To open up a dining room to the (already large) living room, or not?
jilljill24
10 years ago
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Comments (141)
Carolina
10 years agojilljill24
10 years agoRelated Discussions
Need help on making open plan kitchen living room
Comments (14)I find it difficult to view your floor plan as it blurs if I enlarge it, so excuse me if this comment is invalid. Assuming the entry is from your living room and the home runs lengthways with the hall linking the bathroom, ldry and bedroom from the kitchen. The issue with this is that having two doors in the kitchen means you cannot form a working triangle for it to function well and don't have enough wall to fit out with tall storage. However, if you sealed up the door to the hall and opened access to the hall from the lounge as your plans seems to indicate in the top right of the lounge area, then you could widen the front opening into the kitchen rather than remove an entire wall, so integrate it into your living zone without lumping a kitchen in the middle of your lounge, you will improve your walk through flow, and gain a new length of wall in the kitchen where your fridge could go into the corner with a larger pantry flanking it, then your proposed layout t follow....See MoreWhich room for what and layout help for dining and living rooms
Comments (20)Two years later... We ended up purchasing a 3-seater for wall opposite fireplace, a 2-seater for under the highlight window (leaves a comfortable space to enter the room) and an armchair placed diagonally opposite the couches. I've fooled the advice to pull the furniture in off the walls a little. We have just updated the fireplace with the (professional) installation of an insert wood heater and (DIY) replacement of hearth and tiles/timber mantel to conceal the brick while meeting the safety specifications of the heater (required a much wider/deeper hearth than the existing brick one so we removed and replaced with a slab of honed granite, and the minimum height for breastplate/mantel shelf posed a few design limitations). TV mounted above fireplace to allow for better furniture placement. Not quite the picture I had settled on 2 years ago, but works with the style of updates we have made elsewhere. Thank you for all the advice. before: After:...See MoreFront door opens into living room
Comments (4)hope you have a quick recovery... a floorplan with dimensions, doors and windows would help encourage more ideas, what furniture must fit in and what sizes (eg 6 seater dining table with extension, two x two seater couches and two armchairs plus??)...where's the kitchen? where do all the doors lead to? how do you use the space? is the office a private family study area or do you need a work table and space for clients/customers arriving?..btw it's a lovely room and would love to see more pics especially of whatever's outside the open doors!...See MoreShould we design our living room open-plan or partly open?
Comments (11)thank you all for your suggestions... meme - the front room currently doesn't get used for a few reasons a) it's only me in the house b)family room gets more sun and natural light c) family room looks out to the garden/courtyard which is a nicer view than the lounge which looks down the drive way (i'm back section of a duplex). I have contemplated the idea of moving dining room to family and using lounge as tv room but as it's just currently me it's nice to have the sun flowing in the family room whilst sitting on the couch and reading a book/watching tv (both rooms are deceptively small - i think wide angle camera used in the promo photos) oklouise - again I think the photo makes the rooms appear larger than they are - I have attached some more photos of the family room for you. I have considered moving the door way to the hall as it is in an awkward position for furniture layout (although I'm not sure the room would accommodate the furniture as you have placed it). Another thing that I should mention is that I'm planning to add a door way to the garage from the kitchen, as I currently walk to the sliding doors to gain entrance to the house. The door will be in the position you have the fridge or even next to it in the far corner - which would still work in your plan. Dr Retro House Calls - I think for me I do like the open plan living (no children yet.) I'm not sure the house would be big enough for a family with teenagers (the 3rd room is very small.) In terms of keeping kitchen tidy - no i'm a very messy cook but it's quickly cleaned up by putting most things in the dishwasher/sink (also I would hope my friends and family wouldn't judge me on the state of my kitchen - and if they did I wouldn't be bothered by it :)) I guess if it was for me then I would go ahead and open plan everything to let as much light in as possible, but also I do need to be aware of resale at some stage (but people are either going to like it or not no matter what you do) Kate - I hadn't thought of that idea - I guess making it smaller would turn it into a min theatre room or reading room? Siriuskey - Interesting suggestion - I'm not sure how the placement of furniture would work in the family room, but I think I need to get past my fear of placing furniture in the middle of a room....See Morejilljill24
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