Lifestyle

When the open floor plan is too open


Today, I’m here to talk about adding walls to my floor plan. It often feels like the online design crowd and home improvement show ONLY removing walls, but what about when you could benefit from adding a wall or two?

In today’s post, we’ll explore what’s worth closing in a space and even (gasp!) letting go of natural light.

My DM is quite controversial and I realize that this topic is a great and interesting thought experiment. Let’s go on a journey together.

Let me start by saying that I like an open floor plan and most of the time I think the more windows the better!

As someone who bought her first home for the relatively smallest amount available in the US, I fully understand the allure of always wanting a larger space, extra windows, and coveted kitchen island. a lot of people have to knock down the wall to get there.

We all know more and bigger isn’t always better, right? There must be a straight line in which your house is too open and lacks focus in the room.

Or, what about cool modern homes that are all windows? Many people feel they lack the necessary privacy. Your line will vary depending on the style of your home, your location and your lifestyle.

Many nice (expensive!!) brand new homes in my area have basically a living room and a kitchen that is one big room. It’s one of the most controversial major trends of our decade.

People have a very strong feeling about the concept of openness – often they either absolutely love it or don’t at all.

On the record, I’m 50/50 in this regard! I think an open kitchen can definitely be an improvement to a smaller home, giving you more opportunity to make the kitchen the way you want it to be.

My parents knocked down the wall between their dining room and their kitchen in the 1990s, and I remember it as a huge improvement. It really just depends on the house!

For my own home, I really like a separate kitchen. I love cooking and baking all alone in the kitchen while my family plays or watches TV in another room.

Having some alone time while cooking is something that my (introverts) husband and I sometimes take very seriously. As a decorator, I like layouts with separate spaces where you can see other rooms, but not the entire room.

Decorating a large open space is actually much more difficult.

In 10-20 years, people will remodel to add walls to the kitchens of their 2021 farmhouse villas? Only time will tell.

OK, let’s talk about my remodeling because my open floor plan is in our living space, and it really has nothing to do with the kitchen!

Here are a few pictures from when we first bought the house (to see how it was opened). VERY open.

In these photos you can see the entrance, living room and dining room which is a large open space.

When I first saw this house, I fell in love with it. The layout was great and it checked all of our wish and need boxes. I knew it would take a lot of remodeling to make it cozy and our style (I just didn’t realize HOW MUCH).

Prior to that, I had primarily worked on renovating mid- and early-century homes, so this larger 1990s home is very different from where I started.

A few months later, I began to realize that no decoration was enough to give the house the look I wanted. We need some more walls.

When I first pitched the idea of ​​building extra walls to my husband and close friends, they thought I was crazy. Who ADDS the wall?

Plus, when we first walked through the house, all I can say is it’s perfect and I love how expansive it is. So why has that changed over time? For me, it’s living in space.

Slowly, I convinced everyone (myself included) that adding some walls would make the house feel bigger, not smaller, because we would get a lot of useful space. more useful and can decorate each space more separately.

I’m sure I’ve said more than 100 times, “Don’t worry, it’ll stay feel open.”

By the time I started sharing my plan online, I received a second wave of skepticism, but I felt prepared for it and eager to show off my project in real time.

Over the past few months, I’ve been sharing videos of adding walls, adding lower ceilings, and even losing light sources in a room.

Sure, there are opinions on both sides, but I’ve received hundreds of messages saying “It looks bigger” or “It seems like it’s always meant to be” when we add the New walls and domes. Even my manager texts me and says, “Maybe you’re not crazy.” 🙂

I’m most worried about ending up at the entrance to the dual story. On paper, I knew it would be good, but it was hard to imagine we were so used to the two-story ceiling in that space. Will it feel too small?

In the morning it was done, Jeremy and I walked in to look at it and he said, “It looks bigger.” It was probably the most gratifying moment in the entire renovation.

I am very happy and proud that it worked. By the way, it actually feels bigger. Not bigger than before, but bigger than you imagine. That’s a huge improvement!

That’s my open floor plan story! Let me know if you have any questions. It’s been a huge learning curve for me and I’ve really enjoyed putting puzzles together over the past year.

I’d love to hear your thoughts and opinions in general or from your own home! I think open concepts are controversial because they can really solve a problem, but also create once used as a one-size-fits-all solution.

If you want, click here to read many of my posts. xx- Elsie



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