How to Decide Whether to Make Your Home Open Plan

Open plan homes have been something of a trend for over a decade now, with more and more families favouring a link between their kitchen, dining room and living room space instead of rooms like separate entities that you have to move between to communicate with your family. But, for many other homeowners, their home is not yet open plan – and the difficult decision as to whether to knock in walls can be hard to make. This article will help reluctant homeowners decide whether they should create an open plan home or not.

Liaise with Builders

Not all homes have the option of going open plan. Some houses are too old or built in such a way to prevent you from realising precisely the floor plan that you desire. Knocking down walls can endanger the structural integrity of some homes, which a builder will be quick to point out.

However, if you do get the go-ahead, a builder or architect is going to be the person to explain to you the options you have and to help you visualise the resulting floor space you’ll achieve. With their advice, sketches and explanations, you’ll be able to envision the changes you’re planning on making to your home, which can only give you more confidence in your eventual decision.

Plan the New Space

With a green light on the kind of renovation that you’re planning, you can start thinking through the layout of your open plan space. How will the linked rooms feel? What new opportunities for furniture placings will open up? Will you be able to make a cohesive link between your kitchen and your living room that feels fresh and exciting?

Ultimately, it’s too much to merely imagine this in your mind after so many years of living with walls between these rooms. As such, you’ll want some help in visualising how exactly you’ll achieve your new space. The floorplan software at Metropix is perfectly suited to your needs in this area, with interactive and multi-function room plans drawn digitally and simply to help you conceive of, and approve, the space that you’re thinking of creating.

Take Online Inspiration

The online interior design space is brimming with ideas and options to help you understand the various ways in which an open plan living space can be set-up and configured. This stage in the decision-making process is perhaps the most important in terms of helping you think through the aesthetic possibilities that your renovation will open up to you and your family.

Search the top interior design sites, making notes about the kinds of L-shaped sofas and wide dining tables often used, in order to get more excited about the possibilities you’re soon to be opening up. If you think your home is going to feel far airier, light, inspiring and social with the walls between rooms knocked through and new furniture put in place, then you’re ready to start planning the renovation itself.

Are you thinking about making your home open plan? Then work through the three stages above to help guide you towards a decision that you’re be thrilled with when you see the results.