10 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Going Open Plan
Don’t start knocking down walls just yet … follow this checklist to make sure you’ve thought of everything
Creating an open-plan space that combines your living, kitchen and dining areas can not only turn your home into a welcoming and social place for family and friends, it can also add value when it comes time to sell.
Exactly how you open up these spaces will depend on several different factors – consider these questions before taking the leap.
Exactly how you open up these spaces will depend on several different factors – consider these questions before taking the leap.
1. Which direction does your home face? A long-standing trend in Australian houses is to open up the back of the home and create a large, open-plan space. Just be sure to factor in which direction your home faces and whether an open-plan home really is suitable in your neck of the woods. If the afternoon sun is likely to come streaming in, plan ahead with tinted, double-glazed windows, or blinds that can block out sweltering summer rays.
2. Will the flooring match? Knocking down walls to create a more open space will impact your floors. The secret to an open-plan look that works is cohesive flooring that carries the eye through the space to selected focal points of your choosing. You don’t want the focal point to be the unsightly floor joins where your walls used to be. Before going forward, consider if you can extend existing flooring with an exact match or whether you’ll need to finance new floorboards, tiles or carpet. You can always start again with a flooring choice that’s a feature in its own right: this stunning brick floor creates both warmth and atmosphere.
3. What kind of lighting will work best? Lighting can add unexpected costs to renovation budgets, so factor in any extras likely to come your way. Unify your open-plan space by using similar lighting throughout, adding feature lights sparingly to avoid a jumbled effect. These industrial-style pendants are show stoppers in this open-plan home because unobtrusive downlights used in the rest of the space steal none of the limelight.
4. How much natural light is there? Light and airy living spaces are part of the appeal of going open plan, so why not go one step further and install a skylight? Bringing in that extra light can create that bright, feel-good home everyone loves coming home to.
5. How loud will it be? Open-plan designs that combine living, dining and kitchen areas into one can be great for bringing the family together. But gather more than a couple of people in any one space and it’s bound to be noisy. Soft furnishings such as cushions, rugs, curtains and couches can help absorb sound and make your house more pleasant for everyone.
6. What about cooking odours? One of the best things about an open-plan house is that whoever is doing the cooking doesn’t have to be separated from the rest of the household. The downside to opening up the kitchen is that any cooking smells quickly waft through to the other areas. Counter odours as best you can with a supercharged, ducted range hood. Many range hoods are installed without ducting, taking smells into the cavity or cupboard directly above the stove. Duct your range hood to the outside and choose one that offers maximum extraction power without a loud fan.
7. Who will see in? Bringing the outside in by opening up the back of your house is all fine and well, but if you’re also opening up your life for the world to see, you might regret your decision to renovate. Consider how your house will appear to your neighbours and plan accordingly. A privacy screen might be in order if neighbours’ windows are elevated higher than fence level.
8. Where will you hide the mess? When you can see the living and dining room from the kitchen and the kitchen from the living and dining areas, there can be no getting away from the mess that seems to collect so quickly. Factor plenty of storage options into your open-plan design to avoid a build-up. Cupboards, drawers and shelving will all come in handy whenever a tidy-up is needed and are especially important in smaller homes.
9. Is this a good time to go up? If you’re thinking about extending your home out the back, it could be the perfect excuse to give yourself some extra room to move upstairs, too. A larger downstairs footprint can make adding an extra level easier, or allow you to add some much-needed space to an existing but cramped upstairs.
10. How will you create rooms within a room? To avoid a cavernous feel in your open-plan design, define spaces with the use of furniture, rugs and lighting. The couches used in this open-plan living area separate the room just enough to feel cosy without isolating it too much from the rest of the space.