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Again - you are just not looking. Builders build what sells. Small rooms apparently do not sell.
How would they know if enclosed rooms wouldn't sell if they don't even build them? And haven't for, like, 20 years or more?
As I've said, the problem is that builders simply assume that that's what everybody wants, and so that's all they build. It's impossible for them to know anymore that enclosed rooms don't sell, because they've given themselves absolutely no frame of reference to judge the saleability of enclosed rooms anymore.
And yes, I've looked. As I said in the OP, every single new home development I've looked at in the last 20 years has featured nothing but open floor plans. No exceptions. And I myself bought one in 2010 which I lived in for 5 years, and rented an open floor plan apartment for a year after that. Looking at new houses and apartments, there is simply no other choice.
Henry Ford said, "You can have any color you want as long as it's black."
The modern motto of home builders is, "You can have any floor plan you want as long as it's open."
If you have a larger house then you won't have tiny rooms even with a non-open floor plan. I think it all comes down to design/layout. I prefer a home that has good design and function whether it is open or not.
How would they know if enclosed rooms wouldn't sell if they don't even build them? And haven't for, like, 20 years or more?
As I've said, the problem is that builders simply assume that that's what everybody wants, and so that's all they build. It's impossible for them to know anymore that enclosed rooms don't sell, because they've given themselves absolutely no frame of reference to judge the saleability of enclosed rooms anymore.
And yes, I've looked. As I said in the OP, every single new home development I've looked at in the last 20 years has featured nothing but open floor plans. No exceptions. And I myself bought one in 2010 which I lived in for 5 years, and rented an open floor plan apartment for a year after that. Looking at new houses and apartments, there is simply no other choice.
Henry Ford said, "You can have any color you want as long as it's black."
The modern motto of home builders is, "You can have any floor plan you want as long as it's open."
Again - have you been a buyer or a shopper? It is out there and it is out there in DFW.
None of our open floor plan houses did not include walls for bathrooms and bedrooms and the last had actual two offices. The current one is kind of open with glass double doors - I like not being excluded from what is going on in living room/kitchen during the day unless privacy is required.
Fortunately, I'm not in house buying mode, just generally ranting.
And the other problem is, not all buyers prefer open floor plans, as this thread (and elsewhere you can find on the internet) testifies to.
-- Probably only 50% of home buyers prefer open floor plans. I actually saw a survey the other day which indicated precisely that. In fact it was a little less than half.
-- But 100% (or darn close to it) of new homes are built with open floor plans.
As I said at the outset, builders just build open floor plans without even thinking these days. It's pretty much a knee-jerk reaction. It seems to be the hip and fashionable thing for builders to do, because they don't even seem to question it. Which means if you don't like them, your're screwed.
This thread is far more that 50/50 in favor of open.
I like a bit of "open-ness" but prefer delineated rooms. We just purchased an older (1950s) home and it has the perfect floor plan for us - it is a Florida ranch style, you walk into a spacious living room which is L-shaped with the right side a small dining room. The kitchen is next to the DR and is partially open, but still has a bar/counter separating the dining room, which lets in a lot of light.
The living room has a double doorway into a beautiful "Florida room" (or den) and it has wood and glass pocket doors so that it may be closed off. There is a laundry room and bonus room which are actually separate from the main house, but still under roof. I really love this floor plan, it gives us the best of both worlds. We are currently living in a small 1950s rancher that basically has one big room. It's a beautiful room with vaulted ceilings and massive roof beams, but it has no walls to divide it up, so I find it impractical. It is the size of 2 or 3 average rooms.
Sounds very similar to the house we just bought that I'm moving into (it's about to kill me but I digress). Like you, I like delineated spaces and if I am going to have a somewhat open plan I HAVE to have a separate office and a separate den or media room. I absolutely cannot stand all the noise being in one space. I have to be able to tuck myself away.
I don’t think people disagree with you that many don’t share the disdain, but the issue is that not everyone likes that. I just like to have a little separation between the kitchen and the main living area. I don’t always have a perfectly pristine kitchen at all times. Many of the houses where I am now have separation, but that is because they are split levels. I care for rooms below ground level that aren’t a basement less than I like the open concept!
I get that is a problem, but if separate room floor plans are as scarce as people say, I don’t have a solution.
How would they know if enclosed rooms wouldn't sell if they don't even build them? And haven't for, like, 20 years or more?
As I've said, the problem is that builders simply assume that that's what everybody wants, and so that's all they build. It's impossible for them to know anymore that enclosed rooms don't sell, because they've given themselves absolutely no frame of reference to judge the saleability of enclosed rooms anymore.
And yes, I've looked. As I said in the OP, every single new home development I've looked at in the last 20 years has featured nothing but open floor plans. No exceptions. And I myself bought one in 2010 which I lived in for 5 years, and rented an open floor plan apartment for a year after that. Looking at new houses and apartments, there is simply no other choice.
Henry Ford said, "You can have any color you want as long as it's black."
The modern motto of home builders is, "You can have any floor plan you want as long as it's open."
If it's been a thing for 20 years, can you still really call it a "fad"?
I would say fads can go on for quite a while. Though yes, we can debate the definition of "fad" I suppose...
Quote:
Originally Posted by turf3
I would say that while the concept itself certainly isn't new (heck, Lloyd Wright was designing houses like this back in the 20s and 30s), what is relatively new (say, the last 20 years) is the insistence that EVERYTHING must be open plan - along with the almost total absence of anything else in new construction, and the lemming-like move to remodel all older houses into that format. That's what's the "fad", not the open plan concept itself. And for that matter, it's not clear to me that "fad" is the right word for something that's been going on for 20 years, either. But if one takes the long view, 20 years is a short time compared to how long people were building houses that primarily had separate rooms.
I would say fads can go on for quite a while. Though yes, we can debate the definition of "fad" I suppose.
OK! Let's do that (my take)-
For the subject matter at hand (houses in general); a "fad" I'd say would be something that's here and gone within five years (like some carpets, window treatments, paint colors). A "trend" would be in the ten to 15yr timetable (hardware finishes, flooring colors, appliance colors, cabinet colors). A "staple" would be multiple decades (open floor plans, indoor plumbing, operable windows).
But with the subject matter at-hand, I believe it's also a "supply and demand" thing- as others have lamented too.
Every time I look on Zillow, or go look at new houses in a development, they ALL have open floor plans. New apartments these days also have open floor plans. I lived in one for a year a few years ago.
This has been going on since, as far as I can tell, the 90's, maybe even somewhere later in the 80's.
Even renovations of older houses tend to "open it up" and tear down half the walls to create open floor plans. Often at the expense of the charm of some older houses.
I like open floor plans and always have. I like being able to have 50-100 guests in my house in large entertaining spaces. I have no use of a rabbit warren of numerous tiny rooms. I do like the caterer's kitchen to be well cordoned off from public spaces.
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