Joseph Douglas Homes, an award-winning custom home builder and remodeling expert knows what buyers are looking for in 2023. The design professionals at JDH understand the needs of today’s families. They know the importance of open floor plans. In this article, their team will explain ten reasons homeowners love these layouts and why this trend will be around for a while.
Open floor plan styles are spacious and modern. They provide a crisp-looking space that countless homes have embraced over the years. Unlike many home design trends that have faded in and out, open floor plans continue to maintain popularity. Many homeowners opt for these versatile spaces instead of traditional homes with modest, intimate rooms.
What are Open Floor Plans
Open floor plans create a communal living space, often referred to as a great room, by merging the kitchen, dining room, and living room. By alleviating the need for extra walls, the space provides an open feel and maximizes the square footage of your home. The style used to be associated with modern living; however, Joseph Douglas Homes remodeling team has transformed a multitude of older, conventional homes utilizing this concept.
How Open Floor Plans Began
Around the 1950s, kitchens across America became the center of social activity in the home. Many homeowners wanted to be able to continue to socialize with guests and family members while cooking. Oftentimes, an open fireplace was installed in place of the existing dividing wall. This allowed people to see and speak to each other through the rooms. At the time, these remodeling trends were regarded as extremely modern.
Prior to the 50s, homes were built using a profoundly simple floor plan. These homes consisted of a main hallway, often at the center of the house, that served as a pathway to other rooms. Most kitchens were placed in the rear of the home because it was used as more of a task-orientated service area and was rarely used for entertaining. Rear entry doors provided direct access to kitchens for food or dairy deliveries or as an obscured entrance for staff.
As the family structure started to change, architects and designers saw a need for more flexibility in homes. They realized that an open plan was simply more practical. When the housing market boomed, and an influx of new homes were built, homes’ size decreased. Innovative measures in construction allowed for a complete re-imagination of the interior of homes. Since the 1990s, open floor plans have dominated new construction home building.
Why do Homeowners Love Open Floor Plans?
Increased property value – Homes with open floor plans increase the value of your home in the long run. By creating functional, added square footage, you drastically increase the resale value. Homebuyers consider open layouts to be more modern than closed-off, traditional layouts.
Larger feeling – By eliminating walls that divide your kitchen, dining area, and living room, you increase the amount of natural lighting, which instantly makes the space feel larger than it is.
Brighter areas – Walls around every individual room in your home reduce the light allowed to flow through. And, as just stated, that light is what adds a larger feel to your great room. Even older homes without a lot of windows benefit from open floor plans.
Allows for more family time – Open plans usually make the kitchen the center focus of a great room. This means that while you’re making dinner, you can still easily engage with your children, whether they’ll doing homework in the dining room or playing a video game in the living room. Large islands and extra seating bring your family closer together while allowing everyone to still have their own space to accomplish the task at hand.
Entertaining made easy – Open floor plans alleviate the stress put on the host of an event. You no longer have to balance chatting with your company with preparing drinks and food in another room. Guests don’t have to cram into a kitchen with four walls, and the host has plenty of space to move around the room.
The kitchen is the star of the show – In addition to more family time and more effortless entertaining, open floor plans provide functionality and practicality in the flow of the kitchen. Most of the time, open floor plans incorporate a “kitchen triangle” between the sink, refrigerator, and oven. The kitchen becomes more aesthetically pleasing and functions effortlessly by making sure these three appliances form a triangle and have an adequate length apart.
Improved flow – Yes, it’s a great bonus that open-concept floor plans provide more space for entertaining, but they also improve the overall flow in your day-to-day life. Family life gets chaotic sometimes, between toddlers running through the house or teenagers coming in and out all day. Open floor plans remove restrictive barriers like walls and allow your family to pass through without disruption.
Access to outdoor living spaces – One of the most overlooked benefits of open floor plans is the connection they create with your outdoor living spaces. Many great rooms feature seamless transitions between your great room and the patio or backyard. Oftentimes patio doors are included in the floor plan to create an easeful path from the kitchen to the barbeque.
Keeps kids safer – Open-concept floor plans allow you to keep a much closer eye on your children. No matter what “room” you’re each in, you’ll be able to watch and communicate with them without having to walk around any walls or talk through them.
Increased energy efficiency: As with light, open layouts allow air to flow through the area unrestricted. This makes rooms easier to heat and cool. When you combine this with the increased natural lighting, homeowners with open floor plans should expect a lower energy bill.
If you’re interested in building a custom home or remodeling an existing home, Joseph Douglas Homes is happy to help. Contact one of our team members today HERE.
