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Friday, August 17th, 2018
Fine Furniture Design Summer Home Bed Bench can be used as a visual space divider.
The open floor plan is a pretty new concept and it is becoming more popular by the day. It would seem like every home improvement show on the planet is going for this floor layout lately. So why is the open floor plan so hot nowadays?
You really can’t blame homeowners and designers from choosing this layout. This is a fad that seems to be going to the classic status. An open floor plan allows more natural light to flow into the space and it even makes small rooms appear bigger. While there seem to be only advantages to this kind of layout, there are, of course, still some disadvantages, too.
Here are the advantages of open floor plans –
Optimized Multi-tasking
Open floor layout is a wonderful idea for parents with small children. It’s because the mom can now prepare food while supervising her kids who are playing right across her. Parents can now safely finish their work deadlines, too, as they are also multi-tasking and checking on their little ones who are not far from them, playing or doing their own homework.
Optimum Lighting
Natural light would also freely flow. With this, the inhabitants will feel a renewed kind of optimism as the room appears brighter and livelier. Open floor plan allows the maximum allowable light to flow freely inside your home.
As soon as the big walls are toppled down, the sunlight can now shine freely into the living room, kitchen, and just about any section that you would want to appear brighter. Say hello to savings on your electric bills.
Bigger-Looking Room
Ask every homeowner – especially the ladies – and what is the most common thing that they can comment with their home? Studies show that most homeowners believe they have a small kitchen.
One convenient way to add space or at the very least, the illusion of space, is to open up the walls and go ahead and embrace an open floor layout. Keep in mind that the most successful open space plans are able to achieve airiness and spaciousness.
Living rooms tend to appear bigger because of vaulted or the two-storey ceilings.
The Uttermost Lamps and Lighting Ordino Modern Nickel Floor Lamp is an awesome accent piece to an open space layout.
A Bigger Entertainment Space
If you’re the homeowner type who loves to socialize and to gather people during the holidays, then an open floor layout is the best layout for you. It’s because the closed layout gives a sense of separation and compactness as opposed to the airiness that the other layout offers.
Just imagine having a bigger entertainment space now that the guests can see your joined dining area and kitchen. And just think of the next Thanksgiving dinner where everyone would no longer have to be cramped in one area.
There is also a downside to an open space layout and here are some of them –
The Possibility of an Unclean Kitchen
Cooking is a messy process since this is a workspace where meals are prepared. In an open space layout, the kitchen fuses with other parts of your home so, as you can see, there won’t be any place to hide. The messes will be seen by everyone and, yes, including your guests. And this is just the look. How about when we begin to discuss the odors that come with cooking?
No Quiet Moments
With very few walls, you can expect that noise will travel uninterrupted. This means, when the rest of the family is watching their favorite show on TV and you want to read, well, you do get the picture. This is also true when you are having separate lively activities on one given day, say, you would want to watch the football but the girls are also having a sleepover.
Tags: McCreerys, McCreerys Home Furnishings, open floor plan, open floor planning, open space layout
Posted in Interior Design 101, Interior Design Themes | Comments Off on The Ups and Downs of Open Floor Plans
Friday, September 9th, 2016
The 1586-50001-BLK3 Lucky Clover Accent Table is both sleek and modern which makes it the best side table for a living room with open-space concept.
Many contemporary and modern homes now use the open floor plan. This is a style that both architects and clients make as a team. Because of the series of benefits and advantages, more and more homeowners are giving in to more breathing space.
Lots of Open Space
One of the major advantages of using an open floor plan in your home is that you get to have wide, wide space. Read some of the interior design magazines and you would often see a living room-kitchen fusion using the open space layout. This kind of layout is more inviting than having two separate rooms. Both rooms would feel more spacious since there are no evident walls to keep them apart.
Lots of Natural Light
As the walls are removed, you are practically removing barriers for light. Let the natural light flow in through the windows. More sunlight means having the whole room look and feel brighter.
This is another reason why open space layouts are a great choice for houses with fewer or smaller windows. This is also the best layout for rooms that have a darker décor.
Lots of Movement
Open floor plan also means that you can have more freedom of movement. You will appreciate this more if you begin to move your furniture around. Since there are no walls or tight spaces, you can move more freely, hence, renovation is a breeze.
Lots of Action
Open space plans also offer more room for entertainment. This is great for people who love to organize social gatherings. This is perfect for those moments when you invite guests over or if you simply want them to stay for dinner. You can have the dining room and the kitchen at adjacent areas so that you can still cook while the guests are having fun.
If you love hosting huge social gatherings, then this layout is, once again, to your advantage. You don’t just offer a larger space to your guests, you also provide an airier atmosphere as there are no walls and doors that could restrict everyone’s access to the dining room and the kitchen. This only means that you don’t have to seat everyone inside one space.
Do you have guests in wheelchairs? Then the open floor layout means they won’t have to worry about doors, stairs and walls which separate what are supposed to be the rooms. The handicapped won’t have to worry about opening doors, turning around or stopping as they can now move more easily.
Since open space layout also means the removal of walls, then you have less space where you could hang your artwork. Since this is so, you just have to assess which pieces need to be displayed and where you could hang them. On the other hand, with a bigger space, you should be able to hang bigger pieces.
More Safety
Since the kitchen is often open to the dining room or the living room, you get to see what is happening to your family even while you are busy cooking. This will make monitoring your kids much easier since you get to see them playing while you are working.
FFDM Brentwood Collection: The furniture pieces, accents, window treatments and flooring all come from the same hue family which makes this a room full of breathing space.
Less Mess
Open floor plan shows the entire home in one glance. This means that it is much easier to clean since you can pretty much see clutter once it’s obviously on the floor or on the walls. Just make sure that everything is clean and tidy, though, since dirt and clutter can also be easier to see.
With less square footage come techniques that should be used to make the area appear bigger. The open space plan is one such technique.
Tags: McCreerys, McCreerys Home Furnishings, open floor, open floor layout, open floor plan, open floor planning, open space, open space design, open space layout, open space theme, space planning
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Friday, April 29th, 2016
FFDM’S Summer Home Collection is featured in this corner of a home. Foamed furniture such as the chair here is effective in controlling the overflow of sound.
The open floor plan concept in offices came into existence in the 1960s. Since then, hundreds and thousands of companies all over the world, embraced this concept. Some believe this concept is a source of stress, noise and nuisance. If you look at this floor layout, though, you would immediately begin to see the benefits that it offers.
The open floor plan fosters collaboration among employees. This used to be imposed among workers which made it one of the most used layouts in the world today.
In France, alone, individual cubicles exist as a minority. About 34% of employees still work in partitioned workstations according to a 2015 study.
The early 20th century showed that the open offices flourished. Frank Lloyd and the likes of him perceived the partitioned office as a facist, totalitarian trend. Because of this perception, more flexible plans allowed employees to be free from the confines of small work areas.
Right after World War II, the development of the tertiary sectors was accompanied by a new perception on the workplace. The idea of an open workspace originated in the 50s in Germany. Eberhard and Wolfgang Schnelle came up with the idea of an office landscape where partitions are no longer a necessity.
The work areas were decorated with green plants fostering open communication among the workers. By 1964, Herman Miller, an American company, came up with Action Office Series 1. These were modular offices that were created with panels and various workspace heights. These easily adapted to the workers’ various activities. It was observed that their interactions became more regular and their movements, more fluid.
It was in 1968, though, that Robert Probst came up with the cubicle which is an office space with partitions that can be removed.
The Ultimate Family Design
The open floor plan can be the best kind of family or entertainment space but if you bring in the kids and pets to the picture, you would end up with discord.
This is why there is a need to understand your tolerance level if you are choosing to employ the open space layout in your home. You might have started with how you will use the space on hand but you might have forgotten about the possible noise that could come from family members, pets and appliances. This is especially true if the room features audiovisual components.
Always think of sound as something that is liquid. Water will always look for a place to flow to so it can seep through spaces and cracks.
This is also true with sound. You need to plan for an escape route for any kind of noise.
Consider also the shape of the room. Surfaces made of stone, metal or concrete tend to bounce sound at a louder level.
If you want a modern, clean, no-curtain room, then see if you can install rugs that would deaden the sound. Know how to control the noise by lowering the ceiling, having the columns in a room wrapped in wood, or replicating this kind of ceiling along the rooms.
Should noise become an issue, then it is best to break up the rooms by creating doorways in between the living areas. There is no other way to contain the sound without disturbing the flow.
Interior designers know that fabrics can be used to muffle sound. Empty rooms are noisy but once you bring in the furnishings, draperies, especially the carpets, you would soon notice that the room has become a lot quieter.
Use same color on your walls and draperies. Add texture as well as interest without totally closing off the other rooms. Make good use of soft surfaces like upholstered pillows and chairs to manage the sound.
Tags: 1950s, 20th century, homey, homey ambiance, homey ambience, homey interiors, McCreerys, McCreerys Home Furnishings, open floor, open floor layout, open floor plan, open floor planning, open space, open space design, open space layout, open space theme
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Sunday, April 17th, 2016
FFDM Protege Collection: Air quality improves greatly when you open the doors and windows, let sunlight in, and add potted plants indoors.
Did you know that you should also let your house breathe? Homes that are sealed tightly are likely to cause problems. To cite an example, there are homeowners who attempt to conserve energy or reduce heating costs but wind up making their dwelling places airtight. There is a need for the house to breathe if you want it to be healthy.
So what do you need to achieve open-air living? All you need is more air.
Your home needs to expel moisture and different forms of gases. It can achieve this by having a constant supply of fresh air from the outside.
The fireplace could continuously burn fuel and not emit harmful fumes properly. When this happens, your home could become a storage area for carbon monoxide, a highly poisonous gas that has been proven to kill.
To correct this, begin by checking the ventilation in your home. Has it been cleaned lately? Is it damaged or even blocked?
See that the kitchen is provided with a powerful fan. Do this also in your bathroom and the open hearth fireplace right in the middle of your living room. Exhaust fans are affordable solutions that can keep carbon monoxide poisoning to zero.
But remember that the air drawn out by the exhaust fans must also be replaced. The most powerful exhaust fans inside the kitchen and bathrooms could also create problems if negative pressure builds inside. This is what happens when backdraft draws exhaust fumes from the hot water heater, furnace and other appliances are brought back into the house.
Home Office Collection by Hooker Furniture: The open-air concept was beautifully captured in this urban home office. Minimized lines and greeneries made the scene more fresh-looking.
When Is Air Too Tight?
You can say that your home is airtight if the feeling of the air is stuffy or stale. You could also see condensation dripping down on your windows. This could also mean that the humidifier could be set too high.
Have you noticed that the pilot light for your gas appliance seems to be going out a lot lately? When your burner produces yellow and not the usual blue flame also spells something disastrous that’s cooking up.
The smell of exhaust gases could also be present in your home. Carbon monoxide can’t be smelt but other types of exhaust gases come with odors so be wary of those.
Freshen Up
The best solutions include an air exchange system, direct feed, or merely opening your windows. The air exchange system can be professionally installed. This will exchange the air inside for fresher air outside without heat wastage.
You might also want to consider installing heating appliances and systems that can directly feed of outside air during combustion.
If the situation calls for an immediate answer, then you can look into the most obvious solutions – open your windows! Improving the indoor air quality is sometimes as obvious as just opening the windows that have been shut for the longest time. Plus it is a good habit to open the windows from time to time (if not on a daily basis). You don’t have to wait for the indoor air to become polluted just so you would open the windows. Do it for around 5-10 minutes daily.
You should also open the windows if someone in your home engaged in an activity that would potentially deteriorate the quality of air indoors.
Here are some more tips to create open-air living in your home –
The Archivist Collection by Hooker Furniture features an open-air bedroom with curtains drawn and windows opened to let in sunlight and fresh air.
Tags: brightening up rooms, brightening up your home, McCreery's Furnishings, McCreerys, McCreerys Home Furnishings, open floor layout, open floor plan, open space, open space design, open space theme, open-air interior design, open-air layout, open-air lifestyle, open-air living
Posted in Home Maintenance, Interior Design 101, Interior Design Elements, Interior Design Themes | No Comments »
Friday, February 5th, 2016
The Flexsteel Home Office Hutch W1201-747 will neatly sit on that cozy corner of your home office, allowing more space to be utilized.
Many people find themselves living in homes with an open floor plan. These days, if you still do not have one but are thinking of jumping on the bandwagon, then you have to consider which walls to tear down or to cut away from. The airy and open feeling of this kind of layout is awesome though it also comes with home design quandaries.
The most common questions that people ask with regard to the open floor layout are these –
These are just some of the many questions that open floor layouts conjure.
Space planning is the step that comes before color, fabric or finish selection. This should be done whether you are designing your first home or when you are remodeling. Planning, when done right, can give you a room that looks and feels much larger.
Well, there is no need to be paralyzed with fear. If you’re not ready to dive into the totality that open space planning offers, then know that you can still section off the space into smaller areas. Make a list of functional spaces that you will set up within the bigger space. If you can, assign a specific square footage for each room.
You also have to consider the foot traffic per area. For example, there should be ample space between the dining area and the kitchen (no less than four feet is ideal) so that diners will be able to walk to and from both areas without hindrance.
With an open floor plan, you will have more space for this lovely wooden piece from the Hyde Park Collection of FFDM.
Space adjacency should also be considered. Rooms that are commonly placed next to each other are the bathroom and the bedroom, the kitchen and the dining room, the living room and the kids’ play area. Of course, this all depends on your lifestyle.
Consider the current and future locations of doors, electrical outlets, windows, and columns. The kitchen should be situated on an area where there’s amply water supply – and so should the bathroom. You will surely minimize costs if you plan the adjacent rooms properly.
An open space layout does not necessarily translate into rooms that are not properly defined. Say no to the temptation of lining up your walls with furniture. Instead, use area rugs to define the conversation clusters in your living area. Doing so will let you add coziness and warmth to your home, making it a lot more inviting.
If you are the entertaining type, you might want to consider buying a chaise or daybed. These come with open sides and can serve as seats for two rooms. An alternative can be that lovely upholstered bench that is both a seat in your dining area or an anchor for a work of art propped against the wall.
Chaises offer two open sides; this is a piece that you can use in two areas (Century Furniture Living Room Cornerstone Chaise LTD7600-5).
As for the walls, Instead of the usual, you can just invest in some dividers, double-sided bookcases or decorative screens. These simple items will be able to provide the privacy that you need on a daily basis.
Open floor planning is all about color harmony (read about our previous blog on how to do this – http://mccreerys.blogs.eprevue.net/2016/02/04/interior-design-101-fundamental-color-harmonies/). While colors are a major part of your open space layout consideration, it is important to note that all walls do not have to be painted with the same color.
Whatever happens, do not allow yourself to freeze with fear. Open floor plan should bring out your creativity and vivid imagination!
Tags: color harmony, McCreerys, McCreerys Home Furnishings, open floor, open floor layout, open floor plan, space planning, tips
Posted in Interior Design 101, Interior Design Themes | No Comments »
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