Hallways create connections throughout a home, but sometimes that same means of connectivity can create lots of separation. Homeowners Bill Welch and Maren Christensen saw that very problem in their ranch home. Through a renovation, they were able to make 3 changes that completely transformed their space. See the new space after the jump.
With the help of architect Mark Pearcy, the transformation comprised of three major changes: the removal of unnecessary walls, the addition of new skylights and the use of a large cabinet as a room divider. The kitchen, dining and living areas are now all linked and bathed in light creating a truly "great room."
To read more about the renovation, visit Sunset Magazine: Hall without walls.
Image: Thomas J. Story / Sunset Magazine; found via {Black.White.Yellow}
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Comments (13)
A great transformation! Long dark hallways can be so uninviting and this really opened up the entrance!
The Designer Insider
Def a great, necessary change. I don't think anyone ever 'liked' the old style... it was just considered normal, so why should a tract home architect bother changing it? Love the beams... probably not the easiest fix on the wallet though... would love to see AT actually include budgets of these massive overhauls every once in a while...
Lovely!
I wonder if hallways were the norm in the past partly because that allowed each room to be closed off separately for control of heating and cooling? Open floor plans call for a different strategy of energy use. (Like extra insulation!!)
this is where i want to just scream at the people responsible for the original design. Victorian homes had a lot of segregation but also generosity, but this is baffling to place the kitchen, living, and dining closed off and accessed through a hall way in the same way you might see a hall with bedrooms, bathroom, and laundry room. The transformation is divine, really ideal to take down unnecessary walls and add a sky light! to think that the before and after may represent in some way what goes on in people's minds, the first is stupid and the second is a picture of awareness
@SHerryBinNH: you hit the nail on the head, so to speak: in older homes, it made sense to have closed off rooms so you could close off vents in unused rooms, heating only those you were using at the time.
Also, if you notice what appears to be extensive use of glu-lam beams and colums in the "After" photo: long spans of wood are expensive, even with new technology, but they're more easily accomplished now that we have glu-lam and engineered wood joists. Smaller rooms = smaller spans = cheaper to build for trac homes.
Useful and beautiful.
Nice redo, but what about a solution for us renters? I would love some suggestions on how to transform, my very LONG dark Victorian hallway. Help!
Very nice redo, but like kovocked I was looking for suggestions in places you can't knock down walls?
This looks good, but the title is misleading - it's not a hallway "transformed" so much as a hallway "eradicated". Which is quite different.
I love this. I have the same long hall.
However as a Northeastener I do have to use zoning for heat and air. I recently knocked down some walls to create a big open space- but that was in one zone. I was able to put in a very large window at the end of the hall tho' which lightens it up considerably.
My dining room off the hall has a small door, but I am planning to put in a large french door there in my next phase. I can open it for parties etc- and close it to keep in the heat etc.
GREAT transformation! http://www.namesonthejerseyshore.com
I have a long hallway from my entryway that eventually splits leading into the kitchen to the right & the bedroom straight ahead. I have a very large antique quilt hanging from one wall to add visual interest, and an oriental runner on the floor to provide warmth both visually and underfoot. I like using the quilt as hanging art because it fills up a lot of space. The hallway is sort of a useless place to display really interesting fabulous art, as no one hangs out in the hallway for too long.
Fabulous transformation - it's hard to believe it's the same place. It's not mentioned, but the change in flooring is key - it pulls the space together instead of chopping it up like it was before, and it's light tone contributes to the airiness of the "After".
I don't know about ranch-styles, but certainly for older homes like Victorians, anther reason for all the hallways and separate rooms (in addition to heating efficiency) was lifestyle. An open floorplan would have been antithetical to their much more formal customs; rooms were supposed to be used for pretty much one purpose only (dining room for dining, sitting room for entertaining, library for reading, etc.).