Why You Should Consider an Open Floor Plan and How to Make It Work?

Open floor plan is a contemporary building concept that supports the idea of spacious and interactive living spaces. This modern home layout is gaining much popularity in emerging home architecture, given the society’s shift towards simple living and eco-friendly lifestyle. By combining living rooms, kitchens, and other parts of the home into a single partition-free zone, you can allow more light, space, and design possibilities into the living unit. 

Still wondering why you consider an open floor plan, and what are the benefits associated with it? This editorial provides a complete overview of this unique home layout and its convenience points. 

What Is An Open Floor Plan?

An open floor plan combines systematically built rooms into a single living unit that offers a larger and more functional space for everyday household activities. For example, integration of the living room, dining room, and/or kitchen — removing dividing elements, like walls and doors — to create a singular free zone with all the required functionality. 

This concept breaks the common stereotypes associated with home layouts by dropping the idea of separated rooms and encouraging a communal lifestyle that extends family time. The primary concept is to shed barriers between adjoining rooms, so that the overall design gives the illusion of a spacious house, even in a home as small as 120 square yards. 

Pros Of Having An Open Floor Plan In Modern Homes

Many homeowners in the new age are much more inclined towards open floor plans. In fact people plan entire home improvement projects to convert their traditional divided floor plans into this space conserving layout. But what is it that people love so much about open house floor plans? Let’s discuss in detail below.

1. Spacious Feel 

As mentioned above, even a small home can look bigger and more spacious when an open floor plan is integrated efficiently into its design. With this, you can eliminate the need for an expensive house extension, effectively repurposing the available space to achieve the desired functionality. Additionally, this layout brings into use the least utilized spaces of the house, like dining areas and guest rooms, by integrating them with the more functional spaces like the TV lounge and kitchen. 

2. Accessibility Between Rooms

An open floor plan removes doors and dividers, allowing easier flow of traffic between rooms. This means that residents of the house can move around easily, going about their schedules without having to open and shut doors around the house. 

While this layout is great for smaller homes, it can also be incorporated into larger bungalows and apartments to allow roommates and guests easier and quicker access to different parts of the house.

3. Inspires Bright Spaces

An open layout allows room for the passage of sunlight across the entire house. In most divided plans, the walls and doors become a hindrance to brightness, making most rooms dull and dark. 

With this new interior design layout, you get plenty of sunlight — traveling through all the nooks and crannies of the house for an inviting and welcoming feel. The brightness can be further elevated with large windows or glass doors that overlook the lawn and garden. 

4. Contemporary Design

Open floor plan has ‘contemporary design’ written all over it. Removing physical barriers does not mean limitations in terms of innovation and architecture. In fact, newer house models allow a much more cohesive design, with all design elements merged into one large unit. 

The TV set, dining table, reading desk, and kitchen shelves can all be used to add some drama and aesthetic sense to an open layout. It’s advisable to stay vigilant, though, because overdoing anything may result in the interior design looking a bit tacky.  

5. Energy Efficient

Some may argue that an open floor plan makes no difference to your energy bills, but we beg to differ. Considering that a single space kitchen, living area, and dining space will eliminate the need to turn on lights separately in every room is enough proof of that.

Moreover, the heating and cooling system also works efficiently in a space free of walls and doors. When the flow of air is not obstructed by these physical factors, the air travels much better, meaning your HVAC systems do not have to work extra hard to maintain temperature. It also eliminates the need to install the same electronics in different areas of the house, like television and speakers, as everyone can watch and listen to them simultaneously in the common room. 

6. Reduced Communication Barriers

Unlike closed-door floor plans where it is impossible to multitask, an open layout exposes doors — literally and figuratively — to allow easier communication. As busy parents work around the clock to manage kids and chores, an open plan provides them with ability to keep an eye on various household operations at once. As they cook or clean, the kids can play in the background, without them having to worry about accidents or injuries. 

With minimal barriers, inhabitants can easily get their message across without resorting to shouting. This is why many homeowners switch to open floor plans, so their daily communication among the family can improve.

To sum up, it's a great idea to assess the benefits of different floor plans before settling on the one that offers the best lifestyle for you. An open floor plan is a fast growing interior design concept that provides multiple pros. If you also wish to enjoy improved communication, accessibility, brightness, and spaciousness, plan your home improvement project today and make the switch for an easier and more comfortable lifestyle.