Open plan living

Beechnut

CafeAuLait

MerylStreep - thank you. It sounds like just what I might need!

Did you sleep any better last night CafeAuLait ?
I didn’t get past the living room!

I tried the garden but didn't get past the chaos out there at the moment. Will try again tonight. I fell asleep pretty quickly. My biggest problem is waking around 5am and not being able to get back to sleep.

My no-no's.
No open plan; no island units (I don't want to eat looking at a kitchen sink); and definitely a no to a lack of door to en-suite. I mean really!

Our bungalow is 50+ years old, we still have a separate kitchen, dining room, sitting room.

DH would like to have the kitchen/diner all in one, egged on by DS, who doesn’t live here.

I like it all separate. On the rare occasions we have guests, I would hate to chat away whilst cooking, I encourage them into the sitting room with DH until the meal is ready.

I think open plan living is a generation thing in the main, most of my friends think the same as me.

CafeAuLait

MerylStreep - thank you. It sounds like just what I might need!

Did you sleep any better last night CafeAuLait ?
I didn’t get past the living room!

MerylStreep - thank you. It sounds like just what I might need!

Our new build is open plan but with a separate study room. Perfect for the two of us.
I'm not sure I would like it with a young family though.

Can't wait.

Is a kitchen island not just about the same use as a big kitchen table? I remember most kitchens had a big table in them. It had a multitude of functions.

Beswitched I thought I was the only one who hates island units. We have just refitted our (galley) kitchen and DH spent most of the time asking me (tongue in cheek) where I wanted the island unit as clearly a kitchen wasn't a kitchen without one these days!

GagaJo

I'd love a big kitchen/diner/family room. But I'd also want a separate sitting room. Best of both worlds.

I lived in a totally open plan house many years ago and while it looked gorgeous, was a nightmare for smells, mess etc.

Can't bear wood burning stoves, plantation shutters, high gloss or Shaker style kitchens, laminate floors or all grey decor either.

I think it's preferable to go for personal taste rather than following fashion. That way your home is always personal to you and doesn't date (at least, not in your own eyes).

I totally agree. I don't understand people who make over their house every couple of years to keep up with latest colour trends, styles etc. How can that be a home?

My personal hate is kitchen islands. I can see the logic in having extra work space but anyone I know who has one ends up using it as a repository for clean laundry waiting to be brought upstairs, opened post, the kids' schoolbooks etc

I like the idea of a big kitchen/ dining room, where I can converse with guests while cooking, but otherwise want living room and study to be separate.

We are currently extending our kitchen to achieve that. The room will be a staggered L shape. I will still have my current galley kitchen, but it will lead into a big square casual dining area with room for one or two comfortable chairs, most of it extending beyond the current house well into the garden.

The current breakfast space is only 8 foot square, in quite a big house and when DS and family come there really isn't space for us all to even have breakfast. We have a dining hall with an antique dining table and chairs. Fine at times like Christmas, but very inconvenient and messy looking when all meals have to be eaten there when family visit.

How do you argue without the children knowing everything ?

I'd love a big kitchen/diner/family room. But I'd also want a separate sitting room. Best of both worlds.

I lived in a totally open plan house many years ago and while it looked gorgeous, was a nightmare for smells, mess etc.

Can't bear wood burning stoves, plantation shutters, high gloss or Shaker style kitchens, laminate floors or all grey decor either.

I think it's preferable to go for personal taste rather than following fashion. That way your home is always personal to you and doesn't date (at least, not in your own eyes).

MerylStreep my mum used to do that, years and years ago if she couldn't sleep. She would go through her wedding day, from getting up in the morning, who came to the house, putting on her dress, getting in the car with her dear dad etc. etc. She always told me she fell asleep before she got to go down the aisle!! (P.S. she and my dad had been very happily married for 64 years when she died).

CafeAuLait
I’ve been practicing this for many years after paying privately to see a ‘sleep practitioner’
When the theory is explained to you it sounds so simple. It is, and it works.
You are told to think of the same thing every night. When you first start it can take a while to nod off, but you eventually do.
As you keep ‘practicing’ the brain gets the massage ah, this is where I go to sleep
But you must keep to the same ‘subject’
Don’t give up, it works differently ( time wise) for all people.

A lot of people had oldish houses and decided to knock through the 2 reception rooms . Never appealed to me.

Seems now that many people are starting to separate the rooms again.

I'm surprised that Kirstie was recommending knocking through because I thought that it was becoming a bit old hat now

Oh, I would love one of those turntable summer houses. ?

Peasblossom

I have spent many a happy night, drifting off, planning my garden. We moved in, just before lockdown to a featureless sheet of grass.

I’m especially fond of the fake jungle area with bamboo and a hut.????

That sounds good Peasblossom. My garden plan is to have different areas planted out and a summerhouse on a giant turntable in the middle so I can turn it to have a different view.

Separate rooms for me especially when my children were teenagers.

And I definitely don't want an open plan bathroom/bedroom. I like my privacy for ablutions.

Hazel93 !

We are building our retirement home at present. Lovely architect, swooped through the footprint of the plot enthusing re. open plan, vaulted ceilings, bifold doors etc.
Once he took breath I said "No" -his face was a picture !

I much prefer separate rooms too...........how on earth do you close a door on clutter in open plan spaces? ?‍♀️?

Yes separate rooms for us.

Dining room can be left to clear later if you have people to eat. They can move to a tranquil sitting room, for drinks etc. Not that we’ve had anybody for a meal for what seems eons.
TV can be got away from.
Definitely a separate kitchen - I’m not up with the modern idea of cooking and chatting over a counter. I like to leave the chaos, steam and smell of the kitchen behind a closed door.
No studying or work these days, but good to have a study when we did. Hardly used now. Everything done on line.

I love the look of open plan. A lot of my neighbours have gone open plan over the last ten years. I'm so glad we didn't - for the last year the dining room has been converted into an office (which means he moved his PC in there on the dining room table!) for my OH to work at home. We shut the doors and I can wander round and work in the other rooms without disturbing him usually. He's next to the kitchen so he can pop out for coffee when he wants to, and lunch. His work is classified, so we just shut the doors at the end of the day and no-one goes in there.

One of my neighbours is currently putting a wall back up - she doesn't like not having a room where she can shut the door and keep the noise out. I think she's having problems with her children not doing their homework as well, up in their bedrooms.

I have spent many a happy night, drifting off, planning my garden. We moved in, just before lockdown to a featureless sheet of grass.

I’m especially fond of the fake jungle area with bamboo and a hut.????