i feel like i'm in the twilight zone when i watch all of these home repair/shopping shows (because i'm over true crime shows and makeover shows. the only reality TV i want to watch is shopping for or renovating a house, and/or shopping for a wedding dress).
everyone wants OPEN concept. i had that in my condo, and i felt like i was ALWAYS in my kitchen (and that my husband's freaking stand mixer was always ruining my television viewing). i like my nice closed-concept house. the kitchen and dining room open to each other and have doorways to the hall/stairs area. but you can't see them when sitting in the living room. just the way i like it!
I prefer the closed concept. Friends of ours just bought a house and knocked out ALL the walls to have an open floor plan. I don't get it...I LIKE the walls!
I like the rooms separated, as long as they are big enough to not make me feel claustrophobic. My parents bought an older closed-concept house and had to knock down the wall between the dining room and kitchen, because otherwise it felt like you were eating in a closet.
Post by pantsparty on May 14, 2013 13:53:10 GMT -5
I like it sparingly. In our new place, the kitchen and living room are pretty much one big room. However, there's another room off the stairs and you can't see that area from the kitchen. I can see how this might be annoying if my H is watching TV and I'm cooking.
Overall I need space and walls. My H and I would kill each other in a loft.
In theory, I like the open concept. In reality, I like that my kitchen is closed off from the dining and living rooms so no one can see the mess in there.
Hmm, yes in general I like closed concept. I don't like looking at the kitchen mess while eating supper, it bums me out. We did just take out an extraneous wall between our front room and stairwell. So, that opened that room up, but it just made it brighter and bigger, didn't open any other rooms to each other.
I like having certain rooms open to each other. Like our kitchen opens to our family room which I love with young kids. We still have a separate formal living room and a finished basement.
I had open concept and hated it. I don't want Jack to have the ability to yell at me from the couch to get him the snack. Get off your ass and come into the kitchen.
tamb, that makes sense. i don't cook much, and, because our dining room is open to the kitchen, i'd put L in there in something containable when she was smaller. now we just practice "independent play." ha ha.
I like a nice mix of open and closed. I don't really love kitchens that are 100% separate from the dining/living area because I don't like to feel isolated while I cook. But we lived in a loft for a few years and literally living in one giant room was driving me crazy. I started to hate that I could see my bed from the kitchen (our bedroom was an awesome nook in an old elevator shaft) and that if my H left the "dining room" table messy with work, I could see it from every corner of the apartment.
Plus, H and I had to start taking phone calls in the bathroom if we were both on the phone.
Post by Wrath0fKuus on May 14, 2013 14:03:31 GMT -5
YES!
I like separate rooms, preferably separated by doors, even more preferably separated by pocket doors. I think the open layout is ugly and modern-looking.
Post by LeggsBenedict on May 14, 2013 14:03:57 GMT -5
Tamb, my parent's kitchen/living room is set up like that third picture. Except my parents live in a house, and that picture was clearly taken in a fucking WONDERLAND.
I would much prefer a closed concept in my next house. There are no logical walls in my LR against which I can place furniture. I dislike having it all free-floating in the room. It feels so much cozier when furniture is against walls.
I'm with you. Especially if you are entertaining, it's nice to have the kitchen mess hidden away.
This is a really good point - if I had an open floor plan and one room is a mess then I'd flip out because it would seem like the whole house is a mess
Yes. One of my wants in a house was to not be able to see a sink full of dirty pots/pans/general disaster while eating Thanksgiving dinner or any large family meal.
There's a wide doorway between our living room and dining room. That's about as 'open' as I wanted.
Post by mrsjuleshs on May 14, 2013 14:11:05 GMT -5
My living room and the family room are connected and open and the hallway to 2 bedrooms & DD's bathroom are off the family room. The living room is separated by french doors and the dining room is off of that. I do want to open the dining room up to the foyar or at least put a big doorway in there because it feels so closed off and small. It's hard for people to get around each other when we host dinner. But I do like that there is some separation of rooms.
Post by rupertpenny on May 14, 2013 14:12:45 GMT -5
There is an actual door that closes between the living room and dining room of our new apartment and I love it, but everyone who visits asks when we are going to take it down. I like being able to shut my door! I don't want to take it down! I imagine I will like it even more when I have a mobile baby.
I do like that the kitchen and dining room are more open to each other though.