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What really pisses me off is when someone buys an old victorian or colonial house and whining that it looks too old and then renovates it, removing it's original charm, character, and beauty to make it look like it was built in the 21st century. The people who built victorian and colonial houses had an eye for extravagant and beautiful architecture. They were artisans and removing their work is to me, unacceptable. Undoing their work also shows a lack of care for history. If someone wants a modern looking house, buy a modern house. Sure, update the plumbing and wiring, add a bathroom, and modern HVAC, but that's it.
I'm pretty sure I posted everything I'm about to say a couple years ago in this very thread, but >20 pages is too much for me to read on my phone
We use pocket and sliding barn doors to separate the spaces when we want them to be separate, but leave them open the majority of the time. Our basic layout is a large living room at the front of the house with a 5' wide opening to the kitchen and dining area in the middle of the house. That opening has a pocket door to separate the spaces. We then have a 3' doorway going to the back room, which is a combo den/office/guest room. We separated those spaces with a sliding barn style door that I built.
Most of the time all the doors are open, but they are usually all closed for an hour in the early evening when dinner is being cooked and homework is being done. In general it works for a wide variety of situations, like when my parents visit and my dad is asleep in the back room, I'm having a drink and talking to my wife in the dining area, and my mom and daughter are watching a movie in the front room.
We currently live in an 1800 square foot, open plan '70s house. It's a five-level home. Yes, really. We have a traditional upstairs and basement, but the main floor is on three separate levels. The kitchen and dining room are on the same level with the small enclosed kitchen. The dining room and living room share a vaulted ceiling, but the living room is sunken, and it is also separated from the dining room by a knee wall. A cozy sunken family room opens from the other side of the dining room with a standard level ceiling. Between the dining room and the family room is a two-sided, floor-to-ceiling brick fireplace flanked by another knee wall. It's a little strange to describe, but it's a very neat floor plan and quite dramatic. I love it! It's light and bright and extremely liveable.
Last edited by randomparent; 01-24-2015 at 12:25 PM..
The important thing isn't whether or not an open floor plan is "good or bad," because it's only "good or bad" depending on your own needs and likes.
For instance, I usually LIKE the way an open floor plan looks, but after living in one for four years, my husband and I decided it didn't fit our needs as well as more defined and separate spaces do. But that's just US.'
I think this sort of thread is good though, because if I'd read up more about the pros and cons prior to buying (and subsequently selling, within four years) the open floor plan home, I probably wouldn't have bought it. For us - not everyone, just us - the negatives outweighed the positives.
1. We have some very nice antiques as well as lots of original art - LOTS of art. We need walls! Also, I like the option of playing up different colors and "vibes" in different rooms.
2. We also found that we much prefer that the two living areas be more separate (we had two living areas in the open floor plan but they were only separated by a set of double doors - now they're separated by several rooms), because we really enjoy having a very quiet den/reading room/office that's very removed from the rest of the house.
3. And finally - we found kitchen noises and odors to be too intrusive in an open floor plan. We enjoy cooking and therefore we are often making a lot of noise and brouhaha in the kitchen. We don't want to be ISOLATED from company or each other, so the option in a more separate house is having a kitchen adjacent to the living area (but more separate) with a very inviting dining/sitting area and island area. Believe me, people still congregate in there - in fact, moreso than in the living room! I never feel isolated when we have guests - in fact, sometimes I "escape" to the living room where it's a bit quieter! I think the key to success with us was making sure that our kitchen was large and inviting though separate.
Cooking odors can definitely be an issue. Our solution was installing a whole house fan. Not only is it great for cooling off the house at night, it also does a bang up job of clearing odors quickly.
I grew up in a very tradional Midwestern house, which suited the aesthetic of my hometown, but I really love the openness of Rocky Mountain architecture. The landscape is so beautiful, and the large windows really bring the outside in.
Design-wise, I'm a practical minimalist. Yes, we have stuff, but I'm not a collector. We use a consistent color-scheme throughout; only the bedrooms are painted differently, and they coordinate with the furnishings in the public areas of the house. It suits my need for simplicity and order.
Last edited by randomparent; 01-24-2015 at 12:42 PM..
Cooking odors can definitely be an issue. Our solution was installing a whole house fan. Not only is it great for cooling off the house at night, it also does a bang up job of clearing odors quickly.
I grew up in a very tradional Midwestern house, which suited the aesthetic of my hometown, but I really love the openness of Rocky Mountain architecture. The landscape is so beautiful, and the large windows really bring the outside in.
Design-wise, I'm a practical minimalist. Yes, we have stuff, but I'm not a collector. We use a consistent color-scheme throughout; only the bedrooms are painted differently, and they coordinate with the furnishings in the public areas of the house. It suits my need for simplicity and order.
Makes sense!
Our current home (not an open floor plan) is very traditional - it's a Low Country style home with clearly defined formal areas (formal living room and formal dining room, both separate, with a big entry way with an open staircase. Considering that I love to paint accent walls, and I enjoy being able to "look through" the house and see several complementary wall colors (sort of a layered look if that makes sense), this particular style fits us to a tee. Archways are the entryways into each room, and I like the look of peering through the archways into a room that's another color, but coordinated with the other rooms.
We live in a neighborhood - the yards are large and we have pleasant views with plenty of trees and greenery, and no neighbors up close and personal, but we don't have jaw dropping outdoor views. However, I do like LOTS of natural light, so the windows are large and the ceilings are high. I think you could "bring the outdoors in" in either sort of home if you have enough windows, but I can see how a lodge sort of look, with a wall of windows and an open plan, would work very well in many settings.
We're definitely not minimalists - in fact, I can't think of a room that doesn't have at least one large oil painting in it - several rooms have more than one. We also have these pieces: two buffets, a piano, a secretary desk, tons of books, a china cabinet, a sideboard, and two large dining tables (we have a large extended family), in addition to the usual pieces of upholstery. So you can see how challenging a lack of wall space can be. I had a heck of a time placing stuff in my former home and in fact, had to store some of it simply because you can't "float" some pieces and I don't like to put tall furniture in front of windows.
So different plans fit different people and that's OK!
I've enjoyed seeing the photos of your house here in the forums, Kathryn, and it's lovely! One thing I've come to value after having lived in various places around the country is the importance of regional architecture. My house would be bizarre in my hometown, but here in Denver it's perfectly suited to the environment. It just works.
I've enjoyed seeing the photos of your house here in the forums, Kathryn, and it's lovely! One thing I've come to value after having lived in various places around the country is the importance of regional architecture. My house would be bizarre in my hometown, but here in Denver it's perfectly suited to the environment. It just works.
Oh I agree - my house would look RIDICULOUS in Denver!
It is actually pretty uncommon even here in northeast Texas - most homes here have a different sort of look. But here it's just southern enough of an atmosphere for the house not to stick out like a sore thumb. But I am from Louisiana and lived in GA, NC, and SC as well, and in those areas this style is very popular so I felt instantly at home when I walked into it!
I noticed when I traveled a lot for a living that different regions have all sorts of different popular styles. I love the big white farmhouses I saw up in Ohio, but they'd look weird down here. Same with the painted wooden homes in Minneapolis - most homes around here are brick or stone.
To answer the OP's original question - I feel the same. We will be looking to buy and finding an
older bungalow or ranch home with built-ins and original features will not be easy. I like the
layout of the craftsman. An entry room, separate living and dining room, then kitchen. It would
be nice to have at least 1 and a half baths.
Note that almost all of those designs have a tiny kitchen and a servant's room - if you've ever seen the kitchen in one of those bungalows (I lived in one as a kid), they tend to be tucked off in a corner, cramped and dark so that the main rooms can be larger. It's one of the reasons people do extensive rehabs on original bungalows.
My aunt's sister lives in an actual Greene and Greene in Pasadena, CA and on the one hand it is beautiful and on the other hand it is DARK inside. Heavy dark fumed oak, small mullioned windows, dark (but beautiful) built-ins. It is a wonderful museum piece, but I wouldn't want to live in it.
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