How sick are you of the “open concept” design?

It’s already over. I’m a Redfin addict—the houses with the fully open kitchens sit on the market far longer than the “old fashioned” layouts. Partly because many of the open kitchen designs are part of shittily done developer rehabs (walls painted in the same dull grey color and staged with the same hideous furniture and “art”).

I think it will evolve. I think people still like having a larger, combined room, either kitchen/dining or dining/living space.

But the one big room for everything is starting to look very industrial, and people seem to want definition to the spaces.

It would feel like a big, boring jail cell. How would I hide from my cats?

I. MUST. See. The. Children. While. I. Cook. And. ENTERTAIN.

Open works well in a VERY big house where the kitchen/dining/den room is one of many rooms on the first floor (living room, library, formal dining room etc.)

It does not work well in the small houses you see rehabbed on HGTV especially when the Cute Little Children start going to school and need to do homework and there's no room other than their own bedrooms they can go into that's quiet.

I never liked it, because I actually cook, and I don't want all my guests seeing the mess in the kitchen.

Unfortunately, I find that my guests seem to follow me into the kitchen, and then often ten people are crowding around a kitchen table built for four.

No one likes or uses a dining room any more, sadly.

I like it when it’s good. I’m sick of it in restaurants. I really don’t need to see the kitchen at a restaurant

I still like it. You can prepare dinner with your guests right there at the bar or on the sofa watching TV. It makes more sense than the cook/host being off in another room, unable to join in. I, too, am sick of open concept in restaurants. Ate at one the other night and we were seated in the first row of tables away from the kitchen and we could feel the heat radiating and the smoke from the grill.

I've never liked the kitchen as part of the larger living quarters because kitchens get messy and I don't like to see that.

I don't mind a great room with a kitchen as long as there are formal living and dining rooms where you can escape kitchen clutter.

I used to hate hearing parents like R4 mentions on the rehab shows. I always wished they would go back to these households when "the children" were sullen teenagers glaring at their parents before they stormed off to their bedrooms.

HATE HATE HATE IT. Living rooms look like hotel lobbies and store showrooms. People can smell cooking and hear banging around in the kitchen. The living room upholstery gets soiled from cooking grease. There's no privacy from ANYTHING. This trend evolved from mothers wanting to watch their kids while they prepare meals, right?

I hate it when my loud Salvador husbear talks on the phone while he's in the kitchen or dining room and I'm in the living room watching "Big Little Lies" and cannot hear a damn thing. And when I turn the volume up, he says "Turn it down, I can't hear."

^^ That's Salvadoran

In newer homes I don't mind, if well designed. In older homes, I prefer the rooms as originally built.

I’ve noticed on some of the HGTV rehab shows, when they knock down walls to create these open plans, the kitchen is enormous and dominates the space, while the living area is tiny. No thanks.

They also very rarely (if ever) stage it with what most people will put in their living room : a television. And some of the layouts would make having one difficult.

I was looking at floor plans for some newly constructed apartments here in Center City Philly.

11' x 10' master bedroom. 13' x 11' combination LR/DR, but it's open to the kitchen so it's seems larger. And there are 9 foot ceilings, another optical illusion to make the place look bigger than it is. But those are cracker box room sizes.

My room in my parents house was 10' x 10.' There was room for a twin bed, a chest of drawers, a desk and precious little else. How the hell are you going to fit a king/queen size bed in an 11x10 foot room and have room for anything else?

Parisians abhor open plans. They are flabbergasted at foreigners who create the “Cuisine Américaine” that introduces, smoke, smell and mess into formerly lovely living rooms.

My nephew and his new wife just bought a new build home,and when you walk in the front door the kitchen literally smacks you in the face. Its where the dining or living room would have been in a traditional home. All open,of course. I hate it,as does the rest of us who've seen it.Nobody has the heaqrt to tell him though.

Thank you! I love ROOMS. Open concept - blah.

Good to hear the hate for open concept. Always hated it. Loved in a totally open loft space in late 90s/early ‘00s. Even though it was the hippest thing then, I learned quickly I hated it. The whole loft/industrial/open concept is dying I think. It’s almost retro 90s at this point.

Recently saw a house that came on the market built in 2000 like a loft - totally open. They keep dropping the price because no one wants it. But developers are still building the open kitchens. Like R18 said - seeing a kitchen as the main design element of a house is wrong.

I now have a classic house with a classic living room, dining room and separate (large) kitchen. I love it. I use the dining room as an office space and it’s a beautiful, elegant, well-proportioned room that’s great to work in.

I love open concept. You and your guests can see and converse where ever you are in the main living area.

I recently went to a house with the old multi-room concept. I felt so claustrophobic

Does anyone use dining rooms anymore?

the open concept did away the stupid idea of a formal living room and a family room. Now everyone congregates around the kitchen/family room and any formal living room goes unused.

[quote] People can smell cooking and hear banging around in the kitchen.

Mary!

Who are these people who spend the majority of their lives entertaining guests?!? Once or twice a year I have people over. I’m not buying and living in a house for them.

I had a 1940 house that I opened up the kitchen, dining room and living room. I had a bar height wall between the kitchen and living room. There was a complete wall that separated a portion of the dining room and living room. If I had to do it all over again I would not have done it. I like open concepts, but it really take away from the character of the home.

I’m confused by those who are confused about dining rooms. Where do you eat dinner? At a table in the kitchen? On the couch? I make dinner in the kitchen and then bring it to the dining room to eat.

My husband and I lived in a loft for a few years. It was large and cavernous (like most DLers assholes), but the only walls and private space were the bedroom/bathroom. So if you just wanted some quiet or alone time away from each other, you could only got to the bedroom.

Now we live in a 1957 traditional ranch and LOVE It. Living area, where do most of our caftan wearing and lounging, formal dining, breakfast nook in kitchen, and a den/library where we can hang out too, and close the doors if we want privacy. And we also converted one one of the bedrooms to an office.

I will never go back to loft and apartment living again.

[quote] Where do you eat dinner? At a table in the kitchen?

Hence the term "eat-in kitchen"

Which does not preclude a formal dining room for more formal meals

My dining room is more of a multi purpose room. I eat, read the news paper, pay bills all at the big table in my dining room. It also makes a great meeting/board room when I have community activists over. The table seats 16. I LOVE my dining room. I spend more time in it than the living room, which is more for relaxing and TV and napping in the daytime.

It works well in a large loft but now they just do it so they can give you less space. I'm talking about a condo. But it does makes sense in a condo because they keep building them smaller - you kitchen would look and feel like a closet if it were closed off. What is needed is ventilation. One needs good ventilation in open concept.

I like open concepts because the whole idea of a separate formal living room and formal dining room is dated.

Why keep space in your house to use solely when guests are there?

Interestingly, I grew up in a house with the traditional separate room.

Coincidentally, I later bought a house that is the same style as the house I grew up in but now turned into an open concept space.

My current home is so much better. Light comes in a coats the entire place. The whole place seems so much more spacious.

My grandparents lived in a traditional home a few years ago. It always seemed dark and depressing. They moved into a beautiful, open space condo---they love it, and I am glad that they did because it seems "happier".

Lol R28 - not only do I love your DL-isms but completely agree with your sentiments. Having lived in an open loft with my partner, I swore I would never do it again. As an introvert, it drove me insane.

But I do agree for a really small space, an open kitchen can make sense.

[R30] I was going to say the same thing. I have a traditional fifties split level, and we love all the rooms to go to. The dining room has a big antique table that we can use for dinners, or for doing work, or for sitting around socializing. The kitchen has pocket doors, so no one has to see all the cooking mess. If people want to talk while I’m cooking, they can sit at the kitchen table.

I was raped by Earl Peterson in an open concept home once. It was awful.

"(Entrance into kitchen) Its where the dining or living room would have been in a traditional home"

R18, isn't a FOYER what you're supposed to see when you enter a house or apartment? That another thing that's been eliminated in newer construction. I have never lived in anything for a long time that was built after 1940. There are minuses, obviously (I've never had central air, grew up with no air), but there's always been a foyer, rooms have always been separate.

R38 You open their front door into a huge room ,kitchen to the right,living room to the left. Theres a closet on either side of the door but no foyer to speak of. And they paid $350,000 !

r35, you responded to a post made by the unfortunate GeorgeGlass. If you ever have to visit his ramshackle ranch, do bring cup cakes.

Well, he must like it, R39, there's no need to tell him. $350K is chump change where I come from!

I could NEVER live somewhere without a foyer.

Their omission is the downfall of our society.

very sick

Tacky people who put wide screen tv's over fireplaces LOVE open concept design.

R6, Put the booze on your dining room table. Guests will find it.

[R42] I like that word foyer. I only have known one other person to use it and she was referring to a small entrance with stairs. (On the east coast of US. )

I live in a loft and like it being open concept, but the key is that I live alone. If I lived with someone I would desperately need separate rooms other than the bathroom that I could close the doors of for some solitude.

If there were children, the doors and walls would need to be soundproofed. And possibly reinforced like those of a bank vault.

R17, in Manila, we wouldn't dream of having an open kitchen where guests can see us cooking. We need to cut up the fish and hack up the pig behind closed doors, as we wear our raggedly throwaway clothes that get splattered with blood and cooking grease. And we wouldn't feel comfortable having all the vinegary cooking smells permeate the other rooms. An outdoor kitchen (dirty kitchen) works best.

I can’t stand having a tv in an open area that also includes the kitchen. You can’t hear the tv because someone is always running water or clanging in the kitchen, and you can comfortably cook without worrying about disturbing the tv watching. No future house of mine will contain both in the same space.

My ex-husband's brother builds homes. He built a gorgeous home for my ex-husband off a leafy cul-de-sac.

The front door opens into a living room space. The right back of the room is the kitchen and to the right a dining room table with glass patio doors lead out to a backyard surrounded by woods. It's all contained within one room, no walls. Expensive cherry wood floors add a touch of rustic glamour.

One day, as he looked around his gorgeous home, he remarked to me, "If I could do it over, I'd have separated the kitchen behind a wall. I don't like it that you can enter this home and see my kitchen sink." I agreed.

Within a house, walls serve a purpose.

R48 dear Lord in Heaven! And I can only imagine the horrors of cooking Indian food in an open plan space. I only make a curry once a year, it permeates the whole kitchen as it is, which is separated.

People in open concept always mount their TVs on the wall. There could be nothing worse. It’s so tacky.

I have a traditional Williamsburg style cape. The kitchen runs the Lankes of the one side of the house from front to back. It has a pocket door to close off the entrance from the living room. I like having this kitchen separate from the rest of the space. While it is darker there are ways to remedy that. The remedy is called lamps

What do you mean by "cooking"?

I am sick of it, I am also sick of strapless wedding dresses.

R55, didn't you wear one to your fifth wedding?

I never could stand it when it was popular and I am glad people are finally realizing that separate rooms actually have more advantages.

I love an open concept, if it's classical looking. I think it's for jaded people who are sick of decorating - tired of having the blue and white kitchen, the coral sitting room, the dark green and mahogany library. Instead, you just have one main space you do as a jumble of everything you like.

It's also best for people who don't cook that much. If you're always going to have flour and cookie sheets out, and walls of copper moulding pans, you do kind of need a specialized room for that. But if the most you do is cross the room and brew some coffee or reheat something, it's great.

Why is a flat screen on a wall "tacky"? You can use a screensaver and have any pic you want on it, so it serves as a picture as well. Not sure why this is tacky, yet having it on a table is considered ok? Are people using old time armoirs?

I do not like it when people refer to a house as a "home," especially when they're talking about a building with no inhabitants. It's manipulative as hell.

My public library recently rebuilt one of their branches. It's all open concept and I HATE it.

Dating myself, but I long for the days of quiet libraries.

Homes with open floor plans, libraries with open floor plans, offices with open floor plans....enough!!! Not everyone wants to be one big happy family where we all need to be together!!! Some people actually like privacy!

I think it works ok when you have a big space. Even all the clutter/noise/smells can be offset by space.

What I don’t like is how unoriginal most open plan designs are - first from the Tuscan theme of the 2000s to the grays and whites of the 2010s.

They’re not anything new, because they’re not anything new.

I think it works ok when you have a big space. Even all the clutter/noise/smells can be offset by space.

What I don’t like is how unoriginal most open plan designs are - first from the Tuscan theme of the 2000s to the grays and whites of the 2010s.

They’re not anything new, because they’re not anything new.

I hate cooking smells. I mean, I like bacon, I just don’t want it wafting through the house.

So open plan is a no from me.

One reason I love the novel WE NEED TO TALK ANOUT KEVIN by Lionel Shriver is that the lead character hates the new age bullshit teak house her husband bought white barely any doors.

A kitchen which opens to a dining room is fine and functional. I don't like a whole open floor plan with kitchen/dining/living/family rooms all in one big room. There is little privacy and lots more noise.

In my house, most areas on the main level are separated and it's fine. We have a big kitchen with an eat-in breakfast area (the table is really big enough for any meal). On one side, a formal dining room and living room are together (we've only used this part sparingly over the years). On the other side of the main floor, there is a separate family room where we spend a lot of our time because the TV is there as well as a laundry room and powder room.

And while we’re at it - let’s get rid of “open concept” offices - which seem specifically designed to torture employees and keep them enslaved to work and prevent any semblance of personal space or life.

Everyone I know who has one says they're great when they have toddlers, as the whole family is always doing everything together anyway, but once the kids get a little older (elementary school age) and they start needing to do homework or watching TV on their own, it's an issue because everyone can hear everyone else and there's no privacy.

As I said upthread it works in bigger houses when there are rooms on the main level other than the "great room" because you can then have some privacy.

And my grandmother used to refer to the area after the entry hall in her apartment as "the foyer." It was like you walked in and there was a six foot hallway before you got to the main part of the apartment where there was a sort of an empty square area that then led to all the other rooms. There was a table (etagere?--long rectangular thing with doors) that had a telephone on it and I remember her telling us to "call your mother from the telephone in the foyer"

This was in Manhattan in the 90s.

I love open concept, particularly if you have a family. Everyone is together in the same living space. I think it supports family cohesion

Apartments in NYC costing $3-$8million bucks....with the fucking KITCHEN in the LIVING room, and no separate dining room! How can you entertain having to stare at the chef, waiters and dirty pots and pans in the sink!

A lousy idea completely out of control, dated and stupid!

I love a dining room and hate the kitchen table if guests crowd around it. I'm seeing open concept in the office resulting in everyone wearing "Leave me alone" headphones. The pendulum swings.

Open concept floorplans are the thing in SF with all the techies. In fact I am staring out my window at the Salesforce Tower now where they are like this. Yes, everyone does wear the leave me alone headphones.

I'm thankful I have an office with a door that I can shut when I need to procrastinate on Datalounge. Some things should be private like that.

I like the open concept as long as the room with the kitchen isn’t the only social room in the house. I like having a kitchen area that is big enough that people can congregate in and do multiple things but I also like being able to get away from the kitchen. You need to have some sort of separate living room or seating area to get away to. Even an enclosed patio works. There just need to be separate areas for socializing where people can form their own little groups and get away from each other without having to go to a bedroom or something.

If I understand the argument for the big flat screen hung above the fireplace as tacky and low class because, since it's the room's focal point, it should be reserved for something artsy and important. My place isn't all that big and the fireplace is definitely the central focal point. There would be literally no other way to have the TV in the room without it being above the fireplace and that's exactly where it is. Fuck you all.

R11 Don't those range hoods suck away the cooking grease?

I don't know because I don't know anyone who has one.

R74, you have a great point. And, lets be honest.......MOST people have to admit that the FOCAL point in the room IS the TV. Seems pretentious to call it tacky. Most of us cannot afford an original Van Gogh to put on the wall, and....hell..lets be honest...how long will we just stare at it the way we do the tv? I agree with you!

[quote] MOST people have to admit that the FOCAL point in the room IS the TV.

So true. This is why when my partner and I bought a house, we made the agreement that there would be only one TV in the house and it would not be in the living room.

People waste way too much time watching TV

R77, that is definitely a good idea. But, still..a lot of people have it on the wall and I don't think it is tacky.

^They do. It would be much better if they spent that time doing what you...wait...what the fuck do you do instead?

[quote]I love open concept, particularly if you have a family. Everyone is together in the same living space. I think it supports family cohesion

Honey, even family members who get along want privacy. Not EVERYTHING needs to be done together. That’s what living rooms and family rooms are for.

You sound like you are really needy

Yes, R75, fans and hoods shoot most of the grease onto the ceiling cabinets!

"On one side, a formal dining room and living room are together (we've only used this part sparingly over the years)."

Me neither, but the cats use it every day.

^ the ceiling AND cabinets!

The problem I have with it is when the kitchen is open to where you are dining or watching tv. Especially in more ambient spaces. It can be so loud hearing people clanging dishes and whatnot. I prefer the idea of a separate cozy den for tv watching.

My hut is open plan.

I hate it when you walk into someone's house or apartment and the focal point is the kitchen. Forget about entertaining, I really don't want to spend all of my waking hours looking at the kitchen.

I grew up with a very early open concept kitchen/family room. The house was an old Colonial but in the 70s my parents remodeled the kitchen and got rid of the adjoining butler's pantry, a storage area and a small bedroom, which was probably a room for the maid back in the day. All of this space went along the back of the house, accessible through a center hall from the front, or from a side door at the rear of the house. The remodeled kitchen was large with a countertop that separated the work space from the eating area (no one really had bar stools back then at the counter for eating - thank God, that's one of the uglier manifestations of the open concept kitchen), then opened to a family room where the TV was and a half bath.

The formal dining room and living room were located at the front of the house on either side of the center hall, and both had working fireplaces. We used our living room all the time - coming from a big family with one TV and no cable, which was the norm until about 30 years ago, if you didn't like what was on TV, you went into the living room to read, listen to music or talk. We ate most meals in the dining room. The kitchen table was when only a few people in the family were eating together or for snacks after school.

In my dreams I'd have a separate kitchen but with a swing door and a tall pass-through (like on I LOVE LUCY, with the shutters) so you could have it closed off or open depending on your needs.

If you don't put the tv over the fireplace in most houses, you end up with the problem of the seating either being uncomfortable for watching tv or uncomfortable for using the fireplace. Now, if I could, I would prefer the tv to be in a built in cabinet above the fireplace that can be closed when not in use.

The most important reason to not have the tv over fireplace is the viewing angle. It’s simply too high and not ergonomically correct for your head to be at a constant upward tilt.

in total agreement, r88, the TV over the fireplace is too high. You have to look up when sitting down. Plus TVs are so big now that unless you have a massive fireplace, they look out of scale hanging on the wall. Don't even get me started on the way it looks when people don't conceal the wiring in the wall. Just awful. The whole TV over the fireplace trend needs to die. Cheap ass builders need to start putting walls back up.

A lot of you people seem to live like pigs.

Didn't your mother teach you to clean as you cook?

I'm surprised to be in the majority here preferring distinct rooms. We fought a little over open concept and individual rooms when buying a house. We ended up in a sort of compromise. The rooms are all separate but there are archways, some with glassed pocket doors, that flow each room to one another. It's a great layout in a 50s ranch.

R86 We have a shuttered pass through from our kitchen to the formal living room. I guess it's supposed to be used like a bar, but we call it the shop and dispense dog treats through it. Instead of liquor on the built in glass shelves, it has fancy candy jars filled with dog treats. Really kitschy but discrete enough from most angles.

R91 That is a design I like as well. I remember touring an Antebellum plantation house that was designed like that, so that they could have distinct rooms, but then they could open them up for flow, when they hosted parties.

I have a back neck, so the TV MUST be eye level. Several people I know have developed bad necks from watching either high on the wall TVs or right off the floor (because of space restrictions) TVs. This along with obsessive smart phone use has my physical therapist very busy.

[quote]my parents remodeled the kitchen and got rid of the adjoining butler's pantry, a storage area and a small bedroom, which was probably a room for the maid back in the day.

They should’ve just hired a maid! I miss houses with servant’s quarters.

R93 It doesn't bother me because I never really sit when watching tv. I slouch or lay down.

r94, I always wished we had a servant, like TVs Alice, Hazel, Mrs. Livingston or Mr. French! But alas, my parents had five kids, and my mom must have been a drill sergeant in another life because we were a child army - no outside help needed to keep the inside and outside immaculate. Which is probably I do have a housekeeper myself today (she doesn't live in or wear a uniform).

I hate it. I don’t want my visiting relatives to see me putting glass in their food.

[quote]I have a back neck

Pics please.

R91, your home sounds beautiful. And, the dog treats? Too great!!! Love it.

r98 = Tod Browning

An open plan is not a new concept. It's how the first houses were built, with a fire pit in the center. Then they graduated to having a sleeping loft above, and finally sectioned off bedrooms.

Financial considerations aside, I think people were less afraid of interacting then.

For all of you people with the TV either over the fireplace or even worse, mounted to a wall it’s just tacky. You can fight back all you want but you won’t win. Televisions should never ever be in a formal living room. They need to be in a room that is strictly for viewing. Televisions should be eye level and are best on a custom designed cabinet with storage underneath. Even a studio apartment should have the TV in a small sitting area. There’s nothing worse than a smaller TV mounted on the wall. It’s enough to make one vomit.

[quote]Financial considerations aside, I think people were less afraid of interacting then.

Or maybe people were just less annoying back then.

R102 That is the problem, they don't have "formal" living rooms anymore. It is one large "family" room.

R104 then they need to be off to one side of the room ina separate seating area. What is so fucking difficult about that.

R105 Because a) there is not enough room for that and b) the main thing that you do in these rooms is to watch tv.

[quote]This trend evolved from mothers wanting to watch their kids while they prepare meals, right?

I think it was more that she was sick of being abandoned in the kitchen taking care of everything while the kids and her husband sat around in the living room watching movies or playing video games. When they yell, "Bring me a _____!" she could see them to tell the to fuck off. Unlike some of you seem to think, most mothers are always looking for ways to escape their families when no one is around to see it and judge them for it.

I dunno, R107. My mother thought it was would have been wonder (it was well past her time), but when I brought up the lack of privacy, the smell, the noise, she said, "shit, no."

My house was to be built with a half-wall between kitchen and family room. I insisted on a full wall. I have a small TV in the kitchen, and a 55" TV---on a low, eye-level-when-sitting, movable cart/stand---in the FR. No TV in the LR.

I do not care for an "open" design. I prefer the implicit different purposes per room.

I have never encountered a TV above a fireplace.

Doesn't the intense heat disturb the glass and plastic in the TV?

Doesn't the smoke stain the TV? The few working fireplaces I know have smoke stains above them; most fireplaces I know are unused and are mere reminders of the time before TVs existed.

I’ve seen it, R110, but I live in Texas. No one actually uses their fireplace here. I’m not even sure why they put fireplaces in houses in Texas. There are approximately two weeks out of the year when it’s cold enough to use one. They just take up wall space.

In my apt building there's a unit where they have a fake fireplace and a real TV on the wall on top of it. That solves the problem, R110.

R111, true, another reason I loathe open concept design and modern apartments/houses - lack of wall space.

Yes, we "nooks and crannies" types are having a hard time of it.

R110 I have never ever seen a wood/coal burning fireplace with smoke stains on the ceiling above it. Sounds like poor workmanship.

I have a gas fp in the master bedroom with one of those The Frame tvs by Samsung above it. Sadly I'm one of those who need a tv on to sleep. It was not affected by heat from the fp during winter, thanks in part to the huge mantle above.

I concur with others and was reluctant to hang a TV above a fp, however for the size and positioning of the room this was the best place to put it. Fortunately I had it professionally installed, zero cables anywhere, flush against the wall, and spends most of the day displaying Louvre artworks. Room is very similar to the linked image.

Oy R114 I could have never dated you ! I once broke up with a guy because of that very reason. His tv was on the entire time he was ever in his house. And loud to boot.Drove me batty trying to sleep over.

Like it R114 . I think displaying art while not in use is great. While I understand the neck positioning issue, I don’t get the aesthetic hate for TV above fireplace. Most fireplaces are positioned to be the central focus - and a TV ends up serving that same role. I would love to but because my fireplace is stone, there is no way to attach TV safely and hide wires. So I have it in my smaller family room. I wish it was above fireplace in LR because I can’t have a fire and watch TV at the same time.

your living room has no other walls, r116? Does the stone fireplace take up the entire wall? Why not get a cabinet and put it on either side of the fireplace?

I'm definitely not a tv person, r115. It does help me get to sleep and at the right low volume I'm usually out within 10-15mins. Same reason I can barely watch movies at home (in our theater lol), it just knocks me out.

When the tv is in art mode, I use no accompanying sound.

r115, try ASMR recordings or "sleep stories" you can listen to on your phone. They shut off after 20 - 40 minutes. Unless you use a timer on your TV the light and sound are actually very disruptive to your sleep.

Sorry I should have added my husband then turns the tv off once I'm asleep. He's the same as you. Also the flashing lights would keep waking me if left on.

It’s a square room with windows on 3 sides and the entry from the foyer (yes, a foyer) on the 4th. One of those walls has bookcases and the sofa is against another - so seats are circled around facing fireplace. I tried squeezing it into corner against bookcase but it looked stupid - and the seats aren’t facing that direction.

I thought it would be nice to have the formal LR with fireplace - and keep the TV viewing in the family room. But wind up never using LR except for fires in winter because TV is in other room. So I end up not using the prettiest room in the house very much.

r116, r121 Google TV next to fireplace - there are a lot of ideas for placement. I bet you could also find someone with experience installing over a stone fireplace or through the mantle. With wireless TVs you no longer need the same amount of cords and cables.

Sometimes the room was designed for the fireplace to be THE focal point. If I didn't have the TV above it, it would have to go on a table right in front of the fireplace. The only other place would be on the kitchen island and the sofa and chairs would have to be turned around. It's just stupid to fight it. They made a room with a clearly defined focal point. The TV is something to focus on for hours (unlike a painting which you might look at for what? Two minutes? I get that the proper "attitude" is to watch less tv and to display art more...but this is just silly.

"I don't watch television, I have a fireplace."

- Mrs. Malone

This is a perfect example of a horrible open plan. From one of those shows on HGTV (“Good Bones”), this shot was taken from just inside the FRONT DOOR.

No foyer. The couch on the lower right of image is directly in front of the window and front door. In Indiana. You know how cold and snowy it gets there in the winter?

So many other things I could dissect about this Midwest monstrosity but I’ll just leave it at that.

BTW that house in R125 was listed at $455,000.

In Indiana.

Suckers.

"My hut is open plan.

—Darfur orphan"

Humble bragging?

R114 Thank you for your note about fireplaces.

I actually was thinking about a 1950s house which inspired by Frank Lloyd-Wright but it had no mantle.

I guess houses built in the 1950s had fireplaces to give 'a focus' to the room rather than burn logs in.

R125, that room looks like it's a basement apartment on Income Property. Why in the world would you have an exposed overhead vent spanning the whole living room?

R129 because Indiana is about 20 years behind

Paul McClean does it really well.. then again he designs real mansions as opposed to McMansions

TV was considered a low class medium until recently, right, "the boob tube" and it was cool back in the day to claim you didn't have a TV or watch it (sort of the latter day equivalent of saying you are not on Facebook today.)

But that's changed over the past ten yeas and even M is doing TV, so the stigma is much less, plus TVs are much thinner and now can be hung like pictures on the wall and don't need to be hidden inside a giant cabinet or housed on a giant stand.

But for the older generation, TVs in the living room will likely always retain a stigma.

[quote] it was cool back in the day to claim you didn't have a TV or watch it

It was never cool, it was always pretentious.

No doubt R133 (it was before my time) but I am sure the people saying it thought they were cool, similar to the people who can't wait to announce they are not on Facebook in 2019.

Just as I am sure they would let anyone and everyone know they did not own a TV within 10 minutes of meeting them.

Fraus still love them. It appeals to some matriarchal desire to hold court over the entire family. She sees all, knows all, and wants to control all.

R102 is having way too many feelings about mounted TVs. Way too many feelings!

Not as sick as I am about people making a huge deal about open concepts. There are multiple types of houses, single level, multi level, Tri-level, open concept, walls, walls that open to the outside. Don't like open concept, don't buy one, it isn't like it is your only choice.

GO HOME, R137

Yeah!

Dear R137 -

[quote]and even M is doing TV,

??

I'm fond of the bed-in-the-kitchen look myself.

I recently toured some model homes. They had large kitchens that included family room space in one large rectangle. They backed up the sofas within a few feet of the large dining room tables (no dining rooms). All I could think of is food ending up on the upholstery. The separate living rooms were very small.

I abhor TVs over fireplaces and on walls in general. I have no TV in the living room. The living room is for talking, reading, or music. I have two TVs, on in the family room and one in the master bedroom. I do like my late night TV.

Having the TV in its own room is okay if you have lots of rooms, but the danger is the living room can turns into a mostly unused parlor for formal visits.

Along the same lines, Elsie de Wolfe, who kind of invented the inderior decoration industry as we know it, thought the dining room was a glaring waste of space in most homes. It's better to have the dining room serve additional purposes, such as housing a library and being a workroom.

Anyway, point being, consolidating several functions within one room is practical, and makes life easier for everyone.

[quote]Having the TV in its own room is okay if you have lots of rooms, but the danger is the living room can turns into a mostly unused parlor for formal visits.

This is so true. I shared a bedroom with my brother. When I was probably 10 years old or so, my parents renovated and added bedrooms upstairs for each of us. They then turned our former bedroom into the “family room” where the TV was, and the living room remained for formal occasions.

The only time the living room got used was on Christmas. Other than that, we were always in the family room because that’s where the TV was.

The whole formal living room idea lasted maybe a year or two at most.

I personally like the open concept design. I grew up in a traditional house, with a separate kitchen, family room/dining room and living room. The living room sat empty most of the time, as the TV was in the family room. I always thought a formal living room was a waste of space.

The bathtub/shower in the kitchen is a growing concept

I lived in a tub-in-kitch apartment on the Upper East Side in the early 90s. You think it's going to be a huge adjustment, but really it wasn't. I'm not looking for another one though! It was an exact double of the old tenement apartment in "Eyes Wide Shut", which was a built from scratch set itself.

[quote]GO HOME, [R137]

Yeah! Go HOME to your OPEN CONCEPT floorplan!

I use my living room a lot. I read in there, mostly, and sit there with company. There is no TV in it, but art on the walls and lots of books. It's a calm and relaxing room.

I like the idea of bookshelves in dining rooms. I like having a dining room that is not part of the kitchen.

R149 Do you read any of those books on those bookshelves?

I only buy the most beautiful books for my living room. And I have a big sofa picture above the fireplace. You all are so tacky. TV's are low class.

A giant mirror (preferably with curly gold frame) should go above a fireplace.

Not a painting of a sofa.

R151 And do you read any of those 'most beautiful books' in your living room?

R150, yes I do. Many are art books. I have a stack of new books to read and have kept many books I've already read. There are some I plan to read again. Every once in a while I fill a bag or two and donated them to my local library for the book sale shelves.

^R149

Someone here is dripping with pretension.

Gross.

How come my post+picture got zero love?!

I'm sorry, R13, I have no loves to give today.

Can we next discuss how tired we are of the necessity for granite countertops?

Granite countertops, island benches and grey paint are all necessary to ALL of the screeching frauen on those TV shows.

I'm waiting for the open bathroom concept to become popular and shown on HGTV.

Why in God's name would anyone want to watch the help cook?

I like separate rooms, but I admit to never using the front two rooms, anymore. No more good friends to sit and chat with (my Living Room has a bookshelf-lined wall, filled with all my late husband's books). No more friends or family to host dinners for (shelves with more Le Creuset than I will ever use line two walls ). I now go from Family Room/TV to kitchen to bathroom, in a direct line, rinse, lather, reverse, repeat.

Thank God someone has had the courage to stand up for the lovers of nooks and crannies.

I had almost given up hope.

The "open concept" trend goes along with the erasure of other personal boundaries and thus unwittingly supports the ongoing erosion of privacy that we are all accepting because we can't figure out how not to.

Do you think works like "The Secret Garden" would ever have arisen out of homes built on the "open concept" design?

The open concept and lack of privacy is driving suburban dad bros out to the garage. The next new trend is garage bars.

R165 stupidest idea ever. I’m the Northeast (the guy in the article is in NJ), most houses have usable basements, and many use that space for a “bar” (our 1957 ranch has one and it’s like a time capsule from that era).

Garages should remain what their intended purpose is: to house vehicles. They’re going to be hating life when winter comes and they have to remove snow and ice from their Toyota Camrys.

^ ugh I meant IN the Northeast.

r166, I also live in the NE and am amazed by how many people don't park their cars in the garage because they are stuffed with so much crap there is no room for the cars. I think the appeal of the garage bar is that you can open the door, turn on the light, and neighbors see you are hanging out, so come over (probably to get away from the wife who is in the kitchen, and the kids who are monopolizing the big screen TV with some Nickelodeon garbage).

Ditto to r168. I've got a neighbor GB who also has a home-made fire-pit on his driveway (one of two).

These front-yard "bros" best be careful. Remember the Florida case where some drugged-up guy murdered AND aate the faces of some couple sitting exactly like the OP's?

"ate"

Egads. I meant they were sitting like the guy pictured in r165.

Scary, R171 how you have to panic, knowing some douche is about to jump at you screaming for you to correct yourself.

Ha! You got that right, r172!

There was a fatal fire in a McMansion house in Connecticut. The house was massive with large open rooms and a three story staircase that was more akin to a chimney.

When the fire gained strength that layout funneled the fire through the "great room" and up the massive staircase instantly. Killing everyone upstairs.

Well if there are fires in open concept homes and they go up fast then we should end up with your open concept homes. But Lord knows mommy needs to watch those bratty kids and have a view from every direction. When they grow up they don’t know how to do anything for themselves or even think critically. Eventually survival of the fittest kicks in on everything.

[quote]r164 Thank God someone has had the courage to stand up for the lovers of nooks and crannies... The "open concept" trend goes along with the erasure of other personal boundaries and thus unwittingly supports the ongoing erosion of privacy that we are all accepting because we can't figure out how not to.

You can have both. Create alcoves, and a snug library.

[quote]Do you think works like "The Secret Garden" would ever have arisen out of homes built on the "open concept" design?

That book is pure filth.

I love you, R176. I too prefer some closed spaces. But good Lord, are the TV people unaware of the Samsung Frame TV? You can't tell that it's not a piece of art.

I live in a studio apartment but use wooden window blinds hanging from the ceiling as wall substitutes.

I can change the layout of my “rooms“ whenever I like, and i can adjust the level of wall transparency.

Looks beautiful as well.

Doesn’t help with cooking smells though.. but I have windows for that.

Wooden blinds hanging from your ceilings look "beautiful"? I highly doubt that, r178.

R177, A serious objection is the placement of such televisions usually at a height harmful to human cervical vertebrae.

You have wooden blinds hanging from you ceiling? That sounds hideous. Are you a Hell's Kitchen whore in a 5th floor walkup?

I like the idea of wooden blinds being "walls" ! Have none of you bitches ever lived in a studio ??? I once used wooden shutters that were 6 feet high to divide a studio and it looked great and didnt cost me a cent as I dumpster dived them.That being said,I swore there and then to NEVER live in a studio again. 30 years later I never have. But I would if necessary.

Far too many old houses in California are ripped apart on the inside and replaced with gleaming open concept interiors, usually white. You end up with the classic California Spanish look in the outside (stucco with red tile roof) yet you walk inside and it's like a laboratory. You completely lose the character of the original home. I pray this "open concept" fad will end soon before any more classic homes are ruined by it.

^^ well, why is your ASS so open concept, if you're against it all?

Answer THAT!

People have really started to hate their open concept homes during the pandemic. Especially those with large families and who have to work from home.