Open plan living??? Barn conversions with very high ceilings...

[crazeecatladee]

How long will it be before open plan living becomes de rigeur? With the rising costs of heating, when will folk realise that all the money they are paying for heat is ending up in the rafters? Big rooms are almost impossible to heat to a cosy temperature without costing a fortune.

Do you mean de rigeur?

Its not my cup of tea whether there is a cost of living crisis or not, but many people prefer that sort of layout.

They normally have wood burners in massive areas like that anyway

Having stayed in a beautiful conversion with family, I can say it’s not for me.Apart from heating the space, the noise carried like mad as there were no carpets or curtains. It was awful.

I saw a few years ago in a "property trends" section of a newspaper and open plan living was listed as a trend.
I thought at the time, although I know it is a trend, bit it made it seem quite transient like a certain colour (grey!!) or style of lampshade for example being "on trend". But those kind of things you can easily change to something else in a year or so when a new style is more fashionable. Knocking down all the walls downstairs is not easily reversible.
I think I'm way too messy for open plan living! 🤣As well as thinking of the heating bill.

Not sure what the answer is though for barns, chapels and warehouse type conversions that were never built as homes and are generally large areas. The owners haven't set out to make them open plan that's the nature of what was there IYSWIM

I don't understand why you used the term 'de rigueur'.
The open plan looks good but is impractical.

I've lived in a house that was all open plan downstairs and didn't like it.
It is often used when there isn't the space to create separate rooms.
If there is the space, it's better to have separate rooms, because open plan can be hard to heat, they can be noisy and can easy look messy if an area is not spotless.

Architects and photographers love open plan spaces because it looks impressive. Builders building tiny houses love open plan because an open plan space seems bigger than 3 small rooms. But people with space and money know that rooms are great, they are quieter, they are easier to heat, there is more storage space. A big space is only nice if you have smaller spaces as well to escape to.

Absolutely, there is a lot of building of houses round here and they cost a fortune. The majority of 3 bed semis or terraces.

But what they actually are is just one room downstairs and 3 small bedrooms with 3 toilets in the house

So no walls to put furniture up against or radiators or storage, cooking smells and noise and essentially your living area is just a room. I'd hate it. I love our separate rooms