When open-plan stops working: designing a home that grows with your family.
For years, open-plan living has been the dream. One big, light-filled kitchen, dining and living space where everyone can be together, and honestly, when children are little, it can be brilliant.
You can make dinner while keeping an eye on homework (or whatever chaos is unfolding!), everyone naturally gathers in the same space, and family life feels wonderfully connected. But in no time at all, something happens - the children get bigger.
Suddenly someone is trying to revise, someone else is watching television, you're making dinner, the dishwasher is going, there's a Teams call happening at the kitchen table… and that beautiful open-plan room can start to feel rather noisy! It’s something I’m increasingly conscious of when designing family homes. We shouldn’t just design for the family you are today; we need to think about the family you’re going to become.
And that doesn’t mean open-plan living is over. Far from it. I still love creating generous, connected spaces where people naturally come together. I just think they work even better when there’s somewhere else to go too. A snug that can be closed off. A pocket door between two spaces. A quiet homework spot that might later become a study. A separate sitting room that perhaps feels unnecessary when the children are six, but becomes the most fought-over room in the house when they're sixteen!
Sometimes people call this “broken-plan” living. I’m not terribly interested in the label, but I do like the thinking behind it: connection when you want it, separation when you need it. Because family life changes.
Toddlers become teenagers. Homework becomes exams. Working from home might become part of everyday life. Children leave, come back, bring friends, partners and eventually perhaps grandchildren with them.
Our homes need to flex with all of that. So if you’re planning an extension now, try not to think only about what would make life easier this year. Imagine your family five or ten years from now. Will everyone still want to be in one enormous room together? Possibly not!
Good family design isn't about predicting the future perfectly. It’s simply about leaving your home enough flexibility to grow and change alongside you.
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