What do you think of houses where the downstairs is completely open-plan?

[lecce]

I am due to a view a house on Thursday that I am quite excited about (or will be, if our maybe-buyer increases her offer by then) but I do have doubts about the layout.

It is a Victorian semi and does have a lovely wide hallway. However, the sitting-room and the dining room have been knocked through and the kitchen is sort or around from that. Sort of 'L' shaped with the kitchen forming the smaller, horizontal bit but at the top. I do like the idea of a kitchen-diner but am worried about there being no escape at all from smells etc. Also, thinking about it, dh and I sometimes do separate activities like one watching tv and the other listening to music, and it wouldn't work for that, would it?

There is a lovely-looking conservatory that does have a door but I have heard bad things about these being either too hot or too cold all the time. This one is brick-built, has real wood flooring and two radiators. Does this sound like it would a useable room throughout the year?

This house is at the bottom end of our budget so I suppose we could replace the wall between the sitting-room and the dining room. Does anyone know what sort of cost that would be?

Sorry for all the questions, really just thinking aloud as I can't stop thinking about this house .

That house sounds lovely.

It should be easy enough to put walls back up I would imagine, though I've no idea about prices (sorry!)
Best of luck with the viewing.

Put in a stud wall, less messy than taking down a brick wall.

I like the idea of open plan, but as someone who likes the option of solitude, if it were the right house for me (bar the wall being missing) then i'd buy it and put up a wall.

You could also put in french doors between the lounge and dining room so that you have the option of open plan (daytime, kids eveywhere) then making it more snug and private in the evening by closing a set of doors.

agree about the cooking smells, but also about glass doors (which will also reduce heat loss, which is bad in open plan especialy if open to the stairway). I would be thiniking of several folding glass doors that would form a partition when closed. However if an older house the ceilings may be high so unless you can get very tall doors made to fit you would need some sort of partition fixed to the ceiling, which might look odd.

would need to be safety glass in the doors.

We had this is our old house - the lounge and dining room had been knocked through when we bought it, and we subsequently knocked through between the dining room and the kitchen, it was precisely as you say, like an L shape. We lived there as a couple (great for entertaining - felt like a really big space) and then with twins from birth to three. Worked really well as they had lots of space and I could see them from pretty much wherever I was.

We eventually put a door back on between dining room and lounge (like a folding door) so we could try to have a plastic tastic area child friendly area in the kitchen diner and a more grown up space in the evenings in the lounge.

we have open plan
I wouldn't choose it again because of noise issues and not having a place for kids and adults to be separate.

looks lovely though

DP has recently taken to playing his guitar again - so nice that we kept our front room as a room with a door on. Everywhere else is open and that's fine, but not when you have to listen to the same tune re-played for hours at a time.

we had similar open plan- great with small kids, no fun with older ones.

we paid £1600 to put stud wall in and plaster both rooms

hth

We had the same. We reinstated the wall between the dining room and the lounge. Works brilliantly for us.

Those of you who reinstated teh wall between living room and dining room, did you reinstate the door to the dining room from the hall?

Our house is open plan but with a separate playroom. It works brilliantly and is such a lovely informal way of living and entertaining. I always feel rather claustrophobic if I go into a house with separate rooms.

We have kitchen / living / dining open plan. It is noisy and there is a feeling like we need another room or two. In many ways it works though, especially keeping an eye on younger children. And I like to be cooking or washing up and still feeling like a part of what's going on. I have never noticed cooking smells to be an issue.

I would like a conservatory, but I tend to agree with the view that they are either too hot or too cold.

Thank you. Nice to see that so many people have found it workable but also that putting up a wall wouldn't be too pricey. Not sure about glass doors as we have those at the moment and children's fingers and dogs' noses make them a total nightmare to clean and make me slightly hysterical when they're mucky again ten minutes later. Dh also seems incapable of opening the door with the handle and NOT PUSHING IT ON THE GLASS BIT. I also think you lose stortage space when you have a door instead of a wall - does anyone know how much it would cost to put a second door off the hall-way?

Ours is officially under offer so very excited now!

if the conservatory has a plastic roof then i would imagine it would be too hot in summer and too cold in winter.

if the conservatory has a plastic roof then i would imagine it would be too hot in summer and too cold in winter

... and too noisy in the rain!

We also reinstated the door from the hallway to the dining room.

We have a 60's open plan house, it is small! We have still put in a wall to section of the stairs and glazed french doors to the dining room and folding glass doors to the kitchen. Everyone says it now looks bigger - LOL

It is the noise and the mess and lack of privacy and rooms. Was great when the kids were little as you always knew what they were up to upstairs or down but having the options of seperate rooms is ideal IMHO