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I think a big thing people are missing is that open concept doesn't mean the entire house is one big room! Yes I appreciate privacy. Why do people think that open concept means you have nowhere to go to get time to yourself? Or for kids to do homework? Or for kids to have friends over? Open concept often really just means the main living areas very open. It doesn't have to mean that the study, or rec room, or bed rooms are open to each other or in any way not private.
I agree with this. I am starting to think the same people who are complaining about a lack of privacy are people who have 2,000+ sq. ft. homes with multiple bedrooms, multiple bathrooms, a kitchen, a LR, a DR, perhaps a den, a garage, a basement, etc.
I live in the city and I am very accustomed to small apartment living. My current apartment has decent-sized rooms but it is VERY closed-off and makes the apartment feel very dark and smaller than it actually is. However, I grew-up in a VERY tiny (and awfully) designed house---one that could make people laugh at their ideas of "lack of privacy." I didn't even have a real fourth wall (wall, not door) for my shared bedroom when I was growing up so anyone walking in the hallway was essentially a guest in my bedroom as well.
I think the open floor plan really works in smaller places. The place we are going to move to has a better feel because it's a little more open but I think the sq. footage is actually less than my current apartment. Growing up in tiny spaces my entire life really makes me crave big, open spaces. My overall opinion is that open spaces really work in some houses and not in others, depending on their design.
I agree with this. I am starting to think the same people who are complaining about a lack of privacy are people who have 2,000+ sq. ft. homes with multiple bedrooms, multiple bathrooms, a kitchen, a LR, a DR, perhaps a den, a garage, a basement, etc.
I live in the city and I am very accustomed to small apartment living. My current apartment has decent-sized rooms but it is VERY closed-off and makes the apartment feel very dark and smaller than it actually is. However, I grew-up in a VERY tiny (and awfully) designed house---one that could make people laugh at their ideas of "lack of privacy." I didn't even have a real fourth wall (wall, not door) for my shared bedroom when I was growing up so anyone walking in the hallway was essentially a guest in my bedroom as well.
I think the open floor plan really works in smaller places. The place we are going to move to has a better feel because it's a little more open but I think the sq. footage is actually less than my current apartment. Growing up in tiny spaces my entire life really makes me crave big, open spaces. My overall opinion is that open spaces really work in some houses and not in others, depending on their design.
I think you're onto something.
Growing up and then spending most of my life in the American South, I am accustomed to very affordable housing that is over 2000 square feet. When you have that much space and the main area is open and the ceiling is tall - it can seem cavernous.
My first house I bought though was 1300 square feet. It had a small kitchen, small dining room, and pretty small living room. All that was open, but it felt good in that small a space.
Where I live, no one has basements - I wish I DID have a basement! The thing about my current open floorplan is that if you want any privacy, or to be able to carry on a quiet conversation when there are guests or more than two people in the house, you have to go off to a bedroom or out on a porch.
I sound petty, but I'm really not complaining - I am very grateful for my very spacious and comfortable home. I'm just saying that I will keep this issue in mind when I buy my next house - and I will look more favorably on homes that have a few more walls or separate spaces.
I think having separation and hallways is safer. If one of my spurned lovers breaks into the house, I don't want him to be able to mosey directly across my cavernous living/dining/kitchen combo and easily locate my bedroom.
I agree with this. I am starting to think the same people who are complaining about a lack of privacy are people who have 2,000+ sq. ft. homes with multiple bedrooms, multiple bathrooms, a kitchen, a LR, a DR, perhaps a den, a garage, a basement, etc.
I live in the city and I am very accustomed to small apartment living. My current apartment has decent-sized rooms but it is VERY closed-off and makes the apartment feel very dark and smaller than it actually is. However, I grew-up in a VERY tiny (and awfully) designed house---one that could make people laugh at their ideas of "lack of privacy." I didn't even have a real fourth wall (wall, not door) for my shared bedroom when I was growing up so anyone walking in the hallway was essentially a guest in my bedroom as well.
I think the open floor plan really works in smaller places. The place we are going to move to has a better feel because it's a little more open but I think the sq. footage is actually less than my current apartment. Growing up in tiny spaces my entire life really makes me crave big, open spaces. My overall opinion is that open spaces really work in some houses and not in others, depending on their design.
I can definitely see where small open spaces would be preferable to several small closed off rooms.
Growing up and then spending most of my life in the American South, I am accustomed to very affordable housing that is over 2000 square feet. When you have that much space and the main area is open and the ceiling is tall - it can seem cavernous.
My first house I bought though was 1300 square feet. It had a small kitchen, small dining room, and pretty small living room. All that was open, but it felt good in that small a space.
Where I live, no one has basements - I wish I DID have a basement! The thing about my current open floorplan is that if you want any privacy, or to be able to carry on a quiet conversation when there are guests or more than two people in the house, you have to go off to a bedroom or out on a porch.
I sound petty, but I'm really not complaining - I am very grateful for my very spacious and comfortable home. I'm just saying that I will keep this issue in mind when I buy my next house - and I will look more favorably on homes that have a few more walls or separate spaces.
We didn't have a basement in my parents' house either, which was odd considering nearly every other house in my area has a basement. (We also had no attic. And our back room on the first floor, the one you walk by every day to get up and down the stairs, is the boiler room.) Frankly, I have no idea who thought building this house was a good idea. But eventually I moved up in life from the shared, tiny bedroom with three walls to the smaller-than-a-prison-cell bedroom (not exaggerating) with my bed built into the closet and a folding door. Now that's privacy!
Our future apartment, the one we are purchasing, is just under 700 sq feet and there is no privacy. I am just thankful to be out of the bedrooms I used to live in until I was able to move out of my parents' house. And actually I have found most of the rooms in my apartments have been larger than the ones in my parents' house.
I'll be honest---this is not my ideal situation. I do not want to live in the city forever. I love the perks of the city but I want a house and I will never be able to afford one here. I want space! I'm open to moving but it's just not in the cards right now with our job and family situations. I just find it funny that people are complaining about a lack of privacy in their big homes with multiple rooms and multiple floors. Privacy is definitely not hearing the boy in the apartment below you screaming non-stop because he has emotional and mental issues and the woman next door crying about her sandwich and telling her friend that everyone is jealous of her because she is so beautiful. If I had my own home, you bet I would find privacy!
Last point---I guess I don't expect privacy when I have guests over.
We didn't have a basement in my parents' house either, which was odd considering nearly every other house in my area has a basement. (We also had no attic. And our back room on the first floor, the one you walk by every day to get up and down the stairs, is the boiler room.) Frankly, I have no idea who thought building this house was a good idea. But eventually I moved up in life from the shared, tiny bedroom with three walls to the smaller-than-a-prison-cell bedroom (not exaggerating) with my bed built into the closet and a folding door. Now that's privacy!
Our future apartment, the one we are purchasing, is just under 700 sq feet and there is no privacy. I am just thankful to be out of the bedrooms I used to live in until I was able to move out of my parents' house. And actually I have found most of the rooms in my apartments have been larger than the ones in my parents' house.
I'll be honest---this is not my ideal situation. I do not want to live in the city forever. I love the perks of the city but I want a house and I will never be able to afford one here. I want space! I'm open to moving but it's just not in the cards right now with our job and family situations. I just find it funny that people are complaining about a lack of privacy in their big homes with multiple rooms and multiple floors. Privacy is definitely not hearing the boy in the apartment below you screaming non-stop because he has emotional and mental issues and the woman next door crying about her sandwich and telling her friend that everyone is jealous of her because she is so beautiful. If I had my own home, you bet I would find privacy!
LOL I got a kick out of reading your description of the house you grew up in. As a military brat and then a military wife (with a husband who started out in the lower ranks), I have lived in my share of very odd and inconvenient (and cramped) homes. I've also lived in extremely large and fabulous homes, oddly enough. The home I'm in now is not the largest I've lived in, but it's the newest - it was brand new when we bought it three years ago. Before that, most of the homes I had lived in were always works in progress because they were OLD and quirky.
So good luck with your future dreams of buying a house. I enjoy where we live now because we are two hours from one major metroplex (Dallas/Fort Worth), and one hour from another large city (Shreveport, LA) - and thirty minutes from Tyler, which has about 120,000 and some very good shopping. So though we live in a very small town, we have easy enough access to the amenities of larger towns and a metroplex.
Plus we get to enjoy the ambiance of a very small, rural town - complete with a restored downtown area that is very quaint, cute little Christmas parades and downtown festivals, and small safe neighborhoods. And the housing is affordable.
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Last point---I guess I don't expect privacy when I have guests over.
Ahhh, you must not have teenagers.
We have five kids, ranging from 30 to 19 years of age, and seven grandchildren. They visit a lot. My husband and I are in our fifties. When the kids aren't visiting, we have a very quiet, peaceful life. When they come over, our lives go from zero to sixty in five seconds! They also bring their dogs (which is fine for us because we are dog lovers, but still - they add to the commotion!).
Put five or six adults and four to seven excited children between the ages of 10 and 4, along with three dogs who don't see each other often, into an open floor plan with high ceilings and tile floors and granite countertops - and then add a football game and some meal preparation into it. Trust me, in about two hours, privacy and peace and quiet take on a whole new level of special!
No that open feel will not die. I don't see it. Changes come and go but some changes are simply better and will not go away.
Agree! And I wanted an open floor plan 26 years ago when I was buying my third house.
I looked at houses this summer, and the open plan is alive and well, it seems to me. And if done right, it is very functional. I preferred the open plans to the houses that were cut up into tiny rooms.
I can't believe someone else also had the studio apt idea!
Hi nightcrawler,
I am new here, and I realize you posted some time ago, but when I read your post, I just had to reply to your comment about open floor plans reminding of studio apts, because as of late the very same idea occurred to me, also! lol
I love looking at elegant homes, but the new ones that run 500,000 or more and are completely open, makes me think, why would I want pay that much for one huge studio apt? I love the older homes that were built with character and charm, and have traditional or bungalow floor plans. They say permenance to me.
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Originally Posted by nightcrawler
I don't like the open plan either. It is like living in one big open space, thus reminding me of a large studio apartment.
I hate the echo factor. Besides, how many people are really neat cookers, I don't want the people sitting on my couch seeing my messy kitchen when things are being prepared. (Not that we 'entertain" as much as the people in HGTV land....)
I prefer the seperate rooms. This is only the fad nowadays.
The high rise buildings use the open Kitchen plan as a way to incorporate a window into the room. So if you have Living Room windows you can shove the kitchen in the corner, open it up a bit and legally there is a window.......
I like cosy too , so no its not for me having open plan living.
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breaks into the house, I don't want him to be able to mosey directly across my cavernous living/dining/kitchen combo and easily locate my bedroom.
Now that's privacy!
I can't believe someone else also had the studio apt idea!
