Opening between Living and Family Rm ?

10 years ago

We built this custom home in 2011 and I have a layout dilemma. When we designed we did not have any kids and we now have 18 mo old twins. My dilemma is that our entertainment room is now more of a playroom/family room and the entry to it is from the back of our living room which makes the traffic flow behind our living room sofa and into the family room.
I am considering closing up the wall that connects the living room and family room and making a new entrance to the family room off of the hallway - see the floor plan and photos.
Here are my reasons for considering this change:
1) The traffic flow through the living room to the family room makes furniture placement in the living room difficult because the furniture has to be at least 3' off the wall. When the doors are open it looks dark into the family room which can get messy with toys etc.
2) When the sliding barn doors are open between the two rooms you can see our projector screen on the wall as a background from the living room. You also get to look at the back of our black leather sofa.
3) The barn door sliders are noisy and are normally left open or partially open. They are not that sound insulating so if someone is watching TV in the family room the sound passes right into the the main living areas of the home. As our kids get older and want their own space it might be annoying to have them open to the living room.

Reasons I am nervous to close off the entry
1) Most people are opening up their homes and not closing them off. Will I regret this later?
2) What can I put on the living room wall that serves as an interesting design focal point behind our furniture. This wall is highly visible.
3) Will the livingroom feel too small without this opening? It is 15.5 wide X17.5 feet long

ADVICE please! My contractor said he could come Friday to opening up the hallway for the new entry!!

Comments (6)

Soesoe
Original Author
10 years ago
Here is a picture that shows the opening from our livingroom into the family room. You can also see down the hall to where I would put the new entry. The new entry could only be 40" wide rather than the 7' wide opening we currently have. This is due to the stone artwork I have embedded into the hallway wall, I don't want to move those.

Advice? Should I make the change?
Soesoe
Original Author
10 years ago
Sorry Here is the picture that shows the entry between the rooms currently.
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Nancy in Mich
10 years ago
I would make the move. The reason to have both a family room and a living room is so that you have a quiet spot, maybe a more formal spot, for the adults, and a noisier spot with the TV and other entertainment for the family to enjoy together. Having them open to one another defeats this. They are often on opposite ends of the downstairs. My living room is off the foyer. Oddly, my foyer leads to the bedrooms straight ahead. Another hall that intersects the hall that leads to the bedrooms leads to the kitchen, which is behind the front-facing garage. Our family room is behind the kitchen. So our kitchen, family room, half-bath, and laundry room are clustered together behind the garage. Our three bedrooms and main bath are clustered together at the end of the hall that leads from the foyer. The living room is all by itself, next to the front door and foyer. Our living room and family room are as far apart as two rooms can get and still be in this house.

Will you put a door on that 40" opening into the entertainment/family room? A door will help keep those in the living room and office (and guest bedroom down the hall) from having to hear the TV, but also will make monitoring the activities in that room more difficult. If you want a door there to keep the kids corralled while they are toddlers, you might consider a dutch door, where you may close the bottom half of the door, but leave the top half open. That way, if one of you is in the family room with the kids, the other in the office or living room, you can still talk between the two rooms, but the toddlers can't toddle out of their play space.

Do you and your spouse now sit in the living room or the family room while the children are playing? Will you both be joining the kids in the newly closed off room? If not, that means less together time. That right there is the biggest concern I have. You do not want to decrease your time together. If putting up a wall between the two rooms puts up a wall between the two of you, don't do it.

If you do put up the wall, I would add a nice big tree in the sunny corner of the living room on the right side of your photo, then a nice large art piece or a triptych of tall panels in the center of the wall will fill in well. The triptych follows the theme you have in the hall with the three brick art pieces.

I hope others come along with ideas for you. Be sure and let us know what you decide.
Fori
10 years ago
Would it be awful to add the new opening AND have the sliders? Keep 'em closed and treat them as a wall until some day you feel like having them open.

It looks like you have some pretty nice finishes--I bet your barn doors are not unattractive.

But for sure put in that door to the hall!
kirkhall
10 years ago
Yup. Same advice in the Build Forum. I didn't realize you were this far along, though.
Soesoe
Original Author
10 years ago
Yes we'll leave the current sliders and add a second single slider to the hallway side. I am getting some ideas to decorate around the sliders on the living room side so the room feels more inviting. I think this solution will give us the best of both worlds - a living room that doesn't have to be traffic flow central but a flexible space we can open up when desired.

I posted this in three forums and received amazing feedback. I began with the building forum because we really just finished a few months ago - but I guess technically it's now considered a renovation and decorating issue!! Everyone has been so kind and helpful, I wish I had consulted gardenweb when we were designing and building!