Would you rather have an open plan office/playroom or one totally separate

[DaisymooSteiner]

We're mid-build (still!) and on the plans we're having a small study/playroom off the hall next to the living room. On the plans it's a proper separate room with four walls and a door, as most studie are!

I went to visit a friend today and they have a little study about the same size and in the same place, but instead of being shut off, it's kind of open plan with sort of low walls with reclaimed wooden posts up the ceiling and curtains so you can have it shut off if it's messy necessary. It looks really nice and I'm wondering whether we should do something similar. The hall in our house won't be particularly big and I wonder whether this would make it seem more spacious and make it lighter as there would be an extra window onto the hall, which is north-facing.

I also like the idea of being able to keep an eye on the kids when they're on the computer, without needing to specially go into the room iyswim.

Would it just end up being a bit of a nothing room though, iyswim? Would it make it harder to sell than if the study was completely closed off do you think? Neither dh nor I work from home, so it's not as though we're actually going to be working in it much.

I can't decide whether it's a really good idea or totally naff and need to decide in the next day or two before the builders start building the internal walls!

Not sure whether or not it would be a nothingy room but when it comes to sell, you can always put a wall back up to make it into a proper room. So, if you like your friends house, I'd do that.

I have open plan playroom and it saved my life. I can cook or be in the living room and able to watch the dcs too.
It is VERY practical.

Assaid said (as said said ?)you can always build the wall when you sell. Mind you the whole area looks huge when is open plan.

Yes I'd have it open

Oh and i forgot to say that also makes the whole area to have more light

I'd have closed with glass door. noise!

I'd go for the open plan option too. Sounds lovely.

yes open plan

or even a half height wall with glass above

I would say it depends on what the rest of the floor is like. If it is all very open-plan, it will probably be useful to have one or two real "rooms" (with walls and a door), esp. when the kids are older, so that you can separate off into different rooms if you need to avoid each others' noise - for example if you want to watch different things on TV, listen to music or if they want to learn an instrument or need somewhere peaceful for homework.

But if you already have some separate rooms, an open-plan bit would be useful as you say for being able to watch them while you do other things.

How long are you planning to be in the house?
It may seem a good idea to have it open plan while the children are small so you can keep an eye on them, but when they are older, you will be very grateful for a solid wall & door between you & their music....

Thanks everyone. We do have 'proper' walls everywhere else, so this is the only open plan bit and the more I think about it, the more I like the idea.

However, it did occur to me that my friend and I have lots of mutual friends and I don't want it to look as though I have just copied her, so I need to think of a slightly different way of doing it so it doesn't look exactly the same.....and not too expensive either as we're running out of spare cash!