Are you ready for open plan Living?

Are you ready for open plan living?

We take a look back at two of the most amazing open-plan BISF interiors to see what can be achieved in any home with just a little bit of planning and an awful lot of hard work.

Open plan living may not be for everyone but there is no doubt that this style of living is becoming more and more popular, for those in search of space and light.

Fortunately, the BISF house lends itself perfectly to this style of living, as none of the interior walls are structural, meaning they can all be easily removed if required. There are however, two supporting steel columns, better known as stanchions, that sit inside the middle wall of the ground floor which must not be removed, as they provide support for the entire weight of the floor above.

The lack of structural interior walls means it’s possible for any BISF owner to indulge in an open-plan living space that still feels cosy, yet seamlessly integrates into the rest of your home. The selection of photographs shown below are from two properties that particularly impressed us with their use of materials and innovative ideas that you too could create in your own home.

In days gone by, most homes were built with separate rooms, each forming individual areas with their own specific purpose. Recently, there has been a total reversal in the trend towards this style of traditional layout, with open plan living areas becoming one of the most sought after features in a home.

Whilst open-plan living has a number of obvious benefits including an aesthetically pleasing look to the eye, there are a number of drawbacks that must be taken into account when planning your layout and configuration in order to reduce the negative aspects associated with this style of living.

On the plus side, light flows more evenly throughout the open space. We are no longer imprisoned in one particular room or separated from other members of the home whilst undertaking tasks such as cooking, keeping an eye on the children, or socializing with guests. The walls that once enclosed us are now gone, which makes the home feel bigger than it actually is.

On the downside, the most common fear is the prevalence of cooking smells that will no doubt waft lingeringly into your living area, and as we all know, fried onions do not smell good. There is also nowhere to hide whilst your children play energetically or your teen decides to play loud music, each allowing noise to transmit easily throughout the entire house.

There is also the question of intimacy or rather the lack of, and the question, as to whether your home will retain a cosy feel if that’s what you prefer.

Now, if this article was designed to simply promote the virtues of open plan living, it would be easy to omit further issues including the cost of keeping your new space warm during the colder winter months. Don’t forget, that if you opt to truly live an open plan lifestyle, the hall of the house will also be removed meaning that unless you have a front porch, the front door of your house will now open directly into the living room, leaving you exposed to drafts and reducing your privacy when dealing with unfamiliar  visitors at the door.

But don’t despair, many of the layout issues can be overcome through the use of clever design and careful layout choices that will divide the space into zones, the addition of a front porch will eliminate draft and privacy issues and a log burner or flueless gas fire will help keep heating costs to a minimum and n some cases it may actually turn out cheaper to heat your home than before.

Take a look through the images below as they can provide plenty of inspirational ideas that you can use to create a beautiful modern, open-plan living space.