Types of Open-Layout House Plans

Transitional Home Plans Become Popular

• In the following years, home buyers were limited to the choice between traditional--such as colonial or Tudor--and modern. In the 1990s, the transitional home plan began to take hold, giving people the architecture they were familiar with and the open, flowing layouts they desired for their more casual lifestyle. Today, many new home builders and buyers are demanding open-layout house plans, which go hand-in-hand with "dress-down Fridays," cocooning and more casual at-home entertaining.

Combining Open Areas to Serve Different Functions

• Almost any style exterior you choose for your home will have some elements of the open-layout house plan. Mostly the openness comes with the combining of space to accommodate, cooking, dining, family and social gatherings, game-playing, and watching television. Two major advantages of these layouts are flexibility and more commodious living space.

Different Open-Layout Entry Treatments

• In some open-layout houses, the entry is open to a living room to your left or right, and is across from an open dining room, with each delineated by arches or columns. In other homes, you step into the foyer, with a separate den or living room to one side and a formal dining room on the other. In still others, when you walk out from the hallway, you enter into a large space in which the kitchen, dining area and living areas are all open.

Open-Layout Options in One-Story Home

• In a one-story home with less than 2,000 square feet, or a ranch with an open-layout plan, you'll generally find no formal entry. Instead, there's an open expanse that contains a family or gathering area, a dining space, and a kitchen open to it all. The ceilings are generally 9 to 12 feet high. In larger homes, there's a more formal entry that leads into the great room. In the latter format, there are bedrooms off to one side of the great room and a master suite on the other.

Two-Story Open-Layout House Plans

• Most two-story homes with an open-layout plan have a soaring foyer, with an open formal dining area on one side and a formal living room on the other. Past these spaces a short hall opens into a large open space, which holds the gathering area, an informal dining area and an open kitchen. Often there's a loft on the second story that's open to the great room below. In some homes, the master suite is on the first floor, with the other bedrooms upstairs. In others, all the bedrooms are upstairs.

Higher Ceilings and More Windows with Open-Layout Plans

• In almost all open-layout floor plans, you'll find higher ceilings. Older construction offered only 8-foot ceilings, but today's new homes range from nine and more feet high. This too adds to the feeling of spaciousness. Another added benefit is that there are more windows, because there is more area, and new window technology makes it energy-efficient and affordable.