Archway, instead of door, from hall to living room? Bad idea?

[POPholditdown]

The doorway into my living room is in the middle of the wall, which really hinders my options for layout (basically whichever way we have the door open, it is in the way of something, so everything needs to be on one side).

I feel like I’m missing some major cons of just having an archway there instead (of the same width).

The two major factors I can think of are potentially noise and heating, however:

We very rarely close the door anyway. The only time we do is cat related (vet home visits for example) but this can be solved by using the kitchen instead. The only noise ‘issue’ we have with the door open is hearing the tele upstairs, but this doesn’t bother either of us and we can obviously close the bedroom doors.

Re heating, there are two radiators, one on each side of the left wall and the house is generally warm anyway, so I can’t see it being any colder by being more open.

Am I missing anything?

This may or may not be a forever home, so we do need to think about the effect on selling in the future.. Would it put you off?

One more thing to note is that we don’t yet have DC but we are hopeful. Is this something that could have an impact later? I suppose if we needed to, we could always add a stairgate on or something later on (getting way ahead of myself)

Floor plan added just incase!

Our neighbours had a similar issue. They filled in the doorway and made a new one from the kitchen into the lounge. (I don’t like it; our house is a mirror image of their and it would drive me crackers)

ChanandlerBongsNeighbour I’ll be honest, I have no idea on cost on either, I just assumed the archway would be less work.. but that sounds good actually. Moving it to the kitchen side would give me a whole wall of space.

Was there much disruption to other things like floor etc? We’ve actually redone most of the house, I wish I’d done this before but I never realised how inconvenient the door would be tbh. So I’d love to keep the disruption to a minimum if at all possible.

So glad I posted this thread now.

I think it’s a very cultural thing and that most people in the UK would expect there to be a door of some sort. I lived in open plan houses in the US where the most we had was an archway, so I don’t see it as an issue personally. In fact I sometimes feel like taking all the doors off the hinges on the ground floor! But I do think it would be a concern if you sell on.

I’d suggest taking the door off for the winter to double check how you feel and the warmth issue. Then either do an archway or a pocket door.

We don’t use doors unless for cat related purposes either, so I just wanted to give you some support and let you know that you’re not crazy. We have so many doors that we never use!

I think, all in, the cost of our doorway moving etc was approx £1000? That included blocking the old door, the lintel, removal of waste (there was a surprising amount!!) door-frames, plastering and refinishing. The floor wasn't disturbed at all (which surprised me!). We sorted out the skirting boards ourselves (where the old doorway was blocked up). Really pleased with the result though!

We don’t use doors unless for cat related purposes either, so I just wanted to give you some support and let you know that you’re not crazy. We have so many doors that we never use!

Brilliant🤣 thank you. The only doors we close are the entrance and bathroom doors! You may be on to something actually, as where I’m from, it’s all fancy archways too and minimum doors!

D.C. will make a difference to this.

If you are entertaining/watching TV when your kids are in bed you will want to close the door for noise and privacy.

When your kids are little you may want a door between them and the front door to stop escapees toddling out the front door.

When your kids are older and running in and out to play (inevitably leaving the front door open) you may regret not having a door to keep the heat in/noise out/cat in.

You might also consider the impact on saleability. I’d factor the cost/hassle of putting the door back before making an offer. You never know when you might end up moving or why.

Wouldn't moving the door to the kitchen side mean that everyone going to your living room would have to go through the kitchen? So kids and adults wandering through kitchen, especially while you may be cooking, just to use the toilet, etc? That would be a nightmare IMO.

We have almost identical layout with no kitchen or living room doors!

It was ages after we moved in we realised they werent there and we decided not to put them back up.

In a small house it keeps all the rooms equally warm. Saves doors banging and we really dont have space. Much nicer.

Only time Ive wondered about a door is when people stay over.... but thats not too often so Id rather be door free!!!

My kids are now 9 and 6 and not sure why theyd want a door....

When theyre little it means no doors to trap fingers, or get stuck behind. Now theyre bigger it just means no slamming and heat distributed throughout the house.

I honestly cant see a reason to put doors in!

As someone who survived the seventies... please trust me on this... an archway is never a good idea. Unless you have a medieval castle or church, or a glamorous new build with arched doorways in the design... and even then, don't have a plain arch, no door. It will drive you insane. Don't do it.

Why don't you just brick the hole up altogether? You'd you don't use it and go through the kitchen instead?

Wouldn't moving the door to the kitchen side mean that everyone going to your living room would have to go through the kitchen?

Oop was trying to reply quickly and was unclear.. I meant move more to the right, near the kitchen door but still going from
the hallway, rather than it being opposite the entrance door (as that side has radiators/pipework).

There’s no door from the kitchen to
the living room kenandbarbie plus I have a galley kitchen so even to put one in, I’d have to change the layout of that too and that’s another can of worms

How much trouble can one door cause, eh?

I agree re the heat adventures just couldn’t explain it very well. With the space issue the doors downstairs generally feel like a bit of an eyesore aswell but I think I’ll have to stick with it to avoid resale issues and save my ideas for the next house hehe

Having stayed in a holiday let recently that was open-plan, the only issue I can think of is that when we watched TV after DC were in bed, they were disturbed by the noise.

Ours was moved closer to the kitchen door... corner sofa now on the wall it was.

Id just take the doors off for a while. That wotn affect resale and nobody ever notices!

We've got an arch. We use a curtain... keeps it snug in winter... pop it off in summer

Same material as curtains and cushions and interlinked for extra warmth

*interlined

Your curtain moves!?

We wondered about a curtain but for privacy rather than warmth.

Your walls look good. Oura are all textured wallpaper which i hate :( I expect it would be squillions to sort.

Its on a pivot thing so you can swivel it aside or remove it altogether

Oooooooh Ineed that!

I think the ‘pivot thing’ is called a portiere rod.

@MaryandMichael the previous owners of my house (I assume in the 70s) put in tow arch ways either side of the chimney breast between the living room and the dining room... I’ve actually grown to quite like them...!