December 5, 2016

How to plan for your open plan living space

Over the years we have worked with homeowners to design a range of different open plan living spaces. It’s important to consider a number of factors to ensure everything flows and provides functionality too.

Here are our top tips to think about:

1. Open plan living is wonderful and reflects the modern way of life, BUT the storage and use of the room has to be very carefully thought through.

2. Walking into an open plan room from the outside doesn’t work well and some sort of division and entrance is needed to create privacy from visitors, and for security reasons too.

3. Think carefully where you will keep coats, shoes and bags in an open plan house. From a design point of view you don’t want them hanging on the wall for everyone to see, as this will look cluttered and messy. To solve points 1,2 and 3 consider building a room divider in the form of a large wardrobe. This would create a divider and answer storage issues in an instant.

4.Whilst open plan living is great, we would recommend zoning areas for various uses. From dinning and cooking, to TV and possibly a home office. Creating different areas doesn't need to involve solid walls, large sliding pocket doors would do the trick, or pieces of furniture strategically placed.

5.In open plan living there isn't many walls that you can put furniture against, so what remains must be put to effective use.

6. Consider having a bespoke kitchen designed that does not look like a traditional run of cabinets, but rather a collection of units designed in a contemporary irregular way with the unsightly bits such as a washing up station behind pocket or sliding doors

7. Window treatments should be considered, particularly if you live in a city, as it will screen your family life from the outside world.

8. Think about practical issues such as investing in a first class extractor fan to ensure the delicious smells from the kitchen don’t carry through to your cosy and calm living area.

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