To open plan or not open plan… that is the question.

A little while back, my now ex-husband James and I were looking to upgrade our home. We were quickly outgrowing our little weatherboard number.

Searching for real estate is always an interesting task as it challenges you to think through the way you live which then helps to inform a list of wants vs needs. It can also lead to a few marital disputes along the way!

One topic that James and I couldn’t get on the same page with open plan living. That is, having the kitchen, dining and main living space all in the same space.

I’ve always been a fan of the concept of a central zone for the whole family. Not only does it provide a sense of space, but it also brings the family together and creates the perfect environment for entertaining.

But James had major beef with it. His disdain for a plan of the open variety lead us to ruling out a few perfect properties (in my opinion) in our search. It seemed that on this issue, unless I went into battle big style there was no talking him around to my way of thinking.

I needed to think through if this was a battle I was going to choose to fight. Let’s be honest, marriage is one big compromise and negotiation, and there are a limited number of battles you can fight over its lifetime. The odds weren’t great on me winning this one and I thought it might be best that I kept some of my marriage credits for such battles as fixtures and finishes… (James will always choose the cheapest option, not necessarily the most attractive or appropriate)! In hindsight, now the marriage is over I should have taken this one on!!

So I chatted to my sisterhood to get the skinny first hand on the pros and cons of open plan living. Here’s what they had to say:

The pros (aka reasons to fight this one out with James):

Aren’t actually that different to what I originally thought.

  • It’s great for when you are entertaining and want to have your guests in the one zone while you are prepping food or keeping drinks topped up.
  • As kids get older and don’t want to be all up in your grill like the little ones do, it might be the only time you all connect together when they are watching TV and you are in the kitchen or eating at the table (or vice versa).
  • The sense of space is good for controlling the feeling of mind chaos. I definitely suffer from this. It’s that feeling of the walls closing in on you when there is crap everywhere. Having it spread out (which is inevitable) in the one larger space keeps this feeling under control (as much as possible).
  • It’s great for those who love to spend time in the kitchen pottering around, but not missing any essential Netflix viewing.
  • Interestingly the other main reason to go open plan is that people believe this will improve the resale of their home. Super interesting given this article stemmed from open plan living being the reason we ruled out buying a hand full of homes!

The cons (aka the reasons to make James think he’s right on this one):

  • The biggest downer of open plan living according to most I spoke to is that there is “nowhere else to hide/retreat”. Everything is in one zone. This proves most challenging if you don’t want to have the TV going when you are trying to get your cooking zen on. Or when nyou want to pump out some tunes in the kitchen while someone else is trying to relax on the couch.
  • Having everything in the living room, and space for crap to spread out, means you are constantly surrounded by it! There is no way to shut the mess off with a door. Between the mess and the noise… you can’t hear yourself f-ing think!
  • It doesn’t have the feeling of cosiness that comes with having a separate living space. I know this is what, James had big concerns about. At the moment we have a separate TV room, and in winter its lovely to close the door, light up the fireplace and snuggle in for a night of looking at our phones and barely interacting 😊 Lol.
  • Depending on the type of heating and cooling you have, it’s often more difficult and expensive to get the temperature right in a larger space.
  • And dirty dishes… who wants them lurking around when you are trying to Netflix and chill?! Unless you are fortunately enough to have a butler’s pantry or are disciplined enough to clean them up before you chillax then they are going to be staring you in the face all the live long day/night.

So I can see it from both sides.

Obviously, the dream scenario is to have both open plan, and a separate living space you can retreat to. But that’s often not possible. It comes down to really thinking through how you want to live and enjoy the space, and what is most important to your family.

So I’m interested to hear your views. The concern around resale and saleability of homes without open plan living is a very interesting one. Let me know your thoughts!