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This exactly what happened to the 1922 next door...
Flipper bought it and stripped to the studs... the separation from Living Room, Dining and Kitchen with built in hutch all gone... open the front door and see the back door...
Same situation, here, except we left the LR wall up. I took down a wall between the north-facing kitchen and west-facing dining room (load-bearing wall as it used to be the exterior of the original house) and used the full, 12-ft (extendable) table to act as everything. It's perfect for an island on one end (rolling out dough, setting extra dishes when cooking/baking), homework with the kids while I'm cooking, project space, and use for meals at the other. The table is so long that, for regular use, we don't have to "quick, wrap it up!" for things like the kids' D&D or Magic games/maps, making school projects, or extensive cooking/baking (Christmas baking) in order to have dinner. And for parties or holidays? We can clear the table and seat 14 comfortably. Generally, the end in the kitchen has no chairs. We have old (from the 40s) wooden folding chairs that are beautiful and were from assemblies at now-closed Catholic schools. Extremely sturdy and attractive.
That wall took so much use from us, during the two years we endured before I couldn't stand it anymore.
There are french doors into the living room, which usually stay open (unless it's adult-time in the kitchen/dining room while the kids watch movies/play video games) and french doors that lead to the porch from the kitchen/dining room. GREAT, especially in the summer. The previous owners stopped by recently and said they'd never have moved if it was like this, after all the changes we made.
Well, everyone has their own taste. I lived in crummy one room apartments long enough. I am not interested in spending gazillions of dollars to live in a large version of one.
Generally, I'd agree with you... IF the house was built at once and designed for use. Many older homes have additions - a large number of additions - and removing load-bearing walls to replace them with headers enhances the use of space. We did quite a bit of work on our home, which had SEVEN additions put on over the years. And the previous owners would likely agree that while they got more, needed space, that space wasn't as usable as it could be. Society changes and so, people's use of certain rooms changes.
That said, I have drapes all over my house in the winter because previous owners removed un-fashionable doors. These doors kept heat and let out heat as needed. I wish they'd been in the garage. Heavy, lovely drapes are much, MUCH cheaper than 6 custom doors.
To go on a bit of a tangent, a young man I used to babysit has a construction company now that primarily renovates McMansions for better use. Gutting them and making use of all those cathedral ceilings where 2 or 3 more bedrooms and baths could be. Making the kitchen flow into a dining room, no breakfast area, and making a larger living room with multiple seating/activity arrangements. Turning formal living rooms/parlours at the front into contained offices with a vestibule to keep heat in and give the family home some privacy. I love looking at the before and after pictures. The outsides of the houses still look the same but the insides feel homey.
the nice thing about more open concept homes is the amount of natural light that comes in.
I can see the appeal of that. I'm a big fan of natural light, too. I'm also a fan of walls but FWIW my house is still really light and bright. It's probably because we have plenty of windows and the walls have lots of artwork in glass frames, which reflect the sunlight. I can see how walls might block the light in some houses, though.
The advantage of the modern, open concept homes for natural light is through the long, large windows lining the height of high cathedral ceilings, oftentimes spanning two floor levels.
But they do not have a monopoly on large amounts of natural light. Our previous house in Upstate NY dated to the early 20th century, and had large amounts of windows covering all 4 sides of the house on both floors, including a cute farmstyle one at the landing of the stairway between the two floors. Consequently, the house always felt airy and light. But it was a pain to clean all of the windows and change out the screens each season.
Well, my 80 year old house has 7' x 4' windows in the living room, dining room and the front bedroom. The back bedroom only has four 4' x 3' windows.
Every room has four walls and doors. Doors that actually close.
You don't need to live in a warehouse to have natural light. You need windows.
But with that it depends on the time of the day. The sun is not always at the same spot , but with a more open house, you will get more light throughout the day
My biggest problem with open concept is where to put the artwork. I have lots. What do you guys do, put up easels maybe?
We have a few pieces around the house, but most of the will be residing art on a ‘gallery wall’, where fifteen or so pieces can be together to make a feature. I like these very much, a mix of interspersed art and installations catches my eye very much.
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