opening up ranch!

5 years ago

I need second and third opinions. We plan on opening up the living space of our ranch. Our goal is to add a mudroom for storage and a larger area to do laundry in (instead of my current closet in the kitchen). The second goal is to have a more open space for entertaining. I love the charm of our house and I want to take that into this remodel. I’m not afraid of “character” or “quirk”. We have a beautiful fireplace and a lot of nice real wood touches since the house was built in the 70s. I want to keep my foyer as well as I like the personality it gives to the house. Our GC came the other day and he told me to rethink taking down the wall to the left of the fireplace because it will end up being such a small space (approx. 3-4 feet) and it may look weird. My concern is if we don’t take it down, then the fireplace won’t be symmetrical anymore. We’d have to keep the one book shelf and desk since taking them down but leaving the wall would ruin the current wood paneling (which we actually like and want to keep in the rest of that room). Would you take both sides of the fireplace down? Or just one? I’m adding a picture and our current floor plan and hopefully new floor plan. I’ve highlighted the spot in question. The blue line would be where the wall would stop if we did decide to take it down. On the back side of this will be a dining room. I’m hoping to turn the back of the fireplace that stays into a focus wall like the last photo attached. What would you do?

only take down the right side and keep the left side closed to the room behind it.

take down both walls and live with the quirk.

Featured Answer

KW PNW Z8

5 years ago

@Kandace Hyman Ok - i voted for taking left wall down. But, what I’m really wondering is this- why can’t they do the demo all except for this wall & let you look at it & see how it really feels? It just can’t be that much more time & effort to leave it so you can get a really good feel for how it will look. So that’s my vote. Take out the right side & then decide what to do with left side. y

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Comments (8)

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Patricia Colwell Consulting
5 years ago
I like separation between a space that has TV and a more conversation type space like a LR I do not like the cluttered look of shelving is that an actul working FP ? I need a bit more info and some more meaurements like the size of the FP and how big the walkways are .
KW PNW Z8
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
If you do take down the left wall, how long will each end of the corner walls that will be left & closing off that part of the foyer be? Eactly how wide is the doorway into foyer? if wall next to fireplace is taken out, will it look like two doorways next to each other? That’s why I’m asking what the width of the corner walls will be.
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Kandace Hyman
Original Author
5 years ago
Yeah- it would kinda look like two doorways next to each other but one (the area right next to fireplace) would go all the way to ceiling (so not exactly a doorway) cased opening that’s already there is 4 feet…. The little wall that would be left is 18inches and the second doorway I’m contemplating would be about 2 feet wide… maybe it’s look kinda like this, but with lower ceilings and smaller dimensions?!
Kandace Hyman
Original Author
5 years ago
If we left it there I kinda picture it eventually looking like this….
KW PNW Z8
5 years ago
@Kandace Hyman ok I’m getting better visual now.. Understand the wall will be @ 18” between cased entry into foyer & open space next to fireplace if shelves etc taken out. How long / wide is the wall on other side of that corner? What I’m trying to ”see” is if I’m standing in front of fireplace & look left through new open space to left of fireplace, can I see directly into foyer? Not sure if that’s a big deal. I haven’t voted yet but am leaning towards taking wall out.
Kandace Hyman
Original Author
5 years ago
Yes, you’d be able to see into the foyer. That wall is 3 feet… and then there’s another cased opening.
Kandace Hyman
Original Author
5 years ago
Thank you. The pro to keeping it is a little more pro back in that from dining space and a wall for a China cabinet, but I would love to take it all down and have it be all open also. I agree we will wait and see.