To think open plan living is not actually that great?

[Dancergirl]

In almost every homes magazine, tv programme etc these days the focus seems to be on open plan living space. Same old story - the main cook of the family feels isolated in the kitchen, everyone is doing their own thing in different rooms, families are not being together. So the answer is to knock down walls to create one big 'space' so all the family members can be together.

We currently have separate rooms downstairs although some are connected with doors. Kitchen is big enough to have a table in where we have every day meals. Sometimes I do think about going open plan but I can see huge disadvantages:

-Sometimes (especially in a bigger family) you do crave a bit of space to do your own thing and you can't really do that in one big room.

-Dh likes to listen to sports on the radio in the kitchen while the dc are watching telly in the other room. This wouldn't be easy in one big space.

-Dd1 plays piano and flute and practices in the living room. Other family members can sit in kitchen or small tv room and can do something else without having to listen to music practice.

-We are a close family but don't feel the need to spend every waking minute at home in the same room.

Do you think this open plan thing is just fashionable at the moment and we'll start craving walls soon? Or am I missing something??

We just remodeled! I resisted open plan at every turn and even bricked up a door!

It boils down to the space you have to begin with. If you have a couple of reception rooms plus a large enough kitchen to house a dining table in it, then yes, I'm with you on that. However, if your starting point is a through lounge and a small kitchen then open plan is a much better utilisation of the space.

Personally, I do like open plan, especially a-la American homes.

Open plan's too noisy and echoey for me.

Interesting.

So I suppose it works if a) you have young children and/or b) if the rooms would otherwise be very small.

fifty do you think you'll feel differently when your dc are older and have homework/hobbies etc?

Yes to echoey blank! The ones you see in magazines are HUGE rooms, you'd have to shout to someone on the other side of the room! It doesn't look homely to me.

I think it sounds awful. Your heating would cost a fortune and everything would smell like food if you have an open kitchen/living area.

Also, I've never lived open plan but I have lived in a flat and a house where we didn't have a door between kitchen and living room, and I can attest that it is so annoying trying to watch TV when your washing machine is going.

Plus it's sometimes nice to be able to close a door on a messy room and come back to it later!

'I love the fact that we are a family rather than existing together in the same house.'

Oh Lordy you really are a good example of an open plan evangelist!

Let us pray for all those groups of people (before Grand Designs came along and gave people fancy ideas) who were just 'existing' together in their houses rather than being a family.

I agree with you.
We have always lived in old houses with thick internal walls and big thick oak doors to every room.
The only problem is we all shout across the house if we need somebody.
next time we move we are considering an intercom
We have looked at more modern houses and always end up factoring in building internal walls.

We extended our downstairs a bit when we moved in but reinstated a wall which had been removed to create a 'through lounge' (whatever that is- 2 lounge set ups in one space as far as I could tell). So now we have separate sitting room, kitchen/diner/family room with a sofa in it and, brilliantly, another reception room which the DC use - previous owners did that bit.

Builder said he had a lot of people wanting to put walls back in to make cosy sitting rooms for use in the evening - who wants to sit in (and heat!) a massive space when you're just relaxing before bed?

Saying that though, our house now has a big kitchen that we can also use as a dining/social area. I might feel differently if we didn't have that option.

So now we have separate sitting room, kitchen/diner/family room with a sofa in it and, brilliantly, another reception room which the DC use

Sounds like the best of all worlds.

Ooh, yes, we have the first scenario Stevie77 describes. Thing is, previous owners did the through lounge thing but really it seemed to just be 2 lounges, not a great use of the space.

Agree OP! Everything in one big noisy room isn't great, and, frankly, there are times I would give my eye teeth to be left alone in the kitchen!

I think open plan is popular because it gives a feeling of space in small homes, not because everyone really wants to be on top of each other. Most of us would choose a large lounge, a large dining room, and a large eat in kitchen, but most of us just can't afford it. So a small lounge and a large eat-in kitchen it is.

We love it Mitzy, can't believe our luck really.

One of the first things we did was put back the wall in between the sitting room and dining room - it had been one big space. So we got somewhere for teenagers to go with their mates, do homework, sit and watch something different.

We do have a table in the kitchen which is big enough for 8 at a push - if you all like each other - and that is great, but also got a table in the dining room so can have guests and shut out the kitchen mess as necessary.

I think it's a fashion that's been created by the economics, to a certain extent. Housing is more expensive, we can't afford as much space so we knock through the spaces we have to make them feel bigger.

Yes I think that's it toomany, creating a sense of space in an otherwise small home.

Although the separate sitting room was meant to be more of a grown-up space ...

Our downstairs is open plan, seemed like a good idea when we bought it. . .

Never ever ever ever again.

If one of us wants to watch something and the other doesn't there's no escape. (OH will have Sky news /BBC news on constantly, I'm happy to keep up to date with current events but it on a frigging loop, so you're hearing the same thing over and over)

Food smells, and worse when we have people over, you can see the washing up etc waiting to be done.

Unless you're rigorous it always looks cluttered or untidy.

You shout a lot, well we do. Oh seems to think that because he can see me, that I must be able to hear him over BBC News, the fan over, the extractor fan, that you always have on 'cause otherwise the whole house smells.

All I hear is mumble mumble mumble

Me: 'What I can't hear you'

Him:'mumble mumble mumble'

Me: 'Either come over and tell me or talk louder'

him: 'mumble mumble mumble'

Me: 'FFS, what?'

Him: 'Eh can't remember now'

2 weeks later: Him 'Did you book/cancel/sort XYZ?
Me: 'huh, you never asked me that'
Him: yes I did you were in the kitchen. . . .

Don't do it

Yanbu

We are open plan even through to our conservatory and it's such a bugger to heat!!!

I didn't even think about the heating aspect!

And I suppose in the summer you have the opposite problem with it being very hot without having the cooler rooms which face north...?

If I'm working in the kitchen, I like being isolated from everybody else.

I don't do well with the kind of multitasking that lets people cook and chat at the same time. If someone is trying to chat with me while I'm trying to concentrate on doing something, I'm likely to snap at them. I'm not good at dodging while working in the kitchen, either. Due to wearing glasses and not having great hearing, I'm terrible at knowing if someone is behind me.

I really don't like suggestions from anyone else on how to cook while I am working in the kitchen.

I don't really want DD (will be 3 in August) running around in the kitchen, where there are things like hot pans and knives. I don't like having to worry about whether she can get pans, knives, etc, while I'm working. I'd rather have her playing in her playroom. If someone wants to help while I'm cooking, it would be better if they entertained DD while I do the cooking, rather than try to help with the cooking.

There is a big open archway between our kitchen and dining room, too big to put a baby gate across. This is one of the things that annoys me about our house. I think about my grandparents' house, that not only had a regular sized doorway between the kitchen and the dining room, there was an actual door that you could close.

When I see open plan homes I think that they can't have teenagers. .

I live somewhere very open plan with a 2 year old DS who is into everything. DH and I LOVE open plan, we are really attracted to big open spaces and love entertaining so hated being shut away in the kitchen while friends are sitting in the front room...

...but it's so impractical with children. It was fine when DS was a baby and he could see me from any corner of the room while I tidied/cooked/did laundry/whatever. Now there is nowhere to hide from him. DH bought me a 2000pc puzzle for Christmas with an image from our wedding on it, and it took us weeks to do, but DS had to be watched like a hawk or he would be up on the table pulling it apart again. He can climb on everything to get to the TV remote, and we can't watch anything before 9pm in the evening because it's right there while we try to put him to bed (hates bedtime, bad sleeper). We have cats and he chases them everywhere. Because it's such a wide space we can't babygate off rooms to keep him in less hazardous areas.

We are currently hunting for a more traditionally built house at the moment...