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Posts Tagged ‘open space design’

Going Past Borders: Living With An Open Space Layout

Thursday, December 1st, 2016

FFDM Portfolio Collection

FFDM Portfolio Collection: The movements in this artwork will give the much-needed activity in this open space habitat. 

Small spaces may be, well, small but there isn’t a shortage of design solutions for such limited square footage. It may also be challenging to design for comfort in such spaces but it isn’t impossible. It is your duty, therefore, to find that small window of design strategy that will help you set up a more harmonious and well-planned open space layout.

Open Space: The Beginning

Decades ago, all homes were built with separate rooms given with distinct functions. That was the notion then but with a world that makes room for less spacious habitats, it’s time to step up and find ways to make small homes that are still functional.

Dining rooms were almost always formal while living rooms had a relaxed ambience. Both rooms are set apart from the kitchen which is always bustling with activities.

The ‘50s and ‘60s welcomed the concept of open space living because of the homebuilders’ desire to come up with efficient homes with less square footage. Split-level and ranch homes became the popular styles then.

These days, architecture as well as interior design still take some elements from the said styles; they also infuse cultural norms and convenience to their design melting pot. Such is the contemporary world – it is a world of multitasking and mixed gender roles.

Open Space Benefits

Also referred to as an open floor layout, this is a favorite among apartment and condo dwellers. It is a favorite because it makes even the smallest places look seemingly bigger and brighter. Small apartments with windowless kitchens and tiny living spaces can be transformed to a spacious haven by toppling down walls and replacing them with tables or dividers.

Entertaining is now a breeze when a kitchen island is used in place of the usual kitchen walls. This will also give you the chance to chat with guests while you are busy cooking. Tables and kitchen islands are usually used as room dividers and they almost always become focal points, too.

An open room is also great for making sure that your little ones are still safe. Keeping an eye on them is now a lot easier.

Place a desk and computer right against a wall or the back of your sectional or sofa. This will give the space a more multifunctional look.

Open Space Challenges

While open space layout offers benefits such as spaciousness and brightness, there are also challenges that come with it. The most obvious downside is the probable loss of privacy as walls are torn down. Since every room is joined to an adjacent room, talking might also disturb others who want to rest. The loss of wall space also means you will have limited space for your artwork and framed photos. Fewer walls could also mean fewer electrical outlets.

Once you overcome these challenges or at least learn to live with them, then you will find that open space living is a wise design to pick.

FFDM Portfolio: Large glass windows give this living room/home office a bright and airy appearance.

FFDM Portfolio: Large glass windows give this living room/home office a bright and airy appearance.

Tips in Arranging Open Space Elements

The first rule in open space living is to clearly define areas. For instance, you may place a sofa and a console table back-to-back. This pair can be placed right outside the kitchen in order to delineate the living room. Define the space further by placing an area rug at the center of the living room.

Create a design feature that will stand out in certain areas. A gallery wall would be nice right in the area where the family dines.

Another tip is to maintain aesthetic flow throughout the space. Use recessed lighting to save visual space. Use color palettes that complement and not clash with each other. Put textured layers as well as different colors for accents and highlights.

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How to Create Breathing Space With These 6 Tips

Wednesday, November 16th, 2016

FFDM Vintage Classics

FFDM Vintage Classics bed may be huge but the walking space all around it makes the room easy on the eyes.

Most homeowners love to pick the colors, finishes and fabrics that they would use for their home. But before you go out and do the same, make sure that you don’t forget the first step in every home design or remodeling – space planning. When you do this correctly, you will have a room that would feel much larger and more efficient.

There are some steps to remember when you are out to arrange or rearrange your home to fit your lifestyle. Open floor layout means a lot of things but is it the right concept for your home?

Consider Space Needs

Create a list of the functional yet smaller spaces that you will need in a larger space. You can then assign square footage as soon as you have measured the entire area.

Consider also the furniture size as well as the number of people who will frequent the room. An example of is when the kitchen counter and the dining room are adjacent to each other. The rooms should be no less than 4 feet apart so that guests and household members will be able to walk between them with ease.

Consider Space Relationships

Now that room relationships are laid out for your consideration, you also need to determine the right size that goes with the correct space. Room adjacencies are the kitchen to the dining room (this is a common one); the bedroom to a bathroom; a workspace to the bedroom, etc.

These room adjacencies are always dependent on your lifestyle, though.

Consider Existing Conditions

If you are remodeling, reorganizing or redecorating, then you are not beginning with a clean slate. This means that you need to shape the look of the room considering the existing conditions. Contemplate the location of windows, doors, electrical outlets, partitions and columns when planning the space layout.

Other things that you need to find are the gas, plumbing and sewage lines in the bathrooms, kitchen and the rest of the rooms. You would want the drainage and water supply to be close to the existing sewage and plumbing lines.

Make sure you plan the adjacencies according to these needs.

Know Your Organizing Options

As soon as you know where the bathrooms and kitchen will be situated, it’s time to define whether you would have the linear or axial organization. The first type, as the name suggests, means the design elements are arranged in a line. Axial organization is the assembly of several linear organizations. The first type is quite flexible since all the shapes and sizes are correlated for as long as they lie on a straight line.

If you’re unsure about what to use, then sketch your ideas first. Use bubble diagram to begin your space planning. Figure out your size requirements as well as your room adjacencies. Draw different bubble configurations using different bubble zooms, furniture grouping and zone sizes.

Go on sketching till you end up with an arrangement that actually works for you.

Cynthia Rowley for Hooker Furniture Skyline Bookcase will free up a lot space.

Cynthia Rowley for Hooker Furniture Skyline Bookcase will free up a lot space.

Define the Public and Private Spaces

When you are thinking of defining the public against the private spaces, always think about which spaces you would want to enclosed and others that you would just want to partially wall off.

Bedrooms are always private spaces and must therefore be situated in the quietest area of the living space. Dining rooms and kitchens are more open, hence, you would want to put them in a space that’s easily accessible and more prone to accommodate natural lighting.

When Helpless, Find Help

There are now a lot of software programs that can help you plan your space. Breathing space can be achieved through your own efforts or you can ask help from a designer or an architect.

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Breathing Space: Why the Open Floor Plan Works

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.

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.

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.

 

 

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The Open Space Layout: When It’s Time to Topple Down Walls

Saturday, July 2nd, 2016

1586-75200B-BRN Long Board Rectangle Dining Table with 2-20in leaves: Cynthia Rowley’s furniture collection is perfect for open space layouts and modern settings.

1586-75200B-BRN Long Board Rectangle Dining Table with 2-20in leaves: Cynthia Rowley’s furniture collection is perfect for open space layouts and modern settings.

Do you happen to live in a house that has a series of compact rooms? Has it crossed your mind to topple down some walls in order to open up your space? If you answered yes to both questions, then you are more than ready to embrace the open space concept.  But what if a concern is a wall that is structural?

The great news is that it can still be removed and you can still open up the space as you want it. What you need to do is to replace the load bearing. You would need the expertise of a local architect because that is a project that you shouldn’t take on alone. He will also be the one to ascertain that everything is done in accordance with the building code.

An easy and inexpensive way to remove a wall is the installation of an engineered wood beam. This has to be positioned right below the current floor joists. The contractor can build a temporary wall on every side of the bearing wall. He can then remove the bearing wall, have the wood beam installed, then have the temp walls removed.

The architect may also tell you to use steel instead of wood beam because of the length of the wall that is about to be removed. This will cost more but there are situations when it is the only viable solution.

You would also surely love picking out the colors, finishes, fabrics and other stuff when you’re remodeling. Space planning results in a more efficient place. Find images of open floor spaces and find out how you can use the same concept in your home.

Know Your Space Needs

You need to make a list of the spaces and their functions within the large spaces. Assign square footage for every area. Consider also the size of your furniture as well as the number of dwellers in a room. An example is the space between the dining room table and the kitchen counter should be no less than four feet. This is so people can freely walk between them.

Consider Space Relationships

After determining the size for every space, find out the need for each room to be near each other. Define why they need to be adjacent.

People will be moving from one space to the next so make sure that you place the rooms that make sense to be right next to each other. Obvious adjacencies include the kitchen and the dining areas as well as the living area and the entertainment area.

Adjacencies also make sense when you consider plumbing or sewage lines. Doing so will minimize the costs that come with doubled pipes or damaged lines.

Know Your Organizing Preferences

Knowing where the bathroom and kitchen would be as well as working with the constraints of the building structure should lead to the next question – how will the smaller zones fit into the open space? The four options include linear, grid, axial and central.

Linear organization is called such because of the series of spaces that were arranged to create a straight line. This is a flexible type of organization since you can easily adjust the shapes and sizes of the zones for as long as they are still related to the line.

Axial, on the other hand, uses two or more major points to define the arrangements such as the bathroom and the kitchen having two separate linear paths.

Think of Furniture Grouping

Always think of the furniture that you own when grouping room functionalities. The bedroom should have the nightstand, dresser, and of course, the bed. The living room should still have a distinct coffee table, end table, chairs, and a sofa.

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Serenity in an Open Floor Plan

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.

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.

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Open-Air Living: Improving Indoor Air Quality

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.

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.

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 –

  • Ask smokers to do their deed outside. That single drag produces about 4,000 different chemicals which are never risk-free. The best choice will always be for everyone to stop smoking inside your home.
  • Every little thing can turn to dust one day so get rid of that beaten down couch. Improve air quality in an instant as you invest in a new, clean, easy-to-maintain sofa.
  • Maintain the humidity at 30-50%.
The Archivist Collection by Hooker Furniture features an open-air bedroom with curtains drawn and windows opened to let in sunlight and fresh air.

The Archivist Collection by Hooker Furniture features an open-air bedroom with curtains drawn and windows opened to let in sunlight and fresh air.

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