3 Types of Home Floor Plans in Different Homes

Ranch or multistory home? There are many questions home buyers have about the different types of floor plans when they’re planning to buy a new home, like what exactly is the difference between an open floor plan and a semi-open floor plan? A home’s floor plan can drastically change how the home feels to live in, so home buyers should know the differences between them and know which floor plans will work best for their lifestyles. Here are some of the different floor plans home buyers will find and what sets them apart from each other.

Open Floor Plans

Open floor plans have become especially popular in the past few decades, but what exactly does it mean when the floor plan is open? Homes are considered to have an open floor plan when two or more rooms that would ordinarily be separated by walls instead have nothing separating them, creating one larger space instead of two or more smaller spaces. It’s common to see open floor plans when it comes to the kitchen and dining rooms because these rooms naturally go together, but it can be done with many other rooms as well, such as the kitchen and living room, the dining room and living room, or all three together as one great room.

Open floor plans are popular because they make spaces feel larger and less closed off from each other, they allow traffic to flow through the home easier, and they’re multifunctional.

Reverse Floor Plans

When looking for a home near a coast or other waterfront, home buyers may discover many homes for sale have a reverse floor plan. Also called upside down or inverted, reverse floor plans are originally from Scandinavia, and their design maximizes the view of the property and surrounding sights. Reverse floor plans are multi-story homes that place the living areas and master bedroom on the top floor so homeowners can enjoy the view while relaxing, and other rooms like the kitchen, dining room, and smaller bedrooms are on the lower floors. 

A reverse floor plan home can be a great choice for an extremely scenic location, but they aren’t very common in suburban and urban settings, so buyers who are dead set on one of these homes will also need to be set on the locations where they’re easy to find.

Semi-Open Floor Plans

While open concept Southern Highlands new homes can be nice, they aren’t for everyone—especially homeowners who don’t want to put what they have on display for everyone who enters their home to see. This is where semi-open floor plans come in. Semi-open floor plans give homeowners the best of both worlds: they have the flow of open floor plans, but they create enough separation that there can be a sense of privacy. To create a semi-open floor plan, designers will often rely on unobtrusive doors such as sliding doors or swinging saloon doors that break up the space but don’t completely cut it off from the next room. Another more renovation-intensive way to create a semi-open space is by widening doorways that exist without getting rid of the entire wall. That way there’s still some separation, but there’s a clear line of sight from one room into the other. 

These are just three different types of floor plans that buyers may encounter when looking for a new home. It’s always good to be familiar with the different types so buyers can work with their agents to find homes that suit their wants and needs.