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Design Dilemma: What to Do After You’ve Knocked Down That Wall

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The walls are tumbling down all over the place. More and more of us, craving light, space and openness are knocking down walls that separated living rooms and dining rooms, hallways and dens, and creating open concept floor plans that allow a family to entertain, socialize and relax with ease.

But once the walls come down, not all the work is through. Homeowners who are busting through walls need to think about the look they want in their finished open space. Is it modern or traditional? Is there need for structural support or not? Each of these factors should help determine what an opened up space is going to look like.

If your look is traditional…

In an older home,  the open space will seem as if it is meant to be if you opt for the woodwork style that already exists. A great example is below:

Painted wood trim picks up the trim that is everywhere else in this home. If you’re opting for traditional trim, you should know that you can keep the trim the size of that around all the other doors in your home, but you might also make it larger to account for the larger size of the opening.

If your look is modern…

You probably won’t want any trim around your new opening. Rather, your best bet is to use drywall to create a clean opening that does not call attention to itself. Something like this:

 

If your look is rustic or industrial…

Are you opening up space in a cabin, old factory building, or some other interesting setting with a rough-hewn feel? Think about using the new opening as a design accent that emphasizes the structural beams. For instance:

Or this:

Depending on the setting, letting the steel or wood beams remain in view can add a sense of interest and authenticity that would otherwise be missing in these settings.

If you want the feeling of openness but need the functionality of a wall…

You might opt to tear down the wall, but put in columns and storage which can help get back some functionality you might otherwise lose when the wall disappears. Something like this:

Or this:

Or this:

When the walls came down in the above examples, the owners used the opportunity to create storage space, a breakfast bar and a dinner buffet area with wine refrigerator. The support beams look totally natural, and they do not take up valuable floor space.

With just a little extra forethought, you can turn your knocked down wall into more than just open space, you can make your new opening feel beautiful, functional and totally natural!