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been around for a MUCH longer period than you think, of course the most well known proponent of open plans was Frank Lloyd Wright. his homes were mostly done at the turn of the century. They are here to stay, it is the most comfortable in the way of traffic flow than a home with doors to each separate room. It takes a great deal more to design than you think as well, so lazy designers? nope not in the slightest.
It takes a great deal to design a truly functional open floor plan, perhaps. Too bad so many are just basically a big ole gymnasium with kitchen cabinets, sink, stove, and fridge sprawled over two walls meeting in a corner. I'm sure FLW would be aghast at how people have interpreted open floor plans.
I'm really not sold on the open floorplans. They tend to look great on HGTV, in model homes, etc. but in reality unless you have zero clutter and a good eye for design they don't look nice. ESPECIALLY when combined with vaulted ceilings. With the kitchen, dining, and living rooms combined it can be more difficult to place furniture and I think a lot of people have no idea how to decorate the space. It's a lot harder to transition design from one room to the next when it's all open, too often people leave the design plain and have too much clutter in sight.
I agree, and when people say they are using flooring to delineate space, I just cringe. HOW can that look good?
I prefer to have something in the middle! Our family room has a door on it so someone can watch a movie late at night, the kids can have friends over in the evening, or give some privacy to guests using the fold out sofa when the guest room space is maxed out. The door lead into an open area that has our foyer area coming in from the garage where there is also a full bath. Off that foyer is the formal living room to one side (a waste of space for us as we are a small family and only use the living room when someone is playing the piano) or off to the large eat-in kitchen to the left. At the far end of the kitchen is the hallway to the bedrooms and baths as well as the laundry room right off the kitchen. We have a very small family and our extended family lives across the country so we rarely entertain on the level that requires a formal dining room. When we remodeled the kitchen we took out the wall between the dining room and kitchen and made it one large room. We took the small area for a kitchen table that was in the previous kitchen and converted it to a full bath because that end of the house did not have a bathroom, especially important for entertaining in the family room or if someone is using the family room as a guest room. Also if someone is hosting a party in the family room the guests do not have to come down the bedroom hall to find the other guest bathroom.
I also like lots of color on my walls. So having an open floor plan with all one neutral color does not appeal to me. I am not a grey person. My living room is a slate blue/denim furniture/brown accents that flows into the eat-in kitchen which is yellow, but the wall containing the fireplace (ok, it's grey tile!) marries the two colors together. The family room behind the door has a sage green, about the same tone value as the slate blue. Also the yellow kitchen is more like butter color, done in a 1950's theme with an old O'Keefe & Meritt stove (so consequently all of the appliances are white), primary color accessories, and white subway tile backsplash. But I did not do white cabinets because I think in years down the road white cabinets will date the room just as formica cabinets with wood trim dated the 90's. We originally started with a yellow that I describe as pineapple and it was way too loud, green, neon almost... in the south facing sun. The hallway has always been a work in progress for color. It has been peach in the past (remember the 90's?) and it is currently grey (yes, grey, neutral I was told is good) but I'm thinking about continuing the slate blue down the hallway. The bedrooms are whatever the occupant wants them to be. My daughter has a "water color / Alice in Wonderland" thing that I did with glazes when she was 6 and at 23 she still loves it and doesn't want it changed. I have to admit her room is probably the most stylish in the house! My husbands office is his man cave...tile floor, blue walls, whatever. My office bedroom is periwinkle and white with berber carpeting. The master bedroom is light brown and mint green along with the adjoining bath. Our daughter has always chosen the decor for the hall bath near the bedrooms and it was neon green and yellow for a while when she was a teen. Hubby freaked out a bit (you could see the glow in the hallway!) but I convinced him that a gallon of paint is just $25 and she did all the work, even went out and bought really pretty towels to match the blue, green, pink, yellow in the shower curtain. But, she is now into surf and sand, having just moved back from finishing grad school on the coast and taking a break before she starts out on her own. So she asked if she could re-paint the bath to a very soft blue and tan, with a more mature beachy theme. So, if I had an open floor plan the colors would appear quite garish. But with a few doors and strategically placed walls to separate the views, we can enjoy a very colorful interior...not all grey throughout the whole house.
I admire those who can limit themselves to shades of one color or just a few colors in their home and I can appreciate that style. But it's not for me. I also think, like anything else, the open floor plan will date houses as they age. Eventually, just as we see everyone wanting to take out walls in older homes now to creat open floorplans, the opposite will become popular as families age and crave more privacy. When your kids are little you want the open floorplan so you can see everything from the kitchen. As they get older everyone wants more privacy and cutting down on the noise...so up go the walls and the ability to close doors. But, as land becomes more expensive we may see the increase in two story homes that leave the main level open and the upper level closed off for beds and baths.
It takes a great deal to design a truly functional open floor plan, perhaps. Too bad so many are just basically a big ole gymnasium with kitchen cabinets, sink, stove, and fridge sprawled over two walls meeting in a corner. I'm sure FLW would be aghast at how people have interpreted open floor plans.
This is true. There's no design thought in modern cookie cutter home plans. A truly designed MCM or Shed contemporary with an intentional open floor plan is a treat (and many of them intentionally obscured the kitchen for example).
As I've posted in other threads, open concept ahs been around for centuries, especially in smaller homes and cotages where space is at a premium and walled of rooms would be tiny. So no, it's not really a fad and isn't going to go away any time soon, as it's a practical way to get light and traffic flow in a smaller to mid size house.
For example, this '50s home has the kitchen behind and slightly off to the left of this open plan:
Here's a smaller '50s house that has the living room, dining room and kitchen all open to each other:
I lived in a '50s home that was pretty much a mirror image of this next one, but with no walls low or otherwise, between the kitchen and dining. And from the front door you could see straight through the living room, dining room into the kitchen:
here's an even older on where the living and dining are essentially one room and only the kitchen is partially closed off...
The "open" design is consistent with changes in space utilization over the past 20 to 30 years. Fewer people entertain or have large family dinners, therefore there is less need for formal dining rooms. Fewer people "retire to the formal living room" after dinner for simple coffee and conversation.
Since groups of guests are smaller (2 to 4 couples), it is less conspicuous if the host or hostess is absent. The old kitchen designs tended to isolate the chef away from their guests. In addition, when no guests are present, it is easier for the cook to monitor the children while preparing the meal. Another aspect is that kitchens are designed in an open concept for looks as well as function. In the past most appliances were considered ugly and not to be displayed. Many modern day kitchens intentionally display their stainless steel appliances, designer sinks, and custom counter tops.
Obviously, there are exceptions to the above generalizations, but my point is that popularity of most designs emanates from space utilization. When the general public changes their habits of room use, the "open concept" will morph into something else.
Sorry, but I don't know of one family that in my neighborhood that has regular meals at a table or uses their living room, except for 'show' when the mom has her book club group over. Most of the families I associate with spend most of their time in their vehicles going to one sport or another class for their kids. The mom's rarely cook. Dinner is some kind of fast food or pizza delivered 5+ times a week.
As I recall, the open floor plans started on Home & Garden TV and some of the other reality shows, designed by men and sold to men for their families. Of recent knowledge, the Fire Department are saying that these same open plans only FEED FIRES and cause MUCH MORE damage in house fires than homes where you can close doors and help to snuff the oxygen to the fire. Just my thougths, you may be in a much different economic level and do the things you describe above. I'm just a middle incomer.
As I recall, the open floor plans started on Home & Garden TV and some of the other reality shows, designed by men and sold to men for their families.
Did you not see/read the post directly above yours? Open floor plans started decades, nay centuries before television, much less HGTV. Getting a bit tired of people blaming a TV show for things that have been around longer than TV has been.
I love the open style homes.
I had a house with a great room, California U shaped ranch-
See through fireplace right in the center....
Hardwood flooring in the great room, kitchen right there, it was perfect.
Only thing I didn't like was we didn't have a basement.
... Off that foyer is the formal living room to one side (a waste of space for us as we are a small family and only use the living room when someone is playing the piano)
utsci, your house sounds wonderful!
I just want to say, no room with a piano in it is wasted. That's something I haven't seen anyone post about - where to put the piano in your open floor plan house?? We have a baby grand. Our really-awful-wide-open-convention-center-lobby-style open floor plan does actually have a formal dining room. It's weird because it is too small for our table and hutch (as is the breakfast nook where we have actually crammed said table and hutch...) so I have to wonder what kind of crazy person said, hey, let's scatter a couple hundred square feet out here in the lobby where it is useless and make all rooms that are enclosed weirdly smaller than normal!
But I digress, the point is, if you have a piano, you need a place to put it and a formal dining or living room is perfect. Out in the lobby/warehouse/bowling alley is not ideal since there is already too much noise and chaos there.
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