About the time open concept came about I noticed man caves and she sheds became a popular amenity, poeple dont like living on top of each other. I do like the aesthetics of the open plans but it in real life it is not ideal.

I like a partial open floor plan; kitchen, dining and some sort of small living/lounging space. Mine is L-shaped, and the lounging space is a small area adjoining the dining room with a fireplace,love seat and armchair. No TV, so not loud. We have a living room with a tv, and a basement rec room with a tv. I can see a family with young children wanting to be able to keep an eye on them easily, but then you do have to deal with loud and messy.

I love my open floor plan. Guess it depends on how you live.

I loved our last house and its open floor plan. No problem with anything listed in the article. Granted it was not one long room like the photo in article.

I don't quite get the logic of #2. Seems to be saying that open spaces are more likely to be unclean or cluttered, and I disagree. I want all of my home's areas to be clean and presentable and work hard to keep them that way -- even those that aren't right out in the open. I'm also not going to neglect the cleanliness of our more closed off rooms, but having open spaces has never made us any messier. So maybe I'm missing something there.

We have a semi-open plan, with kitchen, living and dining in one space. We love it. There's just the two of us, though, and tend to have clearly defined uses for our spaces that fit our routines well. I can see how larger families might not fare so well with more open spaces, although I don't think there is or needs to be a one-size-fits-all ideal defined. We tend to live in what works, if possible. And if not? Well, we are a highly adaptable species. I still marvel at the family of 6 who once lived in our previous home who all shared its one small full bath. Today, many of us are so spoiled for choice.

I find my open concept home not more difficult to clean as far as dirt, but lacking in a lot of storage space and therefore more difficult to keep uncluttered. The walls at my last home served to support cupboards and shelving units. I store things in low cupboards, but with walls I had much more options. My house is not big enough to store things against the walls and then float the furniture. A small open concept home is quite limited as far as your options for how to use the space. So fine if you don't have a lot of multiple uses you want for the space, but if you want to work in it, play in it, relax in it, and entertain in it, you have to be able to store the various supplies for those options. So where does the piano go that it doesn't become a catch all? What if you need to set out a sewing project on the table you use for eating, where do you keep the sewing supplies. Where does all the video and audio equipment go and how does it compete with the quieter book and art space? Our huge television now dominates whatever else is going on in the three spaces and has become a source of conflict for me who does not want to have it on and going all the time. This happens in a lot of families, with video games too. With a big open concept home you might not have that problem. But it is pretty significant in the smaller ones. If you have a big attic or big basement adjacent to the open concept areas, that might not be as big of an issue.

When I was a kid, the playing and noisy hanging out of kids was often relegated to basements. A "family room" was often a popular add on, so the parents and kids had to coordinate uses less. We ultimately added on a two car garage and turned our one car garage into a family room when we needed a space to get away from my brother's piano playing. He ended up being a professional musician and he practiced almost constantly at home.

In my house they tried for best of both worlds, with a small parlor and formal dining room closed with an archway between them. It's on the other side of the house from the kitchen, family dining and rec. room area. That's where I go for quieter pursuits. The house also has a small "den" or office room off the main open space, for projects. I agree that you can work with most home set ups because you adapt. My aunt and uncle bought a small resort home to use as the family cottage. Five of the bedrooms at the resort shared one small bathroom and no one thought a thing about it during the times the place was handling guests. But that's why it eventually was sold as a private home, that style of vacationing went out of style and folks want more privacy now.

Given that there are pros and cons, I always go "hmmm" a bit when everyone is determined to tear out walls, no matter what the use issues are. So labor and resource intensive.