4 ms·

I'm not an architect or tiny house owner, but I have friends and family stay in my large studio apartment fairly often. A modern, open floor plan is a big help

by sampl 10y ago

I'm not an architect or tiny house owner, but I have friends and family stay in my large studio apartment fairly often. A modern, open floor plan is a big help. If you stop building walled-off kitchen/dining/family/living spaces, you have a lot more efficient use of the space you actually use. Reuse of space is also huge. You can temporarily rearrange furniture for a big dinner and put it back before it's time to sleep. Another angle... if you stand to save $100k building your house, you can save a lot of money by putting up your family in a nearby hotel overnight.

wott 10y ago
> If you stop building walled-off kitchen/dining/family/living spaces, you have a lot more efficient use of the space you actually use. I though that fad was gone. That's a nightmare in real use. I don't want the meat grease smell in my bed. I don't want the kitchen noise while watching TV in the sofa or chatting in the living room. I don't want the music or the children noise in the kitchen. And I especially don't want all visitors packed together in the same space 24/24, without any half-privacy time to spend in smaller groups. Oh, and since I am the kind of person who spends most of parties inside the kitchen rather than in the living or dining room, how do I manage? :-)
- ghaff 10y ago
  It's not necessarily either-or. I grew up in a very old house that a totally separate dining room and kitchen. When I bought a house it was the same. After a major remodel for structural reasons, the kitchen and dining room were opened up--which turned out to be a big improvement--but the living room spaces were still largely separate. This actually works pretty well for me. In practice, when I have people over, we still spend a lot of time in the kitchen/dining area--which is also sort of the "mud room" etc.--but the entertaining/hangout area is still somewhat separated. I think more open floor plans than was historically the norm make sense--especially in smaller areas. But, if you have the space, walls can still be useful.
jimmydddd 10y ago
I guess it also depends what stage of life you're in. If you coach your kid's soccer team and want to invite the team and parents over for an end of season party, you've got about 50 people coming over after the game. That would be tough with 800 square feet.

by sampl 10y ago

wott 10y ago

> If you stop building walled-off kitchen/dining/family/living spaces, you have a lot more efficient use of the space you actually use. I though that fad was gone. That's a nightmare in real use. I don't want the meat grease smell in my bed. I don't want the kitchen noise while watching TV in the sofa or chatting in the living room. I don't want the music or the children noise in the kitchen. And I especially don't want all visitors packed together in the same space 24/24, without any half-privacy time to spend in smaller groups. Oh, and since I am the kind of person who spends most of parties inside the kitchen rather than in the living or dining room, how do I manage? :-)

ghaff 10y ago
It's not necessarily either-or. I grew up in a very old house that a totally separate dining room and kitchen. When I bought a house it was the same. After a major remodel for structural reasons, the kitchen and dining room were opened up--which turned out to be a big improvement--but the living room spaces were still largely separate. This actually works pretty well for me. In practice, when I have people over, we still spend a lot of time in the kitchen/dining area--which is also sort of the "mud room" etc.--but the entertaining/hangout area is still somewhat separated. I think more open floor plans than was historically the norm make sense--especially in smaller areas. But, if you have the space, walls can still be useful.

jimmydddd 10y ago

I guess it also depends what stage of life you're in. If you coach your kid's soccer team and want to invite the team and parents over for an end of season party, you've got about 50 people coming over after the game. That would be tough with 800 square feet.