Talk to me about open plan living

[BatCrapCrazy]

DP and I have purchased a doer upper. The original plan was to knock the kitchen, dining room and utilti room together to form a big open kitchen diner. But now we are considering knocking down the wall that would be between the kitchen diner and the living room to give one big open plan space. We do like this idea. One issue i did have was that the kids toys would end up everywhere but we have decided to put an extension on the side of the house to put in a play room and utility room. The play room would be separate to the open living space so hopefully would be easier to keep tidy.
I have my heart set on a grey and yellow colour theme and think this would flow nicely throughout the open plan space.

Has anyone done anything similar?

[bigmouthstrikesagain]

Good luck with your plans op.

Our house has an open plan downstairs - we did not do it the previous owners did. It was a 3 bed detached house with garage and standard living room/ kitchen/ dining room layout, they extended on two levels and turned it into a 4/5 bed w/out garage. The living room, dining room and kitchen are all open now (including the stairs to the upper floor). There is a separate study, downstairs loo, utility and storage room on the ground floor. The task of keeping it tidy is fairly straightforward if constant, but noise is an issue sometimes. In the early evening I will be listening to the radio in the kitchen, the children will be on the pc (near the dining area) and watching tv in the living room. So the competing sounds can be an irritation.

I like the airyness that the layout gives us and in the summer it stays nice and cool downstairs. The Kitchen part of the extension has a double height ceiling and sky light that I love.

[BatCrapCrazy]

The children will have a TV in the play room which will be totally separate so hopefully noise wont be too much of an issue. We are still toying with the idea at the moment but i think that we will probably go for it. We are planning on a double storey extension to put another bedroom on but we are thinking of turning the current 3rd bedroom into a walk in wardrobe which will come off the new master bedroom.

[ShoeWhore]

I'd prefer an open plan kitchen/dining/family room and then a separate sitting room I think. Judging by rightmove this is quite a popular configuration at the moment!

[ChazzerChaser]

I have an open plan living/dining room which is great. Wouldn't like the kitchen to be part of it too. If it was then when my husband was washing up, the radio and associated noise would be disturbing in the living room. Equally when cooking it would take over the whole space. And everything would smell of onions. When buying our house I looked round one that was all open downstairs, thought I 'd really like it but was put off. And for me playrooms end up bring hassle as it's another space to keep an eye on. But horses for courses and all

[ChazzerChaser]

Meant to say - that house I looked round didn't sell after a couple of years, whilst plenty of others did. I don't know if that's why. But for me it was.

[MissScatterbrain]

I love open plan spaces but I would advise having a separate utility room - to cut down on washing machine noise and to hide mess that comes with doing the laundry.

[poocatcherchampion]

and don't be too optimistic they will spend all their time in the playroom!

[Bunbaker]

I make a lot of noise in the kitchen with a food mixer/blender/food processor. We also have a noisy kettle and microwave, plus washing machine and dishwasher. For these reasons, plus the smoke and smells I would always want my kitchen to be separate from my living area.

[MillyMollyMama]

Older children happily spend time in a separate room, but will younger children? Possibly not. I think they would want to be with you.

If you go open plan you need to be tidy. To help you be tidy, put in lots of storage cupboards for the toys. You feel that you have a great deal more space with open plan and again have lots of storage in the kitchen. Or you could try semi open plan. We have walls but they have large openings with no doors. We can just move from one zone to another. We have a formal sitting room and a formal dining room (it could be an office) which still retain walls. We also have a separate laundry room. We find this works well and retaining some walls allows for building in bookcases, kitchen storage and our computer storage area.

[RandomMess]

Urgh open plan living is noisy and the mess spreads!!

Our house was a 60's open plan design and we've put doors on to create rooms.

Yes to open plan kitchen diner, but I would say a huge yes to seperate sitting room.

[mummyof2boys257]

I wouldnt join the living room ive got open plan and the washing machine drives me potty if it's on when I'm watching telly