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October 10, 2008
considering open floor plan for our place
Has anyone opened up the whole first floor of their place? We have to take down all the walls anyways and Im thinking to keep it open to give that loft effect. Anyone?
Comments
It'll be nice but you're going to catch hell from the tradionalists here!!!
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at October 10, 2008 3:06 PM
is this garden or parlor level? and does the rendering really represent the windows and dimensions? we opened up our parlor like this, but have more typical townhouse architecture to work with/around. i love it, and would love it even more if we had more windows and the amount of space that your rendering suggests you have.
Posted by: i disagree at October 10, 2008 3:11 PM
I hear ya! We had to take down all the walls...termites got it all. We are keeping the exterior of the period, but the interior is lost...so I need a plan!
Posted by: nybk01 at October 10, 2008 3:13 PM
I had friends who planned to do this, until they found that the walls dividing the stairs from the rooms contained load-bearing columns. Instead, they opened most of the walls, and refashioned the columns into something more aesthetically pleasing.
Posted by: vinca at October 10, 2008 3:14 PM
Our home is actually an 1890 Victorian. 24 x 50...we are redoing it with more of a Mediterrenean revival feel..but we want the inside to feel like an older loft or brownstone. This rendering is not really correct regarding the windows...this si something I whipped up to see what I am getting myself into!
Posted by: nybk01 at October 10, 2008 3:17 PM
We took down almost all the walls, and I don't regret it one bit - I find most townhouses dark and ours is bright all day. We have a walls with large openings between kitchen & dining room and dining room and hallway and those are the only walls left.
Posted by: guest4 at October 10, 2008 3:23 PM
well, i have no idea what a mediterranean revival would look like so i can't comment on that! but the look we got was pretty much what i think you're describing. for us it was a function of a) it's a brownstone, so has those dimensions and some of the features (parlor windows, marble mantle, etc.). but it didn't have a ton of salvageable detail and we couldn't afford to replace it, so we wound up with somewhat of a contemporary loft-like look. it's not fancy but it's comfortable and very practical. happy to send you some photos if you want to post an email address.
Posted by: i disagree at October 10, 2008 3:30 PM
I think you should consider your whole space. We did this to our first floor of our 3 story house so that we have both open kitchen/dining and a small seating area. The second floor is the living floor, and the third is the bedroom floor. Works out. On the other hand, if you don' t like people in your kitchen when you cook, this could be less than ideal.
Posted by: crowlish at October 10, 2008 3:35 PM
what software did you use for the pictures?
Posted by: Spunky123 at October 10, 2008 3:37 PM
I used BHaG Home Designer 8.
Posted by: nybk01 at October 10, 2008 3:41 PM
I say go for it. I have the same ambitions.
Posted by: DOW8000SP800 at October 10, 2008 3:45 PM
Go for it if there's noting worth saving, especially if you have a narrow house.
I had a 20'-6" wide, 1850's or so, 3 family house in Jersey City with an upper duplex, which included the stair and stair hall. There was no interior detail whatsever. For the duplex we ended up removing walls and opening all but the narrow rear addition. We created a wide framed opening to the former stair hall, which in our case helped with the interior proportions and gave us a librery nook. In a narrower building it might help to include the stair hall.
Another thing we did that enhanced the loft-like feel was installing the same birch flooring throughout the now enlarged kitchen/living/dining. We got alot of oohs from visitors in response to the incredible light and openess. On the top floor we opened everything from side to side for the master bedroom, which we placed on the entire front of the house.
Posted by: Bessie at October 10, 2008 4:03 PM
These are all great ideas! I think we will do the open floor plan thing...I just need to decide where to put the bathroom!
Posted by: nybk01 at October 10, 2008 4:05 PM
One peeve of mine about open-layouts, and it's something often seen in those horrible suburban mcmansions -- the floor material suddenly changing when there's no partition or wall to provide any kind of transition. Tile to wood to carpet and such. Looking at your rendering, it's stripey and chopped up with the 3 different floor materials. If you do a loft-style fully open layout you need the same floor covering throughout the entire space. Kitchen and LR and all. The space will have flow and look larger and truly "open" that way.
Posted by: traditionalmod at October 10, 2008 4:09 PM
Ok, got ya. That makes sense with the same floor running through the whole place.
Posted by: nybk01 at October 10, 2008 4:12 PM
I love the look of the open space but I hated the noise and closed off my kitchen and den. If you have a family -- someone watching tv, someone else cooking, maybe kids playing -- it can be maddening. And you really cannot hide any mess -- it's all out there. I guess it all goes to your tolerance for nise/disorder.
Posted by: BH76 at October 10, 2008 4:31 PM
LOVE IT!!!!!!!!
Posted by: AnneReal123 at October 10, 2008 4:40 PM
LOVE IT!!!!!!!!
Posted by: AnneReal123 at October 10, 2008 4:40 PM
Wasn't sure whether you were just looking for comments on how it looks (great) or needed some advice on doing it. You need to get an architect & engineer to determine which walls are loadbearing and how to remove them. After that its just sheetrock and flooring!!!
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at October 10, 2008 4:48 PM
It really depends on how deep the space is...the rendering is hard to understand the scale. If your house is relatively compact anyway, opening it up will be worth it despite the drawbacks of having one giant room. But if you have depth (more than 40 ft?) then I think its creates too much of a bowling alley look and limits some of the practical function of having a seperate space for cooking, watching tv, etc..
Posted by: Mrs. Limestone at October 10, 2008 6:14 PM
i think Mrs. Limestone makes a good point. your home is wide and long by brownstone standards. we opened up our ground floor. there are 2 wood columns, which cover the load bearing steel beams. the only seperation is the bathroom, and its back wall hide the small kitchen. you don't know the kitchen is there when you walk in and you can see straight to the back of the house -to the yard. it does create alot of light. we were going to open the parlor also, then decided to keep it more traditional.
Posted by: bkny at October 10, 2008 8:22 PM
One way to "define" spaces is to have a dropped ceiling say, over the dining area. Then the floor could be different as well to further define the "room".
And you could install a dozen recessed lights ;).
Posted by: cmu at October 10, 2008 8:28 PM
We will be doing something similar on our parlor floor.
I agree wholeheartedly about the flooring.
Posted by: vanburenproud at October 11, 2008 1:50 PM
I'm a traditionalist so I'm not so keen on this design. I do like the open floorplan concept. But this feels like a loft to me. And having a loft in a brownstone just feels off. I think it's possible to open it up but I like the idea of having half walls or beams to add some sort of delineation of the functional spaces.
Posted by: TJR at October 12, 2008 5:10 PM
I dunno, TJR, I've seen loft style spaces in brownstones, often in garden and basement levels, and it's really cool. The look suits its purpose and doesn't feel "off" in those spaces in the context of the house. But I agree for the parlor level unless the historical details are already gone or were never there or all that special, it feels very suburban townhouse to do the open layout on the parlor level. In general I'm with BH76, I don't understand the appeal of seeing the mess in the kitchen from the LR and DR, or getting the noise back and forth from kitchen to LR. But that's a rarity. Most people love open layouts. So they can watch the kids and have togetherness and whatnot.
Posted by: traditionalmod at October 14, 2008 10:25 AM
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