Open floor plans are a common trend taking over interior design trends over the past 3 decades and are here to stay. Many people admire this type of house plan because it makes a room more spacious and gives you more flexibility on how you want to design your space and promotes the idea of communal living space.
What Is an Open Floor Plan?
When designers refer to an open floor plan, they are talking about a residential floor plan design that joins multiple common spaces into one larger space and does away with partition walls. This kind of house floor plan only works for communal spaces in a home and uses beams to support the room instead of traditional interior walls. This allows seamless movement throughout the space and makes the room look more spacious.
Open Floor Plan Configurations
An open floor plan eliminates partition walls, however, you can incorporate creative ways to divide the room. Usually, open floor plans apply to the kitchen, dining room and living room area. Some of the open floor plan configurations include:
Kitchen and dining room – this is when the kitchen and dining room area take up one space. Sometimes a kitchen island is used as a visible division between the spaces.
Dining room and living room – these two rooms can coexist in one common area with a flight of stairs or even different paint colours on the wall to divide the room into two areas.
Kitchen, dining room, living room – these three can be combined to make one large room.
Advantages of Open Floor Plans
Ease of traffic – open floor plans allow for convenient movement in common spaces in your home. The absence of walls and doors makes it easier to transition from one area to the next.
Improved interaction – it’s hard to talk to somebody in another room when there is a wall separating you. Without the physical barrier of a partition wall, you can communicate more easily with other family members.
Shared light – having a wall dividing rooms means that each room will need its own separate source of lading. In an open concept, shared natural light from windows is a huge bonus.
Added value to your home – since this type of floor plan is desirable to many homeowners, it increases the value of your home.
Easier to monitor children – busy parents often find themselves multitasking while trying to keep an eye on their children. This can be more easily done in an open floor concept where children are within sight.
Flexibility – you have more freedom in your interior decor with an open floor plan layout. You can use various accessories and furniture, or even paint to make a visible division between certain sections in the room.
Multifunctional spaces – having an open concept floor plan means that you can utilize the room in a way that best serves your family. You can divide up the room into various sections based on the needs of your family.
Disadvantages of Open Floor Plans
Expensive to heat and cool – it requires more energy to heat and cool large rooms, especially if the room has high ceilings. If you have larger windows, you may also be losing heat or cold air through your windows.
Greater construction cost – building walls costs less money then inserting steel or laminated beams to support the room, which an open concept floor must have to maintain the structural integrity of the room.
Reduced sound control – sound is more easily carried in the absence of walls. One of the advantages of partition walls is that they block noise. So you may have trouble concentrating in a common space.
Clutter – an open space that is used for multiple purposes can look cluttered if the area is not organized well. Without the walls, furniture can be easily moved from one area of the room to the other, which can disrupt the design of the room.
Lack of privacy – walls create privacy and without these walls, it can be difficult to find a quiet space for yourself.
Contact the Pros
Just because your house was not designed with an open floor concept doesn’t mean you can’t renovate it to suit your liking. Converting a room into an open floor concept can be done with the right team of experts. You cannot go wrong with professional home builders like NICKS Development. Our team has vast experience in home renovations and building open floor concepts. Contact us today for a free quote!
