Don't like Open Floor Plans. Anyone else like me? (granite, hardwood floors, counter top)

[fallingwater]

I prefer separate rooms myself, so you not alone OP! I think I got the best of both worlds with my last home purchase. I have a separate living room which I love. I can put the christmas tree in there and not get tired of it too quickly. Also if someone pops over, the living room is always clean. Our kitchen and family room are open to each other and in the back of the house. This is where we hang out as a family. I do enjoy cooking and being able to see the tv. When family comes in from out of town we can all hang out in the same area. Some of us may be having a snack in the kitchen and the guys are watching a game on the tv. We have a finished basement where I have my office and another family room area. So when I get totally sick of sports (I am the lonely female in a house of men) I can escape to the solitude of the basement. Mostly my home has divided rooms.

We looked at a lot of homes that had open floor plans and even though I am mostly a neat freak, just the idea of basically if one area is a mess, the whole place looks a mess. Another thing people do not think about is decorating such a large open space. Choosing paint colors can be a challenge as there are no places to properly divide the colors and so forth. I personally noticed a trend in my area that the newest homes built are adapting a more traditional floor plan with separate rooms. It seems most like the idea of an open kitchen and family area but the rest of the house has its own identity.

[golfgal]

We have had both and I like having a formal living room as a separate room but prefer the family room and kitchen to be open to each other. In houses where we have not had a family room open to the kitchen everyone gathers in the kitchen anyway so having the extra space is nice. I miss our formal living room in our old house for a quiet place to read or relax while others are watching tv, etc. It was also nice when we had friends over and we could chat in the formal living room while the kids were in the family room.

[kinkytoes]

I especially despise the "dining area" "eat-in" kitchen and "living/dining combo" LOL The person who coined those phrases should be pinched. I also think that setup works only if you can match all of your furniture and decor. Personally, I like being able to do something different in each room.

But I do admit that in a very large house an open floor plan can be nice in the "common" areas of the house. But it didn't work in my house. I used to be able to walk in and see my kitchen and backyard from the entryway.

There was weird wasted space and I really missed having a dining room. I really enjoy decorating, and I like having a room to eat in. I had a carpenter put in a dining room and create a foyer area.

Now the living room is smaller and sooo cozy! I never liked sitting there before, but I LOVE it now. I guess I like the feeling of walls separating the rooms. I also think that having a closed foyer (you now have to walk through an entry hall to reach the rest of the house is so much safer.

I am kind of a decor freak, and I did see some houses in India that have "open" floor plans, but they don't look like the ones in the US. IMO this is how to really do an open floor plan. I think it really works since the climate is hot, and I think it's a great idea to use different floor heights to define the different areas. Maybe that will catch in in the US:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0J1c...eature=related

[Cattknap]

Originally Posted by Rubee

I don't agree it's a fad at all. With families traveling more and scattered across the country, I think it depends on your lifestyle and what fits for you. I grew up in homes with separate rooms, and also love that cozy feel. OTOH, it doesn't work for me now. Living in sunny Arizona, we have frequent out of town visitors and entertain a lot (including family staying over most weekends). I love having the open floor plan with plenty of room for adults to mingle and the kids to play. I do wish that the mess while I'm cooking in the kitchen could be hidden away, but even when I did have a separate (tiny) kitchen in my previous home, everybody would squeeze in there while I was cooking, so that didn't work either. The dining room being open to the family room also works out perfectly as I frequently use it for buffets if we have a big group. We also have a separate, closed off living room at the front of the house in addition to the open plan of the main areas.

I am not a fan, however, of those soaring cathedral ceilings for the same reasons - heating/cooling, echo, lack of "warmth", wasted space. I do think those are a fad. For our home, we chose a single-story with 10 foot ceilings, which I love. I also agree that I don't like when the front door opens straight into the main room or to a view of the kitchen. One of the reasons we chose ours was because it has a circular foyer so your first view straight ahead is a large picture window looking out into the backyard instead of the kitchen/dining room. I was able to find the open floor plan with the flow I want, but to me the rooms still feel somewhat defined. (pic of walk-through when it was being built):

Actually I can see that the configuration you posted could look very nice and be great for entertaining. But here is where it wouldn't work for me. I like that our family room is not connected to the kitchen because my husband loves to watch sports, etc. and if I am cooking, I like to have music or have things quiet because I'm often trying to follow a recipe or a cooking DVD...so having that roar of the crowd in the background would be terribly distracting and off-putting for me. Lifestyles and habits differ I guess.

[cold ethyl]

I prefer separate rooms too, but didn't end up buying a house like that. When I first started looking for a house about a year ago, my ideal situation was a house with separate rooms. I didn't want the kitchen to basically be in the family room. My parents' house that I grew up in is not an open floor plan, so I think that's why I wanted separate rooms -- it's just what I'm used to. But I found out quickly that that's pretty much impossible, at least where I was looking (Las Vegas). I like my house, but do wish it was a bit more closed.

[Wilson513]

To me an open floor plan means a kitchen opening up into the main living are or great room. I just hate them too. Its weird. There is something deeply psychologically troubling about the sort of mommy-centric house design that these open floor plans represent. Is mommy part of the party or the help? Or like an empressario where the food is the entertainment?

For my part, I think the dining area should be an intimate space. Not necessarily small but able to be closed off.

When a formal dining room is incorporated into an open floor plan they almost always are right at the front door. Open the front door and you are right in the entrance to a formal dining room.

[Rubee]

Originally Posted by Cattknap

My husband loves to watch sports, etc. and if I am cooking, I like to have music or have things quiet because I'm often trying to follow a recipe or a cooking DVD...so having that roar of the crowd in the background would be terribly distracting and off-putting for me. Lifestyles and habits differ I guess.

I totally agree! That's why he's sometimes relegated to the front living room (separate from the family room/kitchen) especially if I'm hanging out and cooking with my girlfriends.

[zugor]

My first two houses were small, built during the depression, and I loved the fact that there were doors to close off the separate rooms. Second house had an L-shaped hall way with door leading to LR, Bath, 2 bedrooms, basement staircase and kitchen.

Current house is twice the size of the last one, two stories but open concept LR & DR off the kitchen. Coming in the side door, the entryway that's used most often, one must pass through the kitchen to get to the living room. The lack of wall space means that my 11 bookcases are all over the house and not well organized. Very little room left for artwork.

Oh well, can't have everything and the dogs do have a nice long creek and a pond to swim in so... they are happy.

[PAhippo]

add me to the preferring-rooms list.

I do photogrphy & needlework, have some ptgs my grandmother did, a few antique etchings... I need walls!
I also don't like the sound of big rooms-like a gym or shopping mall or something.

[Coldjensens]

For me it depends on what you are doing. We have an old house with lots of separate rooms with doors. Our kitchen connects to the dining room through a large double door that folds together as it opens. Thus, if we choose, we can close the door, leave it open, or leave half of it open depending on how much interaction and noise we want passing between the rooms. The other rooms all have separate doors and there is a twin set of doors between the dining room and the back parlor (kind of like an air lock) on each side of each room, the back stairs are between the doors).


For Christmas we were discussing whether to have the family get together at our house or at Dad's where he has a more modern "open floor plan" Much to my surprise, my siblings said that they prefer my house, because you can get away from different goings on and hubbub if you want to talk or whatever. They wanted to come to us despite the 40 minute added drive (each way) for most of them.

At Christmas, we had about 20 people (maybe a few more than 20). We ended up with a group of people in the back parlor watching the kids play their new X-box Connex (not correct spelling - but a really cool thing). Noisey in there. Another group was playing a card game in the dining room. It was a bit raucous in there too, but they had to be able to hear each other. Another group was in the kitchen cleaning up and chatting about girlie things that they did not want to talk about with guys or kids around. Several kids were playing air hockey in the basement. Another group of adults were talking quietly in the back parlor and yet another were monkeying around on computers in the library.

Still we were able to all gather in the back parlor for a Christmas music violin concert when we needed to be in one place. At supper, we put the kids at the table in the kitchen and left the doors open so that we could sort of hear (but not see) them while the adults ate in the dining room. They were close enough that they adults could have pleasant conversation without being overwhelmed by the giggling and occasional screaming, but we could hear enough to prevent a food fight from escalating, or conversation from becoming inappropriate.

At least for this purpose, our divided floor plan worked much better than an open floor plan. In fact, an open floor plan for us would have been hell. You would not be able to hear a thing and everyone would be yelling to be heard.

The young kids really love the divided plan. they can play lots of crazy games in a circle or figure eight running through all the different rooms. If they use the upstairs they Can make a really crazy maze going up the back stairs, down the front and round into various rooms. In the summer, they can also go out various doors, around the porch or through the yard, and in a different door. The front porch connects to three different entry doors at different parts of the house so they can add a lot to the maze without having to put on shoes or go into the rain (rains a lot here). They have great fun with it.

Another thing I really like is the front/back parlor concept. The front parlor is always nice, clean and orderly. It is right to the side of the front door and we can close the doors to the rest of the house if it is a mess. Thus, we always a have a neat and pretty room to entertain people in. The rest of the house is usually messy, and it is nice to hide the mess (unfortuantley, most guests end up asking for a tour of the house). With an open floor plan, your mess is always on display.

Our house is not huge (3900) but it is twisty with lots of doors hallways and stairs, and most guests get lost when they first come to stay. It is a confusing layout because it was not planned, but rather evolved through various additions over time.

One thing that can be a hassle is the long walks. The house is mostly lineal instead of circular. Thus, to get from the front door to the mud room or bathroom at the back, you must walk through the little entry areas, through the back parlor, the dining room, and the kitchen. This can mean opening and reclosing up to 5 doors each way (six if you count the bathroom door, seven if you count coming in the front door). Usually, we leave the doors open, but at times we close them- especially at night (to control the cat's wanderings), or if we want one area quiet and another loud, or when it is cold (the dining room has a lot of windows and an outside door and leaks a lot of heat).

Another disadvantage is that the fireplaces are in the front and back parlors. Thus, they do not heat the dining room much and the kitchen and mudroom not at all. This is not a big deal, but when you have a roaring fire in both fireplaces, the front rooms get very very warm and the thermostat turns off. The kitchen has its own heating zone, but the dining room is on the same as the parlors and library so the parlors are very warm, the library is warm and people take off their sweaters, then they go into the dining room and it is cold. Then the kitchen is warm to very hot (if we use the oven a lot).

For the most part however, I like the divided floor plan better.