What’s better: an open floor plan or a home with more defined spaces? It’s a question that gets asked a lot, but the truth is there might not be one right answer. Every homeowner has a vision of what they want the interior of their house to look and feel like, and that can mean wide open spaces, totally separate rooms, or some blend of the two.
Working with a custom home designer like Ellergodt Design on your home renovation in Calgary means you’ll be able to bring that vision to life while creating a dream home that meets your needs.
Here’s what you need to know about both open floor plans and homes with more defined spaces.
The Enduring Appeal of Open Floor Plans
Open floor plans have been the dominant preference for homeowners for decades, and homes that incorporate them are popular in the real estate market.
Open floor plans maximize natural light, encourage better flow throughout the home, and make it simple for families to interact with one another while they’re in different rooms.
For example: A parent cooking in the kitchen can chat with a kid doing their homework in the living room with an open floor plan.
What Is an Open Floor Plan?
An open floor plan removes the barriers between rooms. Walls and doors that separate one living area from another (e.g., the kitchen and the living room) are gone, creating seamless spaces that interact with one another and create a cohesive aesthetic.
While most older homes were built with more defined rooms, modern construction and design have allowed open floor plans to become much more standard and are a common goal of home renovations in Calgary.
Some areas of the home, like bedrooms, will always require defined spaces. Still, for living rooms, kitchens, and dining rooms, walls and barriers can often be removed to create open floor plans that foster family time, are great for entertaining, and look modern and beautiful—even in older homes.
Advantages of Open Floor Plans
There are a few key reasons why open floor plans have become so popular for home renovations in Calgary in recent years.
- Spreading out natural light: Walls restrict the movement of natural light, and in a city that gets as much sunshine as Calgary does, there’s no reason why your dining room or kitchen should be dark. Open floor plans allow natural light to circulate throughout your home.
- Maximizing space: Walls take up space, so you’ll gain more of it in your home by removing them in your home renovation in Calgary. Open floor plans also make rooms feel bigger. Your line of vision goes further when there isn’t a barrier in the way, and homes with open floor plans often look and feel more spacious.
- Entertaining: Whether you’re having a dinner party or hosting holiday festivities, an open floor plan makes it feel like everyone’s in the same space. Whoever is cooking in the kitchen isn’t isolated from those who are socializing in the living room, for example.
- Flexibility in interior design: Unlike homes with more closed, defined spaces where your design options are limited by the square footage of each room, an open floor plan allows for more creativity when you’re choosing furniture, plants, and other design features.
Disadvantages of Open Floor Plans
- Privacy: As much as an open floor plan allows for more interaction, it also means there is less privacy. For families with growing kids, this can become a challenge when they become teenagers and want more space to be independent. It can also be an issue when entertaining, as some hosts prefer a little more privacy as they prepare their meals.
- Noise: Walls are extremely useful for limiting the way noise carries from one room to another. In busy homes with lots of people, whether multi-generational or otherwise, open floor plans may get loud at times.
The Allure of Defined Spaces
While open floor plans are still very popular, designers are increasingly saying that defined spaces are making a comeback. For families or couples where more and more people are working from home, having defined spaces with their own purpose can be extremely useful, and there are advantages when it comes to design and privacy, too.
What Are Defined Spaces?
Having a floor plan that incorporates more defined spaces will include more separation between rooms. Most older homes had defined spaces, with walls separating different living areas and creating separate areas of the house for different activities.
It’s worth noting, too, that even in homes that incorporate open floor plans, there are almost always going to be defined spaces. Bedrooms will be separate, as an obvious example, and there are many homes that may have an open concept for the living room and dining room but create a barrier between those areas and the kitchen.
Advantages of Designing Defined Spaces
- Creativity in interior design: With an open floor plan, you want the design aesthetic to be consistent throughout your home. That’s not as true with defined spaces, where the inspiration for one room can differ from another, and you can create different personalities for different areas of your home.
- Privacy: Defined spaces offer different rooms for different needs. A child can be doing their homework in one room while another plays in the next, and the walls create privacy for both.
- Energy efficiency and temperature control: Creating separation between rooms allows homeowners to control how warm or cold it gets in a specific space, which can lead to energy savings.
Disadvantages of Designing Defined Spaces
- Less natural light: Walls prevent the circulation of natural light, which can lead to dark corners in a home with defined spaces.
- Smaller areas: Defined spaces do mean that walls and barriers take up a portion of the interior of your home, which creates less space. Those spaces, in turn, can often feel smaller.
- Less interaction: This is the flip side of having more privacy. Defined spaces mean that families may find themselves in other rooms with less natural ability to interact throughout the day.
Finding a Design That Feels Like Home to You
Open floor plans aren’t inherently better than plans with more defined spaces, and vice versa. The reality is that personal preference should play a huge role in determining the direction of your floor plan for your home renovation in Calgary.
If you regularly entertain, maybe an open floor plan is the right call. If you or your partner work from home, defined spaces can be a huge benefit. When you work with a custom home designer like Ellergodt Design on your Calgary home renovation, we can also create a floor plan that blends both concepts and meets your specific needs.
While there may be limitations in older homes, particularly when it comes to retaining walls, there are still options.
For example: Walls can be replaced with supporting beams or other structural elements that open up your main floor to create a beautiful, open, functional space.
The most important question to ask when deciding between open floor plans and defined spaces is not which one is better, but what does home mean to you?
Make Your Home Renovation Dream a Reality
A home renovation in Calgary is a wonderful opportunity to transform your house into your dream home, and at Ellergodt Design, our team helps Calgarians reimagine their space in a way that meets your needs and brings your vision to life.
Whether that means an open floor plan or more defined spaces throughout your home, we design beautiful, functional spaces.
For more information on how we can help with your home renovation in Calgary, fill out the contact form or call (587)874-5748 today.