Open Floor Plan or Closed: Which One Suits Your Lifestyle?

You’ve heard a lot about open floor plans. The main living area—kitchen, dining room, and living room—are not separated by walls. There are a lot of advantages of this style, but what if you’re not convinced it’s right for you? Charleston homebuilder Hunter Quinn Homes designs and builds both styles of home. So, let’s look at each one. Then you can decide between open floor plan or closed, and which one suits your lifestyle.

Are you ready to open up?

The open concept works particularly well in smaller homes. The wall-free area expands the spaciousness. The absence of walls also means that the natural light flows fully into the entire area, without running up against a barrier.

From a social perspective, this design also promotes connections with family members and guests. The person who is busily preparing a meal or cleaning up doesn’t have to feel isolated from the rest of the activity. In addition, since it always seems that people converge on the kitchen area when there’s a gathering, you won’t feel squeezed in the kitchen when there is an open layout. In fact, with a kitchen island, you can herd guests to opposite your prep space, while still being in the midst of social activity. 

Parents of active children also appreciate the open concept, because they have line of sight to keep an eye on the kids. You can tell when they’re giving in to distractions rather than focusing on homework and be watchful of their online use, too.

An open floor plan also allows more flexibility when laying out your rooms. You can borrow some square footage from the dining area to expand the family room, or vice versa.

If this style appeals to you, take a look at our floor plans, like the new Keeneland that is being offered exclusively in The Paddock at Fairmont South in Moncks Corner, outside of Charleston, SC. This 3-bedroom plan offers almost 1,900 square feet on one level and includes large windows to welcome daylight into the open floor plan. We offer other home designs, ranging from 1,425 to more than 3,200 square feet of interior space.

Make walls work

Do you like walls to define your rooms? There’s definitely something to be said for a closed floor plan. People who prefer the cozy feeling lean toward this design. “Cozy” doesn’t have to be synonymous with “small”. With enough square footage and high ceilings, each room gives a comfortable area.

The closed floor plan allows you to clearly define your rooms. The dining room is a room, not a space—a place where the mealtime can be an event without the distraction outside this area.  When you’re eating breakfast, you feel like you are in a dining room, not the living room.

The family room has boundaries, too—which can avoid the clutter overflow from one area to the next. 

A closed space also provides more privacy and better noise control. When you want quiet time for studying, working, or just pondering random thoughts, there’s nothing like a separate room to allow for concentration.

In some cases, you might save on energy costs with a closed floor plan. With separate zones, you can control the temperature of specific rooms, and not heat or cool the entire open living area.

Recent surveys show a shift toward returning to a closed floor plan, although a majority of homebuyers still prefer the open concept.

Hunter Quinn Homes launched the Coastal Farmhouse Series recently. The collection of single-family floor plans includes the Saratoga. This design presents the option of converting the open concept to a closed floor plan. 

Talk to us about the look you want and let’s personalize a floor plan that brings that vision to life!