Not much point having a fancy dining room if you spend all your time in the basement! LOL! I'm all for making a home functional for those who live there. Especially if it's going to be your "forever" or "probably forever" house.

Careful design and planning could ensure that your changes complement, rather than detract, from the style of your home.

I say go for what will make you happiest each day using your rooms. :-)

I would consider it almost a sin, having had a 1929 Tudor revival. And yet, you have to live there, not me! Go with your heart, but be sure to get a pro that can make it look good.

yeah, we'd absolutely use an architect. The wall between the lr and dr is the load bearing wall so must get someone who really knows what they are doing. Like the idea about adding archways to define the spaces. One other problem we have with the house is the tiny foyer. Can't even let someone in the house while standing in it, must step back into the lr. So small, but yet still has a door separating foyer from lr. Maybe we could correct that too. Would love to see your pictures!

I have an old Victorian house, and we had some of the same issues. I originally didn't want to change anything in the house, but the kitchen was too small, and an adjoining room was basically useless (who knows what they used that room for). It took a while before I decided to take the wall down between the two rooms. I'm so glad I did. I think I have preserved the character of the house, but made it functional for our family. It has not only made the kitchen more spacious, but has opened up the whole house in a wonderful way. I have no regrets.

I think that for some people, their house is a museum, and they want to preserve it in a pristine state. I think that is great, but it didn't work for us in our house. We have been careful and thoughtful about the changes we have made, and have done what we could to preserve the character and footprint of the house consistent with modern life. I worry sometimes that I haven't done enough, when I see some of the kitchens here that do a better job than we are. But honestly, I'm sure that if the family who built our house were could miraculously have lived for 150 years, and continued to live in the house, they would have made the same change that we did. A house is a living thing, in my opinion, and if you can adapt it to your lifestyle with a minimal of destruction of the house's essential character, you should do it.

We did something similar in character to what soshh did. We tore out the wall between the kitchen and the adjoining room to make the adjoining room the eating area. We considered putting in a very long island, and keeping the area where the wall had been completely open, but it felt off to us. So we put in a peninsula where the wall had been, with cabinets overhead, suspended from the ceiling. We made the cabinets double-sided glass, and made them shorter than normal cabinets to keep the area visually open, but there is still a feeling of separation between the rooms. So we get an open flow, but with a definition of space on its original footprint.

It fit with the character of our house, I think. We have lots of smallish rooms on the first floor, and they almost all have two sets of doors with a set of wide pocket doors. When you leave the pocket doors open, the house has almost an open plan, and when you close them, the house is more traditional Victorian. Our house is actually in a coffee table book of Victorian houses and the historical architecht who wrote the book explained how that was a fairly innovative and modern design for the time. So having our kitchen open yet closed at the same time seemed fitting to us.

So, now that I've talked about MY house a lot (LOL), I'll say that, for your house, maybe it is a good idea to speak to an architecht about the ways you can adapt your house that is fitting with the way it was originally designed.

I like the idea of the archways too. We have a 1947 bungalow and the doorways from the DR into the kitchen/LR were both really narrow (2'6"). When we did our kitchen reno, DH widened the doorway into the kitchen and arched it to match the arches in our foyer. It looks great, and while technically not an "open" kitchen it sure feels more spacious.

We plan to do the same to the entry into the LR when time and funds allow.

Here are a couple of photos that show the change (BEFORE photo is a montage, so only first one is relevant).

BEFORE

I also lived in a small but charming 1930's Tudor many years ago, and like you, had the formal living room - formal dining room - tiny kitchen floorplan. I loved the charm, but missed the openness and space of our prior home.

Then I got divorced and kept the house, but ended up with half the furniture I'd previously had. And only half the money. So remodelling was not in the budget!

What I ended up doing was moving the remaining casual furniture and TV from the 'family room' (a back bedroom) into the formerly-formal living room. (It was right inside the front door.) I arranged the furniture the best I could and resolved to learn to live with it - though it didn't look half bad! Then, since I lost the dining room set in the divorce and had a two-year-old son, I bought an attractive but sturdy and child-friendly table and chairs and set that up in the formerly-formal dining room. Another surprise -- it looked good.

Then something amazing happened. I fell in love with my house! I began spending the majority of my time in the house's prettiest rooms, and actually lived in the house the way it was meant to be lived in -- living in the living room and eating in the dining room - every day! All it really took was relocating the comfortable and livable furniture from the 'back' rooms to the front rooms. A pretty throw dressed up the 'shabbily-comfortable' couch, and a casual dining set changed the entire tone of the dining room.

If you're spending your time in the basement, and not using the dining room, that's the problem that needs to be addressed! If your living room has the house's best architecture, use that room to live in. Move the TV up there, or if it's a ginormous honker, get a smaller one that won't take over the whole room. Try 'dressing down' your dining room first until it's a comfortable place to eat. Move the 'too good to use' furniture to the basement instead. Or use it anyway and give it a 'patina'. If the furniture is really good (and not merely 'fancy') it can take the use.

Try that first before moving any walls -- You might be very happily surprised.

Some of those old houses were openish by design--not the kitchen, of course, but other rooms could be separated by such wide "doorways" (arched of course) that they almost did have an open plan. You can definitely do it without losing the period character. Don't let grumps like me stop you--as long as it's nice, I won't mind a bit. :D

I have to agree with sweeby on this. Why are you not using the living and dining room, especially the dining room that you love so much? Maybe you could check out the Home Decorating forum for ideas on furnature placement in the living room to make it easier to live in.

You could also use the dining room for things other than eating. Maybe put a computer in a corner with a pretty secretary or other desk that could be closed up if needed.

I do however think you could pull off opening up the dining room to the living room with an archway for a 1930's tudor but I not sure about opening it up to the kitchen. I think it would change the feel of the dining room a lot if you did that.

Your home sounds lovely, and I absolutely agree that you won't get better advice than you have already from Sweeby. Your statements that you spend most of your time in the basement and that there is no good comfortable place to sit and watch TV in your main rooms are real attention-grabbers. I could be wrong, but I suspect your dining room and living room are more open to the kitchen and each other than the basement is. Perhaps in addition to bringing the cushy furniture upstairs, a door needs to be moved or closed off so you have a long enough stretch of wall in the right place to put the TV on?

I'm on the "learn to love your home" band wagon as well, but worst case...don't see just any old architecht, see one who specalizes in period homes.

We've been thinking of purchasing a period home and have rejected so so so many homes because of bad remuddles and people who just knock down a wall here or there to make bigger rooms. One, Starrett House in Port Townsend WA was almost criminal in their abuse and I left mad. That home should be a museaum and it's now being destroyed by the owners. They honestly should be horse whipped.

And that's how I feel about badly remuddled homes...so obviously I'm not for going nuts and trying to make a 1930s home into an open floor plan. I don't also believe in the term "forever home" (since I've been a banker over 20 years and know that there is no such thing) so I'm not willing to say "do what you want, you live there". Think of why you purchased your home...did you love the charm of a 1930's tudor? If you take that away, you hurt your value, so do it very very carefully. (And know that buyers like me will walk away from it most likely, no matter how well done, because I want a period home, not a 1980's open floor plan).

Ditto. As a realtor, I agree with everything igloochic just said.

-margie

I too would suggest contacting an architect and see about putting in an archway, molding, etc., to tie into the character and feel of the home. I think it would be the best of both worlds. People weren't meant to live in museums but houses. I say check out your options. I think you will find a compromise you will love.

I think you need to do whatever improves the functionality of your home. However, be prepared! I would first suggest that you figure out a budget and then add about a $20,000 -$30,000 cushion for the possibility of anything coming up.

I am in the process of a home remodeling project. When I opened the walls, not only did I find that the elecrical system was in dire need of an upgrade but I also found that the second floor bathroom was "hanging by a thread" over my first floor kitchen. Of course, it was all a blessing in disguise because these problems HAD to be taken care of as they were potentially serious. I would not have known about these problems had I not embarked on the project.

Certainly work with an architect who specializes in old homes. Once you start opening the walls you may, like I did, start second guessing yourself... which is a very unsettling feeling. It will feel odd that a wall that once was there now isnt OR a wall that was originally in place now seems out of place with an adjacent wall missing. However don't panic; rest and be assured that once you live in the space for a while it will begin to feel like home again.
Best of luck and let us know what you decide.
Melanie1121

sweeby, I think you are right. I need to figure out a way to get the coziness on the 1st floor! I've been driving my husband mad by making him rearrange the furniture every weekend and nothing seems to work. I think I should probably just bring in a designer, get rid a few pieces and get some other pieces that work better. Just talked to husband and he agrees. I do love my home, I love the location and the general feel of the home as well as the garden that we've spent so much time doing ourselves. Will table the renovation ideas until I can see if we can improve without renovating.