houses with open entry VS formal hallway

[ShelbyGirl1]

My house is a completelly open design, where the rooms flow into one another as opposed to actual doorways to enter the rooms. It gives a spacious and airy feeling. Walking into the front door is all open.....a choice of 2 good size closets near by for coats, shoes, purses etc. I love the openness of it all....Don't think I could ever go back to the more traditional styles.
In looking at homes 6 yrs ago, when we built this one, I don't ever remember a new home with the enclosed foyers.
By the way...my open entrance foyer is very formal and I don't believe diminishes the value in anyway. If anything, it adds to it.

[EM1956]

Ours is also like No. 2. It's new. After living in the UK for 3 or so years, where open concept doesn't exist, our hallway seems normal. It's not cramped at all. There is the kitchen coming off one side, and then french doors to a study off the other. The hallway ends at the entrance to the living room.

[sbhubbell]

Originally Posted by ShelbyGirl1

My house is a completelly open design, where the rooms flow into one another as opposed to actual doorways to enter the rooms. It gives a spacious and airy feeling. Walking into the front door is all open.....a choice of 2 good size closets near by for coats, shoes, purses etc. I love the openness of it all....Don't think I could ever go back to the more traditional styles.
In looking at homes 6 yrs ago, when we built this one, I don't ever remember a new home with the enclosed foyers.
By the way...my open entrance foyer is very formal and I don't believe diminishes the value in anyway. If anything, it adds to it.

Ditto that. My foyer is completely open, yet totally formal, with plenty of room to put my stuff down, closets, etc. I hate the closed in feeling of a center hall colonial.

[Txgal33]

Neither would diminish the value of any home. It is all a matter of what ya like and don't like. We have had both and I am either way. Open tends to leave you with more of a WoW factor. Our first house had a coat closet but the next did not. At first I thought it would bother me but we never entered the house from the front always the back. The first house we always used the front door. Our house now has open but its own little area. We have a coat closet and a place for a bench or table or what ever. Right now we use the front door till we can clear out the garage from moving. We may still use it even after then out of habit.

[texas7]

I like the photo in the middle. I like the large open ones ... the enclosed ones give me a claustrophic feel (and I am not claustrophobic)

[JasonAndJulie]

One thing to think about is when it's and open foyer to both floors...it's typically pretty expensive for a/c. Another thing is that most have that window above the door on the 2nd floor which heat it up even more. If you buy a house like that try to make sure it's not west facing!

[Malvie]

I like the look of the big open entry---but that's all I like about it. (BTW: who needs a coat closet in Houston?).

From a practical standpoint:

1. You are air conditioning a lot of useless space (note: in Houston, it's all about air conditioning; heat doesn't matter enough to worry about). My nephew and his wife have this big open atrium thing---and their a/c bill is over $800 a month. Mine is $250 (I have the older, traditional style).

2. They just got a big-screen TV in the den---and discovered that the huge pseudo-Palladian window in their entry was putting so much light into the room that they couldn't see it. They had to have a special shade made for it (theirs is electric...) to keep the light down when they want to watch TV.

3. It's just wasted space. It's not really usable.

[City Love]

Originally Posted by Malvie

I like the look of the big open entry---but that's all I like about it. (BTW: who needs a coat closet in Houston?).

From a practical standpoint:

1. You are air conditioning a lot of useless space (note: in Houston, it's all about air conditioning; heat doesn't matter enough to worry about). My nephew and his wife have this big open atrium thing---and their a/c bill is over $800 a month. Mine is $250 (I have the older, traditional style).

2. They just got a big-screen TV in the den---and discovered that the huge pseudo-Palladian window in their entry was putting so much light into the room that they couldn't see it. They had to have a special shade made for it (theirs is electric...) to keep the light down when they want to watch TV.

3. It's just wasted space. It's not really usable.

Thats not always necessarily true. Ours is open concept, over 3k sq ft and our light bill was 205 last month. While we have friends in homes half our size and they always pay more. Electricity costs come down to insulation and a/c efficiancy.

[ShelbyGirl1]

Originally Posted by Malvie

I like the look of the big open entry---but that's all I like about it. (BTW: who needs a coat closet in Houston?).

From a practical standpoint:

1. You are air conditioning a lot of useless space (note: in Houston, it's all about air conditioning; heat doesn't matter enough to worry about). My nephew and his wife have this big open atrium thing---and their a/c bill is over $800 a month. Mine is $250 (I have the older, traditional style).

2. They just got a big-screen TV in the den---and discovered that the huge pseudo-Palladian window in their entry was putting so much light into the room that they couldn't see it. They had to have a special shade made for it (theirs is electric...) to keep the light down when they want to watch TV.

3. It's just wasted space. It's not really usable.

Something is terribly wrong then. My home is 5000+ and I have the open concept design with 20ft ceilings...and my bill is no where near $800 a month!

[Txgal33]

Originally Posted by Malvie

I like the look of the big open entry---but that's all I like about it. (BTW: who needs a coat closet in Houston?).

From a practical standpoint:

1. You are air conditioning a lot of useless space (note: in Houston, it's all about air conditioning; heat doesn't matter enough to worry about). My nephew and his wife have this big open atrium thing---and their a/c bill is over $800 a month. Mine is $250 (I have the older, traditional style).

2. They just got a big-screen TV in the den---and discovered that the huge pseudo-Palladian window in their entry was putting so much light into the room that they couldn't see it. They had to have a special shade made for it (theirs is electric...) to keep the light down when they want to watch TV.

3. It's just wasted space. It's not really usable.

It is all about the efficiency of the home as somebody else stated. We just moved from a 2300 sq ft house that had mostly 14 ft ceilings in the common areas and then 12-10 ft ceilings everywhere else. We keep our AC at 73 all day long and our house took a beating with the sun during the day. Home faced West. AC bill monthly was around $240. Our new home is approx 3800 sq ft with a two story entry and window above. Upstairs kept at 75 downstairs 73. We were worried abt our AC monthly bill is only $40 more than our last 2300 sq ft home. We have Tech Shield and major insulation happening in this home. So it goes back to quality of the builder and age of the home. Most quality builders automatically add Tech Shield barrier now unlike 8 yrs ago when it was considered an upgrade. It is all abt being energy efficient for them now.