Are We Done With Open Concept Layouts? Is Privacy Now The Top Priority??

Well, it’s been 105 days (yes, I took the time and counted) since the start of EHD no longer working in a office together as a team. As many of you saw in yesterday’s post, Emily made the announcement about the official closing of our LA office doors. That’s right our temporary WFH set ups that we showed you back in March have now become permanent for the foreseeable future. (I miss you all!)

But we are not alone, many small businesses and some larger companies are reducing their office size or letting employees who can, work remotely. Which brought up the question in our weekly ‘EHD Happy Hour Zoom Meeting’ with so many of us now home throughout the work week, for who knows how long, will this shift our living needs and make some permanent changes to how we will design a home’s functionality for the future?

While helping to design the Mountain House last year we decided that the loft would be the perfect space to set up Emily’s office (we were so cute and innocent back then). And while it looked great in photos she quickly found out that functionally, with two kids and without a door to shut closed, little to no work could get done during the day. Soon after Emily moved her office into the downstairs guest room which is conveniently closer to the WiFi router and most importantly has a door. Doesn’t ‘Instagram Emily’ look so productive writing in her peaceful mountain retreat office? Meanwhile, ‘Reality Emily’ is laughing out loud at that photo while Birdie and Charlie make a mom sandwich. Side Note: It is pretty cute, on our end at least, to watch them sneak into the guest room during a team Zoom call to surprise her.

We know that Emily isn’t the only parent or person craving a little privacy during the day. Over the past few months, I’ve lived in four different places with 2-5 roommates at a time and upwards of 7 animals at once. It can get noisy, smelly and for a more introverted than not person, very overwhelming most days. The only time I didn’t dream of living in a home where every room was separated and could be closed off by a door was at Emily’s LA house, granted it was just myself and my boyfriend so there was enough space to pretend that the other person didn’t exist for a couple of hours during the day. (thank you, thank you, thank you again to Emily & Brian. We appreciated our time there more than words can say.)

So, does this mean we are finally ready to say goodbye to the open concept floor plan trend and trade it in for a more traditional layout?

photo by sara ligorria-tramp for ehd | from: the reveal of the mountain house kitchen

An open concept home has been popular for the past 30 something years and for a good reason. It’s a layout made for entertaining, if your home is on the smaller side it opens up the space making your rooms feel brighter, and for growing families it helps with multi-tasking like cooking dinner and keeping an eye on your children. But then again it means that everything is open and what if you have a Zoom call and your partner ‘absolutely needs to get in their work out’ while the kids are in a virtual classroom. Then, what?

photo by tessa neustadt | from: want an extra room? consider transforming your garage

One option if you like your open concept would be to transform your garage into a more useable space which Jess showed us some very pretty examples of the other day including the one above. Unfortunately, we know that this is more of a weather permitting option but it got me thinking about the idea of a flex room that would meet all of your functional needs. Now that both of my roommates and myself are working from home I find myself spending 90% of my time in my room. Sleeping, working, eating, exercising all in my 10’x12′ bedroom and am highly considering a Murphy bed to open up some space while still holding onto some sweet, sweet privacy.

Now those two ideas are smaller privacy solutions but let’s again talk about the potential extinction of the open concept home. Are you/we craving permanent privacy that bad? Jess brought up an interesting idea. Would closing off open-plan layouts potentially lead to spending less time together as a family when things gradually go back to normal? Or will we cherish the time spent together and be more in the moment?

I am very curious as to what your take on this is and if you are actually reconsidering your open floor plan for your current or future home? One thing I think we will see a rise in is the return of the front porch cause I literally saw someone sitting on a beach chair in the small patch of grass outside their apartment on my walk the other day. Anybody else wanting to add-on a porch or just that guy? 

Let’s talk about it below, see you there.