In With The Old: Choosing a Floorplan

​For anyone active in old house circles there is a distain for open floor plans, and over the course of the pandemic design preferences have begun to shift away from the open layouts and wide great rooms.  There is more to how these design trends flow and function than we think: and applying a "good vs. bad" dichotomy to design doesn't help anyone.  It's okay to have different preferences.  But like with "timeless design," I'd rather see people nail down their preferences than try to force a style onto a house where it doesn't fit.  

The real need is for families to be honest about how they are using their spaces.  

How do you know what floorplan, historic or otherwise, is best for you?  Back in February, Martha Stewart posted an article by Kelsey Mulvey outlining the shift away from the open floorplans that have dominated design for the last several decades.  Why?  What is the benefit of a closed floorplan?  What are the benefits of an open one?

The answers really depend on a lot of things.  No preference in design is inherently good or bad, preferences are based on a lot of nuances in how each person lives and interacts within their environment.  What I will add is that despite the popularity of openness in the past few decades, architects and designers have added semi-private spaces to overall plans. This shifts the narrative from complete openness to include spaces that are intimate and flexible to ever-changing needs of families. Spaces like finished basements, upstairs lofts, and game rooms add that separated space that the noise of a fully open great room necessitates. 

Fully Open Floorplan

Pros:
​No walls provide easy interaction with residents and with guests.
Ease of entertaining and multi-tasking through different areas.
Supervision of small children is simple at almost any time. 

Cons:
​There is no easy way to trap kitchen heat and smells in a kitchen space.  Even with adequate ventilation, all main spaces feel the heat (And the thermostat can too).
Lack of task-privacy can eliminate a way to recharge when entertaining gets overstimulating.
Supervision of small children includes cooking implements.  It can be harder to keep open kitchens safe with small hands.
A lack of wall space can make it hard to anchor large pieces.

Closed Floorplan

Pros:
​Easy to make spaces and their contents off-limits. 
More control over heating and cooling systems and the different needs in each space.
Wall space for artwork, furniture, and entertainment systems.
Easy to carve privacy and rethink spaces to meet current needs.

Cons:
​​Can be difficult to entertain and monitor large groups.
Child-monitoring can be more difficult when needs pull adults to other spaces. 
Wall space can create more lost square footage with a greater need for hallways and unused areas. 

The Space Between

​As design has changed, so has the existence of fully closed and fully open floorplans.  There are a lot of options in between.  Historically, consider a few different plans: bungalows and foursquares both have interconnected living spaces with closed kitchens (my personal favorite), split-level homes define areas not with wall space, but with different levels.  I love that a split-level really creates the best of both worlds; its biggest drawback is accessibility.

The biggest factors in carving out floorplan preferences is understanding both your unique family needs and what to do with the kitchen.  How do you make a fully open floorplan safe for small children without compromising the flow?  How do you make closed spaces accessible for mobility aids? And how do these decisions relate to aging in place?

​I love a foursquare!  The separated kitchen gives an easy spot for private conversations and quick introvert-recharging, and I distinctly remember sneaking brownie batter in my grandparents' kitchen as a kid (My grandma knew, of course). But in my bungalow with its separated kitchen, I still sneak a snack or two without any bit being seen or shared with the kids.  No guilt.

The separated kitchen also helps to contain smells of dinners-gone-wrong and heat from the stove or the ovens, but using a mirror where the swing door used to open I can still easily monitor what is happening in the living and dining rooms.  It's also easy to hear what is happening in the basement living space.  Truly, our kitchen gives us the best of everything for what we need.

But what about spaces that flow freely from one to the next?  Kid issues are easily addressed with a few well-placed baby gates and play-yard panels, and the flow makes it easy to spread out when one room needs to push into another.  Kitchens can become extensions of dining rooms without losing connections to conversations or activities in either space.  And all these areas are easily accessible to anyone who needs it.

Either way, there are a lot of options to choose from, and a lot to go over in figuring out which plan is the best fit for a family.  Even among these four: a modern open plan, a four square, a bungalow, and a split level, there are distinct advantages and disadvantages. No plan is good or bad, but some plans have a Goldilocks effect and fit just right.

There is a lot more to say on this, so I'll be back to write about what factors to consider when selecting a floorplan. Stay tuned!