to feel comfortable. Think about heating and food smells - I live in an open plan apartment and food smells in the sitting room are a pain for me.
 
It's not for me.

I have issues with smells, noisy, privacy and mess (which is particularly important when there are children in the house).

I do think they look great and you get so much more light, but you've to think about how you live. Will there be people watching different things on tv/internet at the same time? will there be a mess? will that bother you if you have visitors?
 
Dont forget about heating costs. You have to heat up the whole room rather than a section off it.
 
I'm not that keen on the kitchen area being included in the open plan.

Maybe if it was out of the main view, as in around the corner of an L shaped area or something, it mightn't be as bad.

Little things such as cooking smells, messy kitchen, smoke from cooking dirtying wall/ceiling paint, noise when cooking or cleaning up when someone else is trying to watch tv would put me off having a kitchen included. I've experienced this in the past & prefer a seperate kitchen.

A friend has open plan, but with glass bricks seperating the kitchen. It looks good & allows the flow of light.
 
If I had the money I would do as you are doing, and have an open plan living area downstairs. We visited a relative in the states who did this, and the feeling of space and light was incredible, after a while the noise (of other people) - is not noticable and I found it comforting! as I never felt alone...

However do bear in mind how you live, do you have older children? DO they like their space?

But I love your thinking!!!
 
Thanks for the replies :) The real reason I'm not madly keen about the open plan arrangement is because I feel we would never be away from the kitchen. I don't like the lingering cooking smells. The other problem I have is there's no space to entertain people separately, e.g. boys come over to watch match, girls come over to have a chat while match is on!

The other thing is the impact of it on a sale. We don't want to sell the house and bought a house that has the potential to become a proper family home. But you never can be sure and I wonder would this open plan idea actually reduce value of our house.
 
Hi Pinkybear, mrdaisy would love what you are saying!! We don't have any children at the moment so won't be giving teenagers' need for space consideration just yet! Gosh it's just so hard to know what to do!
 
What about going with the option of open plan and having a divide as in have sliding doors that go in the the walls between the living and dining. It will allow for separate space and also open plan for entertaining.
 
Depends on the kitchen really, I personally wouldn;t like it due to food smells, noise from extractor fan, cooking, even dishwasher etc.
 
I don't think food smells in open plan are much more of an issue than food smells in general. If you're cooking something that smells, the whole house smells (somewhat, anyway) and you only notice it later on if you go outside/upstairs/etc and then return.

I would agree with OP however, regarding open plan with a closed off room as well. It's nice during the day/early evening to live in a large area around the kitchen with living room and sun room all combined but late evenings and Sunday mornings are nice in a cosy quiet space.
 
missdaisy said:
Hi, I just wondered generally what people think of open plan living. We have bought a 3 bed semi-d house which we are upgrading. There are 2 stages to the upgrade, firstly upgrade the house that is there and then there would be potential to put a 2 storey extension on in future years.

At the moment mrdaisy and I are having some disagreements about the downstairs layout. We consulted with an architect who advises knocking walls and having a full open plan kitchen, dining, sitting room and a separate utility. This looks lovely but it would be the full extent of our living space. I think I would go with it if we had a second sitting space that would be closed off from the kitchen but we won't have that, certainly for many years.

I like the idea of having a separate sitting room but mrdaisy and architect are all about the open plan and the light etc.

Just wondering in general what are people's thoughts about the open plan arrangement!?
Click to expand...


Why not stick sliding doors between the living room and kitchen / diner that way you can have best of both worlds
 
We have both an open plan kitchen/living/sunroom and also a separate sitting room.

I love the open plan in the day time, especially being able to watch the kids while cooking etc.

But myself and hubby love the sitting room in the evening after the kids are gone to bed. It doesnt quite feel the same if we spend the evening in the open plan space.
 
foxylady said:
Why not stick sliding doors between the living room and kitchen / diner that way you can have best of both worlds
Click to expand...

Anybody know where sliding doors (approx 18 ft span) can be sourced?
Would love to see some examples of what can be done...

We bought a house that has an open plan layout downstairs (kitchen / dining / sitting room)
Importantly though, the garage is converted and is used as a playroom / TV room for the kids when they have friends over so they have their privacy.

I think the open plan layout looks great and has a real wow factor when someone walks in but it can be annoying when you're trying to watch TV and the eldest son is banging about in the kitchen
 
Personally I would never go totally open plan. You'll be living together a long time, do you really think there'll never be occasions when you each want to watch different things on TV, or one of you have your friends over while the other plays video games? And that's without children in the equation.

A large kitchen diner is great. I live in a small ex-Corpo house but my kitchen diner is a lovely size and very well proportioned, it's really sociable when people are over because I have a peninsula unit so I can prepare food etc while facing my guests at the table. I also have a TV and an armchair, so it can function as a TV room. If it was a bit bigger again I'd have a sofa.

My living room is too small to really entertain in, and ideally I would like it to be about twice the size, but it's great to have a separate space, especially as I have a housemate so we can watch different TV programmes in the different rooms, or if one of us is cooking or entertaining they are not disturbing the other. And yes, if something is bubbling away on the cooker it is nice to have a different room away from the steam and smells.
 
Thanks for all the replies! We're looking at our layout again and speaking to the architect about it again. I think I have persuaded mrdaisy that totally open plan would be a bad idea! :)
 
alexandra12 said:
Dont forget about heating costs. You have to heat up the whole room rather than a section off it.
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That is not accurate: you heat the other room anyway. Don't you ? If you don't, you're only encouraging draught's. I find my open plan is easier to heat, not more difficult.....

JMR said:
Anybody know where sliding doors (approx 18 ft span) can be sourced?
Would love to see some examples of what can be done...

We bought a house that has an open plan layout downstairs (kitchen / dining / sitting room)
Importantly though, the garage is converted and is used as a playroom / TV room for the kids when they have friends over so they have their privacy.

I think the open plan layout looks great and has a real wow factor when someone walks in but it can be annoying when you're trying to watch TV and the eldest son is banging about in the kitchen
Click to expand...

I have open plan, and we love it. We have 2 x small people as well, and it's never been an issue for us.

missdaisy said:
Thanks for all the replies! We're looking at our layout again and speaking to the architect about it again. I think I have persuaded mrdaisy that totally open plan would be a bad idea! :)
Click to expand...
Pity, that, really. There's no reason for smells/odours etc to be a problem - that's what extractor's etc are for...........

And, Open Plan doesn't mean one huge open space - it can have reveals etc in it to break it up, without compromising on the open element.

Can't attach doc here, but my floorplan I brought back from US precisely because it was open plan. (oh, and no door's to buy, either ! )
 
Someone I know just sold his house because it was open plan. Him and his wife have young children and they never had their own space. He said never again.

I have a kitchen/diner that has two big doors into the living room. It is lovely having them open during the day but at night if my son has the tv on in the living room I can't put on the radio in the kitchen. Or if the washing machine is on in the evening it is quite hard to hear the tv. Or if I have a friend around for dinner. In those instances I close the double doors. It also keeps the heat in the living room in the evening.

I definitely think some sort of door is the way to go.
 
galwaytt said:
Can't attach doc here, but my floorplan I brought back from US precisely because it was open plan. (oh, and no door's to buy, either ! )
Click to expand...

I'm sure your American house was fab, but what size was it ?
The OP is converting a 3 bed semi, not building a large house. As he said, going open plan in his house means having one and only one living space downstairs.

It sounds wonderful to have a large open plan living space but in an average size house in Ireland, this means sacrificing any chance of privacy or having 4 people of different ages doing different things at the same time ie one person cooking dinner, one person listening to music and one person doing homework, one person talking on the phone.

Also, the OP has said that they dont have kids. If you are spending time and money converting your house and planning an extension, how long are you planning to stay in it. If you plan to have kids in the next ten years, you should seriously think about planning a house that will be suitable or prepare to sell up and move then you do have them, leaving all your lovely expensive work behind.

One last point - I am sick of people telling me about a house with a WOW factor. How often can you say WOW when you look at the floor tiles / open plan sitting room / etc etc ?

Do you come down the stairs every morning and say WOW ?

Your house is your home to live in, not a trophy to show off. Planning a space that you and your family feel comfortable in is more important than anything. (Small rant over)
 
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I agree with you totally huskerdu. A house is a not a trophy to show off.

I plan on getting carpets in living room and bedrooms as I find the laminate (there when I moved in) so cold looking in the winter. I love a really cosy feel in a house. Several people have said, oh get wooden floors, they are much nicer and one even said carpets are so 70's. I really don't care what other people think - it's my house and I will do it up in a way that is comfortable and cosy for me.

Missdaisy, you should just go with what is comfortable for you, not what other people tell you is in at the moment. If it is going to be your home for a long time, do think carefully about what you want and need.
 
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