Which sort of housing design to you prefer - one big open plan living area or separate kitchen/dining room/lounge room/office?
Open plan or seperate rooms
- Thread starter Miss Chicken
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Open plan is this thing people who never had teenagers made up. It looks sweet. The reality is awful, AWFUL.
I prefer separate rooms, since it allows more places in the household other than a bedroom to be alone, or to get away from noise.
Also, this is at least the third studio apartment I've been in during the last 22 years, and I hate them. I don't think I've ever been in an open plan house, but I've seen floor plans.
Also, this is at least the third studio apartment I've been in during the last 22 years, and I hate them. I don't think I've ever been in an open plan house, but I've seen floor plans.
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Amaris
Guest
Separate rooms.
As it stands, I live with my parents in an open plan apartment, and it's just as much fun as it sounds. The kitchen, living, and dining area are all together. The place is hard to keep cool, and hard to keep warm because the cool/warm air disperses before it can reach the rest of the room. Even so, turning it on for one room turns it on for all except the bedrooms and bathroom.
So, if I'm in the kitchen area, and cooking over a hot stove, I'm burning up and turn on the air. Well, the air isn't just hitting me, but also everyone in the living room, because it's right there. You know what else sucks? Having a kitchen that's combined with a dining and living area. It's like having a kitchen stove, refrigerator, and large dinner table in your living room.
Privacy does not exist in an open plan house, because you can see the bedrooms from where you are anywhere else in the house. Bathroom, too. Sound travels. Just... trust me on that. Sound travels.
Ye gods, I hate open plan houses. The only upside I can see is that there are no small hallways, so it works for someone who is confined to a wheelchair. Otherwise, they suck. Here's the basic layout of our apartment, and keep in mind it's 900 sq. ft. total, so no privacy:
As it stands, I live with my parents in an open plan apartment, and it's just as much fun as it sounds. The kitchen, living, and dining area are all together. The place is hard to keep cool, and hard to keep warm because the cool/warm air disperses before it can reach the rest of the room. Even so, turning it on for one room turns it on for all except the bedrooms and bathroom.
So, if I'm in the kitchen area, and cooking over a hot stove, I'm burning up and turn on the air. Well, the air isn't just hitting me, but also everyone in the living room, because it's right there. You know what else sucks? Having a kitchen that's combined with a dining and living area. It's like having a kitchen stove, refrigerator, and large dinner table in your living room.
Privacy does not exist in an open plan house, because you can see the bedrooms from where you are anywhere else in the house. Bathroom, too. Sound travels. Just... trust me on that. Sound travels.
Ye gods, I hate open plan houses. The only upside I can see is that there are no small hallways, so it works for someone who is confined to a wheelchair. Otherwise, they suck. Here's the basic layout of our apartment, and keep in mind it's 900 sq. ft. total, so no privacy:
I like the kitchen, dining room, and family room to all be open and connected. The bedrooms and offices should be separate rooms, tucked away on their own, perhaps even on another floor/level. But, we don't have kids, so it's just the two of us.
I really like open plan, but I live alone and value space. Though I can see why people who live with someone else or have kids would want walls for privacy.
I'm apartment/cat sitting atm and like a lot of modern apartments (it's one year old) there is no kitchen. Rather one wall of the living room consists of cupboards, sink, dishwasher and stove all pressed into that wall. Which is in the living room. If you want to eat at a table you sit on the miniature balcony, otherwise it's the small coffee table.
All of which is fine, these apartments are for single people or a couple and supposed to be cheap (though in this city that is a myth). But when I see actual houses designed like this, often with just a chunk more kitchen in the form of one of those stupid benches in the middle of the room (I HATE THOSE) I am blech!
All of which is fine, these apartments are for single people or a couple and supposed to be cheap (though in this city that is a myth). But when I see actual houses designed like this, often with just a chunk more kitchen in the form of one of those stupid benches in the middle of the room (I HATE THOSE) I am blech!
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Amaris
Guest
Hell, I'd at least like a divider in the carpet between the two, so it doesn't look like we just jammed a fridge into the living room space.
In this one there is a tile strip, about 20 inches wide from the "kitchen" wall to the living room carpet. Presumably a concession for the possibility of water etc.. on the floor.
Kitchen and eat-in can be open. At least a partial divide to the Family room. Foyer ok to be open, but the rest of the house should be separate rooms. Especially "10 Forward" or whatever one has for a man/woman cave.
See how I did that gender thing so respectfully?
Slipped it right in there.
Yep.
Effortlessly.
Woman Cave.
BTW, been readin' about some kind of Moderator Welcome Kit for when we ascend. It sounded like a pretty good package, but can't find any details in either "FAQs" or
"You Wish!"
Anybody?
See how I did that gender thing so respectfully?
Slipped it right in there.
Yep.
Effortlessly.
Woman Cave.
BTW, been readin' about some kind of Moderator Welcome Kit for when we ascend. It sounded like a pretty good package, but can't find any details in either "FAQs" or
"You Wish!"
Anybody?
I wish I had a one bedroom apartment so that I had a separate living and sleeping space. I don't like having the computer out where everyone can see it. But they said I don't make enough money for a one bedroom here, even though this is a crap apartment complex.
J., that layout looks horrible.
J., that layout looks horrible.
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Amaris
Guest
We do have some tile, and it's about 20-30 years old. Scrubbing it with bleach, or Pine Sol does nothing. Blech.
It is quite horrible. Also, the back door is in my bedroom. It has to be the dumbest layout I've ever seen, and we've lived in real shacks before.
Same here. I have a "single" apartment with a half-wall between the combination bedroom/living room and kitchen. The only separate room is the bathroom. But it works just fine for someone living alone.
I'm reminded of Flanders and Swann's "Design for Living":
Our boudoir on the open plan has been a huge success.
Though everywhere's so open, there's nowhere safe to dress!
I wouldn't know what to do with a separate living room if I had one. Probably use it to store my stash of model kits and car magazines.
I think if I lived alone, I'd still prefer separate rooms but that's me. With a family, separate rooms are very handy sometimes.
As for work, we have mostly open plan there and while I can understand the reasoning, sometimes it's a complete nightmare
As for work, we have mostly open plan there and while I can understand the reasoning, sometimes it's a complete nightmare
You could look at it this way: It's easy to sneak in and out of the house without your parents knowing (but I suppose that would matter more if you were a kid, than it does to an adult).
Where is the front door in the layout you posted?
@Dr. Sevrin: I recommend improvising. There's no reason furniture has to be set up against a wall, unless it wouldn't be safe. I've got one shelf that has to be put on tile, because it won't balance properly on carpet. All the rest are okay everywhere, and so I use them to create miniature rooms-within-rooms. That's very handy to create a more private area for the computer and a library area for the books.
You could also set up screens, or even run a clothesline across the room with a curtain on it to create a more private sleeping area.
One of my friends used to live in a house where the only route to the one toilet/bathroom in the house is through his bedroom. If he lived alone, ok, but with others, not so much.
Open plan sounds great and can be if you live in a warm climate but I prefer closed - in my main house, I have three floors and it is kitchen, utlity room, living room, then three rooms on the first floor that are two bedrooms and one room used as a double office plus a bathroom and then on the top floor is my bedroom, a room that is clothes storage and our bathroom.
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Amaris
Guest
My bed blocks most of the door's access. It's not something I intended, but the layout of my bedroom is odd. On the side where I would normally be able to put a bed, is a closet. So if I put the bed there, I can't get in the closet. On the other side of the room is all of the outlets, and the electric baseboard heater, which means I can't put the bed there. I'll explain below:
The top right hand corner is the door to the rest of the house. The bottom right hand corner is the closet. The bottom of the image has the door which leads outside. On the left you can see the large baseboard heater. The smaller, thinner rectangles are light switches, and incoming line connections for cables, and phone lines. For some reason, they have everything running through this room, so I have wires and cables everywhere.
The room's dimensions are 10'x10'.
Ouch. The bathroom here is right next to my room, with a thin wall separating the two. Sound travels well in this apartment.
I live alone, so I might as well have open plan. I am the king of minimalism - I hide everything that can be hidden (I would LOVE it if I had furniture that could fold into the wall), and there are no posters or decorations on the walls. Plus, I never use my kitchen to eat in anyway! 
Oh, and just to give a little taste of what my house was like when I moved in: The aforementioned kitchen had SWINGING DOORS.
Oh, and just to give a little taste of what my house was like when I moved in: The aforementioned kitchen had SWINGING DOORS.
Was your room orginally a back porch or utility room or something?
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