Open floor plans became all the rage thanks to home-improvement shows, but a real-estate expert says the trend is going out of style (2024)
If you watch home-improvement shows or follow home-decor topics on social media, you're likely familiar with open-concept floor plans.
They've been a go-to in American home design in recent years, offering a kitchen, living, and dining area in one large room.
The setup makes entertaining easy, and it allows families to spend time together while one person is in the kitchen and another is in the living area, for instance.
But as Rachel Stults, the managing editor at Realtor.com, told Insider, the floor plans are losing traction with homeowners.
"I don't think that we're going to see it go away entirely, but this is definitely something that happened during the pandemic," she told Insider of people gravitating away from open floor plans. "We were all stuck inside, and we had nowhere to go and our families were with us."
"All of our homes that became one big open room were suddenly not conducive to living," Stults added. "It created a desire to have a defined space, or at least the ability to close one off if you need to."
Related stories
She said that people have responded by either changing their homes to fit their new needs or searching for a new home that can fit their lifestyle, as many people still work from home.
"We have seen people put up more definition if they can by putting up walls, or looking for homes that have a closed-off kitchen or a closed-off dining room," Stults said. "Even the formal dining room had been on its way out, and I think it's making a comeback now because people just really want to separate the spaces."
Open floor plans are constantly featured on home-improvement shows, making their popularity seem ubiquitous.
You can see open-concept floor plans on the most popular HGTV shows today, including "Celebrity IOU" starring the Property Brothers, the competition series "Rock the Block," and "100 Day Reno."
But as Ronda Kaysen, a real-estate reporter for The New York Times who has interviewed HGTV executives, told Insider in 2020, that has more to do with ratings than a preference for the design itself.
"The network brought in shows like 'Fixer Upper' so the men wouldn't run out of the room the minute the channel turned to HGTV," she said to Insider. HGTV didn't respond to Insider's request for comment on the matter at the time.
Advertisem*nt
She expanded on the topic in a 2019 interview with NPR, saying that male viewers are more likely to watch home-improvement shows if a demolition is part of the renovation.
"Dudes will only watch HGTV if there are sledgehammers," she told NPR, going on to point to "Property Brothers" as an example. "This is how you get your boyfriend to sit with you on the couch and watch it, only if you get to watch Jonathan Scott knock down a wall."
Open plan isn't going out of style, but it has moved on. 'Rather than fading, open plan is evolving,' says interior designer Artem Kropovinsky. 'It has adapted to the need of having public and private spaces. 'Homes have transformed and people value both social regions and private corners.
Removing walls between kitchens, dining rooms, and living rooms can increase convenience, optimize light, and expand entertainment options. However, open floor plans can have drawbacks, including a lack of privacy and louder noises throughout the house.
It's easy to see why open-concept floor plans are popular: They can make a modest amount of square footage feel spacious, they improve foot traffic flow between rooms and they're ideal for entertaining. But these designs have their drawbacks, too, such as decreased privacy and increased noise levels.
An open floor plan refers to two or more traditional spaces such as the living room and dining room joined together to form a much larger, grand space. Typically these rooms would be divided by a barrier such as a wall or door making these spaces feel small and closed off.
Our 2023 Happy Home report surveyed over 2,000 people and found that open-plan home layouts are still extremely popular and there has been an even greater shift towards multifunctional spaces than deliberately separate rooms.
An open floor plan, now beginning to include the kitchen, offered design flexibility for reconfiguring the space as the family changed and grew, and made it possible to keep an eye on kids during meal preparation and during cleanup.
In most cases, creating an open-plan living area will raise the value of your home. One Realtor study that analyzed millions of home listings found that homes with open floor plans appreciate by 7.4% each year, and a UK study showed that adding an open-plan living area can increase home value by 15%.
“By placing your pieces in a specific place, you will be able to break up your open concept and solidify the separation of areas.” This might mean pushing the couches away from the walls and windows and setting up benches or sideboards in the area that separates the living room from the sunroom.
Luxury vinyl tiles are ideal for open plan spaces because they combine the look of solid wood and solid tile flooring with the practical features of vinyl flooring, giving you the best of both worlds.
Open floor plan designs have more acoustics and cause noise to travel further, while extra walls can help contain and limit noise. Specialty rooms. More rooms means more separate spaces dedicated to individual uses, such as home offices, art studios, craft rooms, workout rooms, and guest rooms.
Overall, it depends on who you ask whether dividing walls will become the next “hot” home trend. For instance, more interior designers than ever are promoting separate rooms as a hot design trend for 2024. Formal dining rooms and separate living rooms, which have long been considered outdated, are now coming back too.
"A broken plan layout is a modern interior design concept that involves creating distinct zones within an open plan space while maintaining a sense of openness and flow," continues Juliette Thomas, director of Juliettes Interiors.
In residential design, open plan or open concept (the term used mainly in Canada) describes the elimination of barriers such as walls and doors that traditionally separated distinct functional areas, such as combining the kitchen, living room, and dining room into a single great room.
In the ever-evolving landscape of interior design, 2024 marks a noticeable departure from the once highly coveted open floor plans that dominated homes for years.
In most cases, creating an open-plan living area will raise the value of your home. One Realtor study that analyzed millions of home listings found that homes with open floor plans appreciate by 7.4% each year, and a UK study showed that adding an open-plan living area can increase home value by 15%.
It saw a decline during the pandemic. Welcome back, open-concept kitchens! According to the 2024 U.S. Houzz Kitchen Trends Study, more and more people are choosing this type of layout—43% in 2023 compared to 38% in 2021—after its popularity declined during the pandemic.
Popular 1 story house plan styles include craftsman, cottage, ranch, traditional, Mediterranean and southwestern. Some of the less obvious benefits of the single floor home are important to consider.
Introduction: My name is Kelle Weber, I am a magnificent, enchanting, fair, joyous, light, determined, joyous person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
We notice you're using an ad blocker
Without advertising income, we can't keep making this site awesome for you.
