An open floor plan for your home: pros and cons
Before we delve into the pros and cons of an open floor plan, we need to first understand what exactly an open floor plan is.
As you can see, open floor plans have less restrictions on movement flow by getting rid of partitions that usually separate different rooms in the home. Based on a strict definition, an open floor plan is when two separate rooms that have similar functions are joined together.
But, most of us adopt a looser definition of the word, in which there is a huge communal living area which usually includes unrestricted view or movement between the living room, kitchen and dining room.
Now that we’ve established what a open floor concept is, we can look at some of its pros and cons so you can decide whether it is the appropriate floor plan for your lifestyle.
Pros
1. Creates the illusion of a larger space
For smaller homes, segmenting your home into smaller spaces may create a claustrophobic feeling since each rooms feels very crammed and rigidly separated by walls.
In some cases, you cannot simply add more space to your home and in others, it is likely extremely costly to do so. Hence, an open floor plan is a good solution to make your home look more spacious.
2. Greater convenience for socializing
If you love to host parties and have guests over, or you simply enjoy having a conversation while going about your chores, an open floor plan creates a conducive environment to do so.
No longer will you have to awkwardly cut off a conversation as you’re moving from room to room or strain your ears to hear someone from another room.
An open floor plan is especially appropriate for parties because it allows easier flow of movement and a comfortable environment to converse.
Cons
1. Everything is on display
I’m sure we can all admit that our home aren’t always the neatest. I’m sure we’ve all left dirty dishes in the sink, promising we’ll clean it after we’ve finished cooking but that somehow turns into a few hours later.
This is fine if your kitchen is separated from your living room because out of sight, out of mind. However, with an open floor plan, any form of mess is on display to anyone who comes in the front door.
2. Heating and cooling costs
In smaller rooms, we can cool down our rooms with a press of the air-conditioner remote relatively quickly. This makes sense since a smaller area will require less time to cool down.
However, if you want to cool down a large space, such as the entire communal living area of an open floor concept, it’s going to take a while. And, it can also rake up the electricity costs quite quickly.
So, if you’re an air-conditioner fanatic and have a tight budget on electricity, maybe an open floor concept is not the most suitable for you. Or, you could consider confining the open floor rooms to ones that don’t require air-conditioning.
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