Making downstairs completely open plan

[pinkyshirt]

We are considering changing our ground floor from a small front room (14x11), small utility room and separate kitchen (13x11) to a ground floor with sq footage of 456 (a lot of room is taken up with the hallway and stairs. Is this a terrible idea?

Was wondering if anyone has done this. The living accommodation now is ok but so much space is wasted in the hallway. We are in south east and also wondering how much we might be looking at having to spend for it.

Keep your utility room - do you want to listen to your washing machine/dishwasher while you are eg watching tv, talking on the phone, generally having conversation?

@AvengingGerbil ok thanks for that! I do like having a utility room

That might be ok in a flat but not necessarily a good thing for a house. Could you chat with local estate agents to see if it might affect resale value or attraction?
Alternatively you could get rid of the hallway but you would have to put up with the front door opening into the living room. Could you add a small porch at the front or some kind of dwarf wall to separate the entrance from the living space? Seems to work ok on the TV - "Not going out" ?

I wouldn't do it. Open plan living is a nightmare.

• Smells from the kitchen permeate the rest of the living space.

• You end up eating dinner surrounded by a pile of pots and pans in your eye line.

• The heating costs are usually higher.

• If it's a large area it can end up resembling the inside of an airport terminal.

• It's handy when children are young but by the time they hit their teens you'll be begging for walls (can you tell I speak from previous experience?)

• You'll need tons of storage space because open plan living means absolutely everything is on display all of the time which is a pain in the backside if you don't like tidying up on a regular basis and you're prone to unexpected visitors (also speaking from previous experience!)

• Lack of wall space for positioning furniture, hanging pictures, etc.

• Noise travels!

I would suggest you find alternative ways to use what you currently see as wasted space in the hallway etc.

Our house is almost entirely open (broken) plan downstairs. Although we have a separate kitchen and utility.

I really like the open plan living and the feeling of space it gives me but agree with the previous poster about the lack of wall space being a problem. Storage in particular is an issue as the lack of wall space means that we have very few options for bookcases/dressers etc. Also £££££ to heat

We have a couple of areas that are divided by steps and a old pulpit (we live in a converted chapel) which means that we can find separate spaces to be in when necessary.

Clever placement of furniture to create "rooms" with in the open plan space also helps bring the space together.

We are starting a renovation soon in which we actually moving our kitchen into the open plan space , but I am retaining the utility room and creating a "muck" room where the old kitchen was so that we have space to just dump things.

Can you rejig the space while retaining a utility and perhaps consider a broken plan rather than fully open plan?

I would open the space up (but keep a utility or at least a cupboard for washing machine and dryer so it isn’t noisy).

I’d prefer the space open to have people over. At the minute it sounds like you haven’t got a room to accommodate more than 4 or 6 people. With the space opened up, you’ll get a bit of breathing room + room to have friends and family over.

We have an open plan kitchen/diner which has a huge archway through to the living room (we didn't do it, previous owner was a wheelchair user). I love the open plan aspect but

• really don't have many walls in my living room (have a picture window, a smaller window, the arch and a door to the hall, so basically one unbroken wall)
• we do have a separate hall, which I like for privacy and security as well as warmth (our hall is dark so I prefer the two windows either side of the front door to be uncurtained, so like being able to close the kitchen door)
• I covet a utility room, as the machines make the whole space noisy.

I'd look online on rightmove to see if you can find different room layouts for your style of house. That all said, I much prefer the open plan to what was there before.

I'm not a fan. It works well when the kids are young and you need to keep an eye on them. Once they're a bit older and want some space (to do homework/have friends round/watch a different TV show from you) it's a pain to be on top of each other all the time. It's also annoying to be e.g. trying to watch TV whilst someone's clattering around in the kitchen.

I would definitely keep the utility room. The noise of a washing machine is a pain in the living room, and if you are hosting it's nice to a messy space out of sight of guests.

Unless you have underfloor heating the lack of wall space for radiators is an issue and big open plan spaces are often cold.

I would say the same as pp. We have extended the kitchen back and managed to carve out a space for a sofa and TV within the kitchen diner, but still kept the front room as the formal living room and although each space is small it means the kids and their playdates are in the front living room playing Minecraft whilst the adults can talk or listen to music etc. Lots of people told us to knock through for the wow factor but I'm so glad we didn't now the kids are bigger.

My new rule is that I would never buy a house without a hallway.

Our last place had a lounge 1m wider in both directions, but actually fit less furniture, just because you needed a 'pathway' to the different areas of it. Now we have a smaller lounge where we can walk directly into, no need to avoid blocking routes.

My sister's house has actually clunkily cut out the hallway, so her lounge is the size of ours plus the hallway... but the shape and routes to other rooms are such a PITA that again, she has less furniture than us.

Fire regs might be an issue too. Don't start this until you have had that checked .

I agree with others, it appeals when children are small and possibly later when they've flown, but at the moment we have homework, TV, console and music practice competing plus I like to be able to put the radio on while I cook. We love walls and doors!!

Wow I suppose I hadn’t thought of teenagers. I selfishly am happy to move out of this house by then as mine have only just started primary school!
It appears a separate utility room is on the checklist.
Definitely the smells of kitchen etc drifting into living space involuntarily is something I was concerned about. Sigh this house isn’t big enough...

Our house was 22' x 18' and built completely open plan.

In the end the stairs were blocked off with a doorway at the bottom with a tiny doorway. We had glass doors but between the kitchen diner and the living room. Washing machine and tumble dryer moved out to the shed.

Removing open plan was bliss!

It may well be the right thing for your house though, especially as you'd be adding to the living space by including the hall. If you are likely to sell on to a family with young children, it could be a real draw. But I think the benefit of separation comes earlier than you might think. Music practice Vs homework Vs TV/music has been a thing here since the youngest was about 8, but I'm sure other families come up with other solutions like practising in bedrooms.

Keeping the utility separate probably offers best of both worlds. A buyer could perhaps imagine using the utility as an office space if they need one too.

Large open space means you have to heat all of it even if you're only using part of it.
Heat goes up the stairs.
No privacy to make a phone call or have a conversation unless you go upstairs.
What if you want to read and someone else wants to watch football or play music?
No hallway means anyone who comes to your front door can see right in.

Actually due to the crap downstairs space we have an upright piano and study upstairs!
Separating using glass doors sounds fantastic

I also have a side front door with a separate porch and two front doors do shouldn’t be too much of a problem as at the moment I can open the door without anyone seeing anything so that shouldn’t change.

Sorry one front door at the side leading to a porch and then a second leading into the actual house

www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/03/06/miss-walls-cry-for-help-from-woman-living-home-with-open-floor-plan/qLl9QX8REvsQ5gKmaeCvFL/story.html

This was in my local paper recently.

Any possibility of separating with folding or pocket doors? This is what we have between dining and living room and it gives the option of one big space or two smaller ones.

I hate open plan houses, it might look modern but it just wouldn't suit our family life. When we built ours we went for traditional rooms, rather than the open plan look that was very in vogue at the time, and I'm so glad we did. With teenagers open plan would've been a nightmare. As it is, we can all find a quiet space downstairs to do our own thing without annoying each other - family of introverts here.

The noise when taps are running in kitchen sink and you're trying to watch TV a few feet away is so irritating!

It’s not just smells coming in to the room, it’s that your furniture and curtains will eventually smell like cooking. I couldn’t hear my tv over my kettle.

And your oven will have to be high up so the toddlers can’t open it’s because there’s no way to block the kitchen off.

I can understand the temptation with a smaller downstairs but you do really need the separation. Keeping the utility is a must and don't make the rest completely open plan with no doors at all unless there's at least 2 good bedrooms upstairs. People need privacy.