Is It the House or me...dislike Open Concept

I hate open floor plans as well. I don't get why it is so popular or why anyone would want everything in the same room like that. I love that I can be alone in the kitchen and listen to the radio while I cook or bake while the kids are watching tv or playing games in the living room. I also love that when I sit down to eat in my dining room I don't have to look at my dirty dishes while I enjoy my meal. I don't have any suggestions for you, just wanted to agree that open concept is a bad idea.

We live in a 900 sq foot apartment. We have to be very purposeful to avoid clutter and the appearance of clutter. We use cubbies, closet organizers, and closed shelving. At some point though, you've just got to draw the line. I won't add more storage to my life, because it just becomes an excuse to store. Instead, we take a hard look at what we have, what we need and what we actually make use of and send things on their merry way. We are very careful not to bring new items to our home unless as replacements.

Also, teach your kids to clean up. Don't let them leave a trail of detritus.

Clean as you cook, and re-think how many cutting boards, prep bowls etc you need as you cook.

Put stuff away immediately.

Best,
F. B.

I can't stand open floor plan concept houses. I don't like visiting them and we passed up so many of them when looking to buy.
No matter how minimalist it is and how "showroom" it's set up, I always find it overwhelming and I can not feel like I have a way to "ground" for lack of a better word. I like having couches up against a wall so I don't have chaos behind me. I like to see the whole room I'm in and not every other room of the house at the same time. My mind never settles. I can deal with it at a party since you're always on the go and visiting but I could never live in one without finding ways to totally block rooms off somehow.

Have you looked at Houzz.com? You might find some ideas in there that you could implement to be multifunctional. Maybe a new way to divide your main room so that you have specific areas instead of a big space with 2 uses. Maybe even something that incorporates some storage.
You could even look for organizing ideas for your mudroom.

A lot of the ideas and plans there are over-the-top. But if you look, you can find bits and pieces of bigger plans that might work for you, or spark a new idea to help you.

That is the problem with open concept. If there are things out if place, the whole house looks like a bomb hit. I would search some furniture websites that focus on storage. There are lots of things out there that would help.

Could you invest in built-ins? I am a huge fan. They take up relatively little space, provide storage and look amazing. You could also google small room design and look at pictures to get ideas. Also, is your furniture too big for the space? Some furniture stores will provide a home designer free of charge. Also, do you have one paint color and flooring through out the space. If you have multiple colors and flooring this could be making the space look choppy and not cohesive.

I actually really like open concept but with kids I also love having a study and living room that are separate from my main living space that never gets cluttered or messy like my kitchen, family room and morning room can.

EDIT - Also, I love the book "The Not So Big" house book. It is one of my favorites and you may be able to get some good design ideas from that.

It sounds like you might be OCD. The inability to sit down and relax without everything being in it's place is a good sign that you're not able to function within this....issue.

I suggest you google OCD and see if it fits, only you know the answer to that.

IF it does then you need stuff out of sight all the time. When the kids come in they need a cubby to sit their shoes in and a place to hang a jacket. Then they might have a hook for their backpack. Otherwise nothing goes in this room.

Then you're going to have to learn to shut their doors and let them have their space. They need a space to be at home, not on constant clean up duty. Let them live in their rooms.

I also suggest you get rid of everything that is sitting out on table tops, shelves, mantles, etc....so that you'll feel like it's less cluttered. One of my friends didn't even have pictures or anything decorative in their public living space. She couldn't handle the clutter.

Another friend had her special magazines lined up exactly the same space apart with the remote exactly parallel to one of those edges. Her family lived in hell because she was constantly getting up and straightening their space while they were just trying to live at home and relax. It was not a happy environment.

So get rid of stuff. Toys out, books out, magazines out, every single item that is not needed needs to go away.

I'm not a big fan of open floor plans either though we have one. I like having walls and rooms to close off. But one helpful thing is an ottoman that has storage and can be used as a cocktail table. Houzz.com someone mentioned is good. We added a window seat to make our kitchen table fit better. I've also seen people using a bench instead of chairs at least for the kids. Just looks neater than all the chair backs. And I hate clutter too but don't have OCD. Hang as much as possible on the walls like obviously a flat screen tv. Then remind yourself a house isn't your life. It's just where you live. Every year saves you money to someday buy something you like better. Any chance you have a closet under a staircase that can be built out? That's often "found" space in houses I've seen.

Do you have a basement? Everything goes in totes and into the basement that doesn't have a use upstairs.

We have an open floor too and there are things I love and things I hate. I get the clutter every room must be clean thing - partly esp when the kids are little you move past that. I dislike now that the kids are older that there is no where for them to go with their friends. But, one suggestion is to use folding screens or bookshelves to cut off an area. I used three very tall bookshelves to close of one area - it ended up looking nice and creating a real sense of "rooms".

Good luck.

Try to find an interior decorator or keen friend that can help you. My home is also small. I had to rethink all of the keepsake furnishing that I inherited. I brought in a male pal who had a keen eye and told me flat out that it was too cluttered and looked dirty due to the clutter. I had a yard sale and got rid of many good, but extraneous furniture pieces. With the proceeds I bought pieces that could open and hold blankets, games, purses, etc.

Right new we live in a very small home that is all chopped up .

Heck the tiny hallway is 4x7 and there are 6 doors in there! If I am in the kitchen I cannot hear what is being said. in the living room that is located just around a corner. I HATE yelling across the house,or being yelled for, so we must get up and walk into the room where the person is we want to speak with because everything sounds like a mumble unless it is yelled from room to room.

We are now looking at a new home. The ones that have been remodeled and are open concept and of course they look perfect, but I can tell everything must be in the closets..

The living room is where we do everything. Watch TV, cross stitch, read, work on our laptops, play games. greet our guests.. I would love to have some divider so that when you walk in you do not see the mess in the kitchen, but can still be heard by the family in the room right next to it.

I do have the houzz app, but have you checked out ikea? I prefer ikea over houzz. I have about 1350 and your 1700 sounds wonderful (our previous house ad 1000). Mudroom? Need one!!!
Occasionally I hear my kids talking about how they are going to live in our house after we move out and I think it must not be that bad, right?
The kids can have trundle beds-but instead of an additional mattress use it for toy storage. I also love built ins. What about shelfs over windows?
I always hated coffee tables when my kids were younger, but we have one now and I love it (youngest is six). I store hats and gloves inside and we can pull it around and play board/card games. Ive also seen the kind that pop up into a table-but we don't allow eating in the living room.

Can you put the things you don't need away? Like in the basement or garage or wherenver it's "home" is? I also big time dislike clutter, but love my open floor plan.

When you walk in my home, the first room to the right is the formal living room on our floor plan, but we use it as an office. Then the back of the house is open, living room, dining room, and kitchen.

I visit my sister's home in SC and it's not open floor plan. Not only does it feel small, it stinks when more than 5 people are trying to visit in one room. Every room has walls and it drives me nuts...her too! They are planning to knock out a couple of walls in the near future to make the home work better for them.

I can tell you our last rental home was VERY small (maybe 1300 sq. ft.) and we had 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, no garage or basement. We kept things in totes and in closets (the kids were smaller and their clothes/shoes didn't take much space. We also really only had what we needed. We kept the house as clean as possible, which we do now still.

Hi B.!

My answer may not be what you're looking for, but I totally feel for you and wanted to reply. Like Gamma G said it sounds like OCD and the reason I say this is b/c I have postpartum OCD and have been trying very hard to work on it the last six months.

I couldn't stand clutter. The mess literally would affect my well-being. So a few things I've learned that really helped me are "don't expect a clean house every day with little kids around" and "accept the chaos/mess". Once you learn to accept it and not let it bother you as much you'll be happier.

That said, I love in an open concept house and love it b/c I find it so easy to clean. The key is to have a place for everything. The entrance has bins and hooks, the family room closet has labelled toy storage and every shelf has either books or baskets for magazines, videos, etc. And certainly teach your kids to pick up if you want to. Cleaning up with them can be helpful.

If an object bothers you, put it away so you don't have to look at it anymore. Part of PP OCD is also learning to accept something you don't like, like your house. Accept that it is a purchase you made in the past and live in the present. I know it's easier said than done, but it may help.

Hope you figure out something to make the situation better for you! Good luck!