There are so many reasons to loathe the Open Floor Plan concept. HGTV (Houses Getting Totally Vandalized) is the most egregious offender, encouraging every old-house homeowner to rip out a home’s interior walls, and decimate its historicity, charm and appeal.
Not to mention, eviscerating its structural integrity.
Recently, a 100-year-old bungalow in St. Lake City made national news when someone improperly removed a supporting wall.
Old houses are very overbuilt and can endure all manner of abuses that would take down a more modern structure, but even sturdy old bungalows have their limits.
If you want an old house, buy an old house. If you want a new house, please stay away from 100-year-old bungalows. They’re fast becoming an endangered species.
The original article on this house is here.
To read more about why the Open Floor Plan is a plague-spot on America’s housing, click here.
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If you want to contact Rose, you can find her on Facebook, via the group “Sears Kit Homes.”
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Turns out, those interior walls actually have a purpose.
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Open Floor Plans are a plague-spot on American housing.
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Here’s one way to bring more light into the house.
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But probably not the BEST way.
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Despite its personal suffering, it’s still hanging on to life.
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The original article on this house is here.
To read more about why the Open Floor Plan is a plague-spot on America’s housing, click here.
The male chauvinist that dwells deep in my heart has to say it ….
“Oh, don’t worry dear, I know what I’m doing. Just go back in the kitchen and get me a beer.”
I don’t understand why everyone wants to tear out walls.
I love the small individual rooms of my 1920s tudor home. Everyone can be home and doing his or her thing and not bothering one another with noise or distraction.
My kitchen has the beautiful wood swivel door that we took down many years ago and I want to put it back up.
One, it’s beautiful! And two, it cuts down even more on those noisy moments – like when I’ve got the mixer going.
I have a second home at the lake that we have made some changes to.
Right now many visitors are encouraging me to rip down walls in my little tiny galley kitchen.
No way! I want the kitchen to be a practical space where we can prepare food and then go hang out in our beautiful dining room or sun room. Stay away from my walls with sledge hammers!
I’ve been very fortunate that my c. 2006 townhouse has an open concept that works… and doesn’t collapse in on itself… astonishing that this happened.
If an architect and contractor were TRULY involved, I hope a full investigation is launched and fines are levied.
These vendors should not be working in their fields, if this is the outcome.
This house is in an area where I lived and worked as a general contractor. I despise “open concept,” in these houses, where it wasn’t the intention of the original designer.
However if done right, this won’t happen.
The contractor did a bad job of supporting the structure while doing work. Temporary framing is key and needs to be done correctly.
People also forget that sturdy walls and closed doors will slow the progress of a fire, should that nightmare ever happen.
That poor house! I’m guessing it’s a tear down now! Any replacement will likely not have the charm and character that this home had.
And all they can talk about (in the article) is seismic retrofitting?
Always love Rosemary’s perspective and honesty.
One thing the older houses do tend to have, that makes their laterally often somewhat restricted spaces feel comfortable, are high (9′ – 12′) ceilings.
I don’t know why American house builders decided 8′ is a proper height for ceilings, but I certainly understand the reflex, of homeowners compelled to live beneath 8′ ceilings, to create larger air volumes that they might breathe and move about within.
Too, as relatively fewer and fewer people with the means to purchase a home choose to have large families, the practical requirement for partitioned spaces within a home diminishes.
So happy to find someone who agrees with me on this issue! My family looks at me like I’m a space alien when I poo poo these open plan ideas in older homes!