Should we design our living room open-plan or partly open?
Hi all, this will be my first renovation and I would like some advice. I'm trying to decide on whether to have open plan living by removing 2 walls highlighted (awaiting engineers advice on this) - then move the dining room to where the family room is at the moment, and turn kitchen into large galley as in pic 2.
Option 2 would be remove wall between living areas to open the space and lengthen out kitchen (still moving the dining room to give more space)
Option 3 would be to leave floor plan and just modernize - although currently the front room is not used at all, and dining space is a bit cramped
A few current photos below...
Looking forward to hearing your suggestions and feedback...
Comments (11)
me me
4 years agoRelated Discussions
Design help with small open plan living, kitchen and dining room
Comments (9)Sorry to be a downer, Suzanne, but the minute I saw your table I immediately thought bulk so I have to agree with Leelee, that it will visually fill an area, especially where space is tight. That said, I do love the table. The other thing I am looking at is the table with your sofa - the sofa is much more formal and delicate and suggests a period design, while the table is ultra modern, heavy and casual. I'm wondering what chairs you would put with the table to balance these differences out and that won't be swamped by the table. Love the example Dy has posted for you, he always has great ideas. There was a lady once on Houzz who had an extremely tiny home we helped her decorate and she went with predominant whites with shades of blue and natural elements and the result was restful and really beautiful. Her tiny rooms were beautifully decorated without making the rooms looked swamped. These make great backdrop colours and you can see from the two vases of flowers just how easy it is to add some additional colour. Keep a lot of clear glass for accessories too - lamp bases, coffee or side tables, vases, etc. These will create a more spacious look also while still dressing a room....See MoreNeed 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 MoreOpen plan living room and dining room
Comments (2)Hello Kathy, what beautiful floors you have.....too lovely to totally cover. I think you're on the right track using two large rugs which will delineate the two usage areas but still show off a bit of that pretty timber. If you can make the rugs big enough to allow a nonslip path for your dog, so much the better. lhh...See MoreLayout Advice-Open plan Living Room/Entry/Kitchen
Comments (4)Removing the walls as you've suggested should be ok as long as you check will an engineer first. They may be load bearing. This isn't a major issue to remove them as builders do this type of work regularly but definitely seek professional structural engineering advice first. Privacy to entry will be affected but not too bad. I'd do a furniture layout first and foremost to see if it the rooms will work being so open plan (i.e. noisy perhaps, where to put lounges and dining tables, etc.). People like open plan to look at but they are noisy in many cases as even talking noise travels. Even worse if you have children playing on one side of the area and you're trying to have a conversation with others in another area....See More
PRODr Retro House Calls
4 years ago
Kate
4 years ago
bronwenh8
4 years agothank 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.
me me
4 years agobronwenh8
4 years agooklouise
4 years agodirect access from the garage will be so convenient and much safer with remote control garage doors for extra security and i've added the original family room furniture and some options for the laundry bathroom and, if you're planning to add timber floors, your plain kitchen cabinets could be recycled with some rearranging a few extra modules. new counters and handles to save the cost of a whole new kitchen
bronwenh8
4 years agooklouise
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agoeven without knocking down any walls the improvements to the kitchen and internal access to the garage would be well worth doing and maybe widening the doorway between family and living would be enough to increase the connection between the two spaces...ask the engineer about widening the doorway from the current approximate 800mm to about 1500mm (keeping the same height.. with or without closeable doors)
this arrangement could give you the best of separation and openess and be a lot less costly than removing the whole wall and allows space for an extendable table for feeding a crowd, a daytime sitting area in the sunny spot and a night time TV room?bronwenh8 thanked oklouise
oklouise