Modern day living especially at present can be secluded enough, and the last few years have galvanised the importance of friends and family.
Have you ever stood isolated in your kitchen while preparing a meal unable to see your partner or children? Have you ever entertained family and friends and felt cramped? Open plan living could be the perfect solution for you to eliminate these issues and maximise your home life.
This blog is an introduction to the do’s and don'ts of open plan living, the ups and downs and a general guide to don your goggles and lump hammer and begin taking down walls.
The first positive is naturally it can make a small room feel so much bigger. Windows at each end of the property and no walls in the way to block the light flowing through can really brighten a space and give natural light no matter where the sun sits in the sky. Couple your open space with bi-fold doors and you can really make your garden an extension of your home, with a clear line of sight from front door all the way through to your garden fence.
So now you have your larger, brighter space how does this benefit you? The social and safety benefits for young families are enormous. No more anxiety of wondering what the kids are up to while you cook, areas can be zoned so you can relax and watch TV while the children play all within the safety of your line of sight. But this is not just a family solution! The larger space you have, the wilder your parties can be and the more family members you can entertain! The ideas don't stop here either, in recent designs I have even incorporated a built in space saving desk and shelving combination so you don’t have to sacrifice a bedroom for a work from home solution.
Having a large open plan space also offers the chance to make storage a feature of the room rather than a burden too. From bookcases to benches with concealed storage underneath. In a multifunctional space the opportunities are endless. Furniture can be used to partition sectors of a room, an L shaped sofa can create a relaxing space whilst rugs are perfect to frame different areas of your open plan design, whilst you want it to be open plan it's really important to create different zones within. Colour can also be used to create different feels to sections of the space and can have a big impact on the overall flow to the room, and prevent a cavernous empty feeling.
But it isn’t all plain sailing. With energy prices as soaring as they are heating such a large space can lead to utility bills as large as the space you created, and while as a general rule the open plan living style can add around 5 to 15% value to a home, it must be remembered that it isn’t for everyone, and the quality of the finish is what will finally determine this uplift rather than simply the act of bringing down walls. And always remember, ensure your walls aren’t load bearing before breaking on through to the other side or you may find your bedroom collapsing through into your kitchen!
All images sourced from Pinterest and are not designs produced by Natalie Taylor Interiors