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Home Decorating

Closing up my small, open concept home.

reesepbuttercup SLC, Utah 6b

3 years ago

I’m seriously contemplating putting up walls in my open concept home. Would doing so be a colossal mistake?

I had my home built a little over five years ago. While it has the typical open floorplan of suburban new builds, it is smaller than the average new construction single family home at 1450 sq ft. The first floor is about 750 sq feet and the entire space (except for the powder room) is visible from the front door.

I’m tired of every thing being on display and being greeted by clutter when coming home after work. I have two kids and between the two of them and myself, there is always something on the kitchen island. It always appears messy. Even when things are clean, my home still doesn’t look picture perfect. I cook quite a bit and my drying rack is always full of pots and pans and whatever else. When a big holiday meal is prepared it’s hard to sit down and not notice the mess just two steps away in full view.

So I want walls or a visual separation of some sort. My plan was to have my basement finished this winter/spring and I’m wondering if perhaps I should have any upstairs remodeling done at the same time since I will have framing and drywall contractors here anyway. Of course doing this sort of remodeling triggers a remodeling creep and I think the kitchen and potentially floors would need to be done as well. So then that will probably push everything out another year.

I have considered buying a new home, but every single new home is also open concept and a custom build is not something I can afford. If I do decide to remodel and close up the open floorplan, I would be doing so for me as I have reconciled the fact that this is my forever home. I want it to suit me, suit my family and our needs. My main concern is just how small the space is. I don’t mind a cozy but I don’t want cramped.

This is the floor plan. I have the kitchen island turned facing the living room. I also swapped the fridge and pantry locations.

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Comments (12)

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MDLN
3 years ago
Understand! Regret opening my DR to LR, and an upstairs room. In looking for new home, difficult to find small houses that are not open concept. Good luck!
olychick
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
you didn't post pics of your space, so I don't know if this could work, but is there any way to close it off with some kind of sliding doors that could be moved out of the way when you want a more open feel?

Glass could be obscured/frosted to still let light flow:
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ok i am not sure what to do here. i have a 3 bdr duplex that has stairs to a loft room which is open to the downstairs although not as MUCH as modern homes. there is a big cutout open to downstairs. the only vent located up here is near the top of the stairs, in the wall (closer to where your feet walk rather than up by your head). the vent was CLOSED when we moved in, but we moved in in january. now that it's super crazy hot, should i open this vent and allow cool air to come up here (even though the only place i feel it is on the stairs when i pass by it!) or close it and will it help the downstairs? i don't care if this upstairs gets cooler. it's not enough to be appreciable i just have a big fan up here. there is no dual zone system or anything just one thermostat. i think that since i have opened this upstairs vent it seems like the AC unit cannot get the house down to the thermostat temp i set which is 77 degrees. its sitting at 80. i guess fast answer is i should try closing it up again and see what happens huh :) steph
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jlc712: Thanks for taking the time to give me so many ideas to think through. I have already decided to nix sconce S1 and replace with s2b (so I will be repeating that sconce in three locations total). I would not want to repeat it everywhere -- I need more variety than that. P1 that you suggested leaving was chosen because we felt it would go very well and compete in size with the big island hood. However, the idea of three school house sconces in the kitchen is worth exploring more. I am not sure how large the school house sconces comes in. If it is to replace P1 and go over the island it will need to be large. I will research this more. As per too many finishes that you and others have mentioned, I am using the blog attached below as my guideline. I like the idea of using more than one finish and feel the designer/blog author does a good job of explaining how to mix metals. As per too many styles, that may be a problem. I have tried to choose only lights listed as transitional, but atlas that is a broad category. I have also endeavor to repeat other features (stripes, circles, drums etc) to connect the lights. Could be some more work is needed in this area. Oaktown, Thanks for your help and inspiration pictures. I appreciate you thinking through the lighting with me. We will definitely have some pot lights too (probably more than I would have liked). Pot lights are very unflattering light when shinned on a head, so we are trying to avoid having pot lights over head in any seating areas. You mentioned eliminating the foyer sconces (S2) due to it being close to a closet. There is no closet there, just a very, very narrow niche that we will use for wicker baskets maybe to hold a few purses, umbrellas etc. There is no door on it, so I think the sconces can stay. Our house is a rebuild/addition and previously we just had a large hanging light in the foyer. I know from living in the house with one large hanging overhead light that the light in the foyer was insufficient. I am looking forward to seeing if the sconces will improve the lighting in the foyer. Your inspiration photos are gorgeous. Is the Hicks light from Circa? We chose one sconce light from Circa, but I will take another look at what they offer. Most of our chosen lights are from Hudson Valley or Elk. As per my kitchen cabinet colours, the perimeter cabinets are off white (SW Alabaster) and the island is a dark stained chocolate brown. The blue cabinets that you are correctly associating with my username are going in the laundry room (good memory BTW). Carol Here is a link that might be useful: mixing metal finishes
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Wait until everything is in and complete before worrying about paint. Manchester Tan (if it's the swatch I think it is) looks a little blah to me. The swatches are so far away in your pictures, it's honestly hard to tell. ETA: I see you added the top picture, thank you for the close-up. If your kitchen gets tons of light at all different times of the day, I think you could go a little bolder with your selections. I'm not a fan of gray in your space, but maybe a deeper blue or green could work.
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Choose a focal point: view, fireplace or TV. Group seating to face the focal. The house itself appears to be a lot more modern architecturally than the style of your furniture. Do you plan to buy new furniture? I don't see a TV; do you plan to have one? If so, it should go where Beverly shows. One of your two odd chairs could go right of the fireplace and the other in the bay. Either or both could be reading areas with tables and lamps or with a floor lamp. The matching pair can flank the coffee table if the sofa is facing the focal point..
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kazzh
3 years ago
Yes, I think there is something to explore with the suggestion of sliding doors. Try a bit of search on shoji screens from Japanese traditional architecture. Even if full screening or walls are too intimidating for the space and reduce your floor space, some smaller walls coming in or a single panel/wall to between the living & kitchen could achieve the separation.
kazzh
3 years ago
a basic visual of a single panel
shirlpp
3 years ago
Oh gosh - my kitchen is not picture perfect either. I still have my 2 layer island and will not change it because you could clearly see all of the stuff. Right now, at least it's hidden a bit.

If you don't have a deep sink, consider one. This helps me hide some of the dirty pots and pans.

I dished the drying rack years ago for a drying mat and this does help.
reesepbuttercup SLC, Utah 6b
Original Author
3 years ago
I do have a nice large and deep sink, but I tend not to set pots and pans in it, rather to the side until I wash. I’m just not a neat-nick.

The kitchen island is used a lot as well, even mail or a newspaper along with homework, it just looks cluttered and is rarely entirely clean.

I have considered screens and windows, but I think my only real option is standard walls made from drywall. I would do cased openings and some pocket doors to have options and to let light in.
reesepbuttercup SLC, Utah 6b
Original Author
3 years ago
Here are the only photos I have at the moment. These are old, the kitchen has been painted and I have new furniture now, but the furniture layout is basically the same.

From front door

Looking towards living area from dining space
Katie Zakiyah G
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
I have a small inside window opening above the sink and I love it. I can see my guests if I am at the sink but they cannot see the counters so there is no clutter in sight from the dining and living room area. My house is 1, 450 square feet. The LR/DR/K and back WD area/powder room are 1/2 of the house.
roarah
3 years ago
I actually find walls in small homes makes them seem larger for your eye has somewhere to stop. I would add a wall and pocket doors in a heart beat.
kazzh
3 years ago
I can see why something is neccessary to delineate the space, but not want to reduce the floorspace. A question to ask could be how thin any construction could be. This might help with any decisions.

It might be worth exploring custom options to fit a full floor to ceiling screen located as I drew out above and exploring materials - maybe frosted glass ? wooden floor to ceiling slats with glazing between? or another material between? or just slats set at an angle ? or slats that can have the angle adjusted so they can be 'open' for light to travel, or 'closed' to obscure the sight line, or partially opened?

It could be a combination 1/2 wall with glazing above or slats. Another option might be to consider not having an island and placing the 'wall' at the lounge edge of the island bench so the kitchen becomes a galley style so only the dining space and bench with the stove is visable.
kazzh
3 years ago
some ideas that could be worked into a proportional feature for your space using minimal thickness
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shirlpp
3 years ago
Is there anything that you can do at the front entry to make more of an entry. Even if you put up a wall in the kitchen area this is not going to take away from the pots and pans being in full view while eating - since dining is right there.

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