As we’ve worked through our renovation, we’ve been asked several times why not open up the dining room and kitchen? Why not widen the living room by removing the wall to the hallway? Many of you have suggested an open concept and we really appreciate the feedback (keep it coming!) but it just doesn’t work for us. Here’s why:
We actually prefer a traditional, closed layout. I know most renovations aim to open up a home as much as possible, create clear sight lines from the front to back of the house, and to connect the living space with the center of the home, the kitchen. When we were house hunting we did not like the homes that had a giant open space. Those were the open houses we typically stayed away from.
Our style is more traditional than most and we appreciate the character of older homes that have more walls and more separation.
These are renderings removing the walls between the living room, dining room and kitchen for an open layout.
Open Concept Renderings
Here are some reasons open sight lines and an open concept doesn’t work for our home:
I don’t want people to see my kitchen mess. If guests are over, I don’t want them to see the behind-the-scenes kitchen mess. Our house is lived in and our kitchen is no different. If I can’t keep the kitchen 100% perfect when people come over, I don’t want it seen. That simple!
We love nooks, niches and corners. With more walls and separation, we can decorate corners and nooks with seating, art, plants, etc. This helps us create a “homey” home – not stiff.
Noise. This may seem like an obvious one, but I want to be able to work in the dining room or read in our kitchen nook without having to hear the TV in the living room. Distinct rooms allow us to create different uses for each space.
Architectural detail. Opening up the walls would have damaged or potentially completely removed beautiful details. The dining room tin ceiling is original and we want to preserve it. We also have gorgeous doors between the dining room and living room that add character to the house – who doesn’t love pocket doors? The trim in the house is real wood, hand carved in some areas. Recreating this would be costly as real wood trim is significantly more expensive than primed mdf trim.
Closed Concept Renderings
Other things we considered:
Vent shaft. This is an “anatomical” view of the wall between the kitchen and dining room. First, this wall is structural. If we removed it we would need to engage an engineer and hire a professional to install a support beam.
This wall also has a vent shaft that goes to the second floor for heating. We would have to move the whole HVAC line in the back of the house.
In the center of the wall is a vent shaft from the basement’s furnace to the roof. Removing this is costly and we need to vent the furnace so we would have to add even another exhaust means. Again, significant time and money.
I know our decisions are not for everyone but they work for our family. We want people to walk through and enjoy each first floor space independently. Compartmentalized living meets our needs and creates opportunity for small vignettes, special corners, nooks, and to display art!
Are you team open concept or team compartmentalization/closed spaces?
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