Anyone got fully open plan downstairs?

[Lovingmylife]

We are looking at doing some building work and thinking we might make the whole downstairs open plan. Has anyone done this and ended up hating it or regretted it? I wonder if I'd miss a cosy living room or if I'd love the open space.

I would only imagine it's a bugger to keep warm (and tidy)

Can’t think of anything worse.

Had one and put in walls

I don't think it quite fits your question but we have the living room and dining room open. Galley kitchen leads off separately. It's really not hard to keep warm but we have a 1900s stone house which retains heat well.

DS 2 seems to like it and it works for us.

I recommend watching a few Property Brothers Forever Home on Watch. They seem to do this on every show and it gives you an idea of whether you'd like it or not. I'm firmly in the not camp!

My DS(25) has just bought a house which is all open downstairs. He loves it, as a single person it's fine, if draughty. I imagine for a couple or family it would be a nightmare, nowhere to hide!

I used to live in a house where the front door opened directly into the living room and the stairs led upstairs from the living room. It was a bugger to heat.

Pretty much. Kitchen, lounge and diner in one. It's fab with two little kids. We have separate utility and playroom which works well.

Noise carries (but we also have an open stairwell). Everything else about it is great.

Had it in our last house and hated it. Noisy and cooking smells everywhere. I’m not someone who sees cooking as a social experience though- it’s an escape for me!

Where would you go to secretly snack and look at your phone?

We sort of had one - it was a bungalow, with a porch, one kitchen/living/diningroom which we also squeezed a computer table into, and then a door to an internal corridor with bedrooms and bathrooms.
It was shitte. You couldn't hide anything. The whole of the living area needed tidying and cleaning if anyone was visiting, everywhere smelt when you'd cooked something like fish, and because of the set up, it was one big corridor, so stairs position would matter too.
Give yourself at least one room along with the open plan downstairs.

Ours is a new build by persimmon- called the roseberry. It's open however double doors can be closed to Cosy up the lounge. I know some on the estate have removed them but I do love closing It off on an evening and having the separation

I'm looking at a property atm that's mostly open plan and already considering where it's practical to put in a new wall or sliding doors!

Yes I do. Well, huge open plan kitchen-living room - study etc are separate. I love it and much prefer it to our previous layout. But it of course depends on your lifestyle. People always say they want to have a separate kitchen to hide the mess, but we are by nature tidy, so there isn't really a mess to hide. (And I couldn't sit on the sofa knowing that my kitchen is a bombsite anyway, even if the door was closed)

I like to have the family in the same room and guests tend to gather in the kitchen, so open plan is practical for us. Was really useful when DC were small, so I could cook and still keep an eye on them in the living room.

We have underfloor heating everywhere so that's not an issue.

Don't do it!

My neighbour knocked through their entire downstairs (30s semi) and while it's a great party area they wish they'd kept the wall up so they had a separate lounge.

It's an absolute bugger to heat and lacks any cosiness at all plus there's no privacy. They're now contemplating putting back the dividing wall which is going to cost an arm and a leg.

I would hate it

We do, it a very large kitchen, dining, lounge area with a book shelved area too. It's all underfloor heating so lovely and warm.

I love it and have got into the habit of cleaning up the kitchen area as I go along so it doesn't look messy.

Around three quarters of our ground floor area is an open plan layout and we love it. No issues with temperature, noise etc and lots of built in storage because the house was designed for our specific needs. We have lounge areas in the basement and on the first floor which people can use if they prefer.

We did, then after about 1-2years we ended up splitting a part of it back off with a glazed wall that had double doors in. So it kept the feel and light without the issues.

When it was all open we struggled to keep the place warm as it was open onto the entrance hall and upstairs landing which didn't have a radiator.. Also noise was an issue, just the bedroom door between me trying to sleep and OH play Call of Duty late at night was infuriating.

I'd keep a separate lounge personally. I'm planning on opening my kitchen, dining, utility up to make a big family space but I want somewhere cosy to sit in the cold evenings too.

I ended up hating it! Cooking smells went everywhere and you could have one person watching the tv with someone else listening to music for example

We sort of had this and hated it. Initially thought it was great idea, to be social and open. We did have a separate utility room.

The reality is the competing noise, smells and activities never mind that it is harder to keep warm. I keep things tidy so didn’t worry about hiding mess. We just found someone was always boiling the kettle while I was on the phone and one of DC were trying to watch TV, and another playing a loud game on their tablet, or any other combination of similar things. This would have been hell during the pandemic as instead of making us all be in open space we ended up retreating to our own rooms.

In the end we’ve put in glass double doors at several points so that it can all be open, you don’t lose the light benefit and you can also create smaller spaces if you so wish.Lovely for entertaining and in the summer to be open but also found it far less cosy in winter.

We have an open plan extension and a separate lounge but rarely use it, we do everything in the extension. This may change as our daughter gets older and we spend less time together and I'm glad we had that option

My mother maintained that as kids grow you need more rooms, with doors! I used to roll my eyes when mine were little. Now that eldest is a teen I see great benefit in walls with doors that close 😆 who'd have thought my mother could still be right after all these years! I would try to have flexibility so some way to keep a room separate or double doors that can be closed if necessary.