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We've owned at lest 6 homes throughout our life, each severed it's purpose and where we were at that point during our life, each was great so no real complaints other than it just didn't meet our needs or we were ready for something different..Our current home is out in the woods we have no neighbors we our empty nest & retired, we have views all around us, it's peacful and quit, at this stage in our life it's what we seek. View off our front deck, the views are what sold us, the house was in great shape well cared for just outdated, took four years of remolding but we are happy...
Don't forget the doilies when you're having tea and biscuits with Elizabeth.
Personally I think doilies are very declasse and bourgeois. I have a few different tea sets including Havilland Limoge and Wedgwood. No doilies but Irish linen napkins. While Her Britannic Majesty never had tea at Clarkton Manor, the front parlor is no stranger to visiting queens.
Personally I think doilies are very declasse and bourgeois. I have a few different tea sets including Havilland Limoge and Wedgwood. No doilies but Irish linen napkins. While Her Britannic Majesty never had tea at Clarkton Manor, the front parlor is no stranger to visiting queens.
BTW scones are served ... not biscuits.
...being that biscuits would be describing cookies for the Brits in attendance.
Love me some delicious scones. I can hold my pinkie out with the best of them and owning a couple of sets of Osborne and Connoisseur patterns from Wedgwood and Coalport myself, I have an appreciation for some fine china. May I bring some pepper marmalade and contribute to the what sounds like a grand and fun affair?
Builders build homes with open concept because that is what buyers demand. They don't build home for the relatively small number of people who don't care for open design. I live in a large home with a huge kitchen open to a huge living room. I couldn't be happier.
I watch all the home remodel shows and love it when the contractors come in with their sledge hammers and start knocking down walls. In my way of thinking, the fewer walls the better, and if most people didn't think that way, homes would still be build the old, out of style, 50's way.
If you are one who doesn't care for the modern design, there are plenty of old home on the market, or build a custom one, but only if you aren't concerned with resale value.
I truly can't understand why anyone wouldn't want a large open design, but that is why they make different flavors of ice cream, everyone has a different taste. There is no right or wrong, just simply what one prefers...
Builders build homes with open concept because that is what buyers demand. They don't build home for the relatively small number of people who don't care for open design.
It's not that simple. Builders build homes for the relatively small number of people who buy new homes. Most people buy used homes that have something other than an open concept. One of the biggest issues with the new open concept homes in my neighborhood/area isn't that they're open concept - it's that they're all 3+ stories tall, and the open concept portion is either a center or top floor that requires hiking up dozens of stairs to get to. It's the economical way to build homes now, and certainly making an open concept main floor helps with the perceived space when each individual floor is only 400-1000 sq ft. That's not to say that people would not prefer a more spacious layout on fewer floors. However the cost of building that way makes the homes much more expensive on a per square foot basis. Thus most people end up trading off convenience for more square footage. With homes being the average households largest single expenditure, they're full of compromises to fit budgets.
That said, there's 2 good reasons open concept is more popular now that it used to be. First, what I mentioned above with regard to individual floors being smaller now. It *looks* bigger when it's open, whatever windows get good exposure can light more of the home if there are no walls blocking. Second, energy efficiency. Older closed floor plan homes tended to be much less energy efficient. "Keeping the heat in" was often aided by closing off and compartmentalizing. Closing off the basement, attic, bedrooms, whatever. New houses don't really benefit from that, especially if they use radiant floors or ductless heat pumps. The less walls blocking air flow the more consistent and comfortable the temperature throughout the house.
The less walls blocking air flow the more consistent and comfortable the temperature throughout the house.
That's a big reason for the floor plan that we have. The main windows are properly exposed to take advantage of radiant solar in the winter. It literally heats the entire main room. I'm going to rip up the vinyl kitchen flooring and put in an appropriate tone of tile to take further advantage of that.
It's really nice to sit in the room when it is 10deg out (and sunny). It's very comfortable and no forced air blowing around. In fact, our primary house heat load is from a pellet stove in the basement (which is also one big family room with two bedrooms off a hallway).
It's very comfortable considering the amount of air volume with the open plan and vaulted ceilings. I spend less on winter heating costs here than I did in North Central WV, with winter average temps easily 20 degrees colder.
Builders build homes with open concept because that is what buyers demand.
You've got that backwards. Builders decided that homes could be built more cheaply with fewer walls, and convinced buyers that the open floor plan is what they wanted.
Negative. Builders don't create a demand, buyers do. It's not cheaper to build an open floor plan, in fact a lot of times it costs more for the cost to span the opening, trusses etc..
We built a home in 1999 which had a big country kitchen opening to a great room with a loft above and the cost was substantially more than a standard 'walled' version. The cost of the span beam alone was as much as all the appliances in the home. Factor in the crane to hoist it, plus all of my rafters were just that- rafter cut with birds eye notches and the whole nine yards. No trusses. Truly a craftsmans dream. I had a lot of compliments from the framer- he had to bring in a 70 year old semi-retired guy to build the rafters because no one did that anymore. Walled homes are truss and nail down walls, easy-peasy no calculating required.
No, an open floor plan is not usually cheaper. Not by a long shot. Sorry.
You've got that backwards. Builders decided that homes could be built more cheaply with fewer walls, and convinced buyers that the open floor plan is what they wanted.
so if I bought a house with walls and knocked them down myself...
Negative. Builders don't create a demand, buyers do.
Hmmm, not sure I entirely agree with that. I think the dynamic is a lot more complicated than that. I think, as in most consumer product sales, there is a lot of putting out the product first and convincing the customer after.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Threerun
It's not cheaper to build an open floor plan, in fact a lot of times it costs more for the cost to span the opening, trusses etc.
There are high-end expensive open floor plan homes just like there are high-end expensive traditional plan homes, especially in larger sizes. I'm not convinced that the run-of-the-mill spec builder is purposely choosing to build a floor plan that is more expensive than a traditional alternative. There is interest in both kinds of houses as these pages and pages of forum posts can attest. Why not build the cheaper one? You probably are not the best business man if you choose otherwise.
One good thing about this forum is that people have a chance to hear both points of view. I wish I had read something like this before we bought our present home. I already knew I didn't like the look of the open floor plan, but I wasn't anticipating some of the other problems.
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