{"id":795330,"date":"2026-10-07T23:34:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T23:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/795330\/"},"modified":"2026-10-07T23:34:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T23:34:14","slug":"is-open-plan-living-a-thing-of-the-past","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/795330\/","title":{"rendered":"Is open-plan living a thing of the past?"},"content":{"rendered":"

For years, we\u2019ve been ripping down walls in favour of a more open-plan<\/a> arrangement in our homes. Sometimes it\u2019s about bringing more light into a space; sometimes it\u2019s about improving the flow; and sometimes it\u2019s about creating an environment better suited to family life where you can keep half an eye on your children while also cooking supper. The kitchen has long been at the heart of the open-plan dream. \u2018For years, people have wanted everything in the kitchen,\u2019 agrees Plain English founder Katie Fontana. \u2018It\u2019s where you cook, where you eat, where the children do their homework, where you have a little desk on the side and have your computer \u2013 we want sofas and a fireplace.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

This 18th-century Cotswold house<\/a> was sensitively extended to allow for a large open-plan kitchen, dining and sitting area where the whole family could come together.<\/p>\n

Christopher Horwood<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an appealing idea, but is it one that has perhaps had its day? Are we returning to a world of nooks and delineated rooms? \u2018I really do feel that there is a movement away from the ubiquitous desire for open plan,\u2019 says interior designer Patrick Williams<\/a>, whose practice Berdoulat specialises in period buildings and restoration projects<\/a>. \u2018It was lockdown five years ago that first made us tune into our interiors<\/a> and how we can coexist in them and I wonder whether it catalysed a shift away from open-plan living back to separate individual spaces \u2013 ones that can be discovered, ones that might suit differing moods and ones where you can be alone!\u2019 Interior designer Max Rollitt agrees: \u2018We need distinct spaces so that we can think, work and separate our lives from media, so that one person can do one thing and someone else another.\u2019<\/p>\n

As well as the obvious benefit of delineated spaces providing privacy and meeting the needs of various family members, they also often work better in period houses<\/a>. \u2018In older properties, particularly terraced houses<\/a>, open plan can often confuse the original intention,\u2019 explains Max Rollitt. Not only can it be a challenge acoustically, but it\u2019s also not brilliant for heat retention. \u2018Smaller rooms, for instance, were easier to heat with a single fire \u2013 now if we knock through we often end up removing them,\u2019 he explains. Large open-plan spaces can be hard and expensive to heat, which isn\u2019t exactly the best idea in a world of rising energy costs and limited resources. For Patrick, open-plan arrangements can also be aesthetically jarring in older houses. \u2018So often the stretched proportions of these spaces are not terribly pleasing,\u2019 he explains. \u2018Beyond delineating spaces, walls are quite useful for hanging pictures on, or housing pieces of furniture against.\u2019 Walls, then, are not just good for privacy, but also provide a decorative opportunity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For years, we\u2019ve been ripping down walls in favour of a more open-plan arrangement in our homes. Sometimes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":795331,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,261621,32215,1120,96,3689,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-795330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-decorating-by-room","tag-decoration","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-trends","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=795330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/795331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=795330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=795330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=795330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}