Building a house. Open foyer?

amother

Wed, Feb 18 2015, 9:42 pm

Iyh we will be building a home. I am going crazy trying to decide if I should put in an open foyer or not.
Pros: Beautiful open house, gives dimension and character to home, doesn't need a lot of money to make it look grand.
Cons: Privacy upstairs. We cannot come up with an idea that will allow us to have open ceiling and open staircase without compromising on privacy. The noise issue can be solved with a pocket door.

any advice or point to add to either pro or con?

TIA

amother

Wed, Feb 18 2015, 9:52 pm

I built a house. I opted not to because I wanted another bedroom up there so I have five upstairs and three bathrooms.

Bsimcha

Wed, Feb 18 2015, 10:04 pm

Are you having a designer or decorator? Maybe he/she would know. I was amazed at the ideas I saw a friend get from her designer. She felt it was worth the money as such a large amount was being spent and the right person can save money on smart planning.
I personally love the open feeling when walking in, but don't know if I'd do it based on the privacy issue. It probably also depends on house size, if you have a lot of room, you can build further back upstairs or make the layout more privacy friendly somehow. Maybe doors to bedrooms/bathrooms put in away from view from entrance. I wouldn't be comfortable with delivery guy seeing into my bedroom if door was open etc.
Hatzlacha and mazel on building! Something I dream about and say, hey you never know..

amother

Wed, Feb 18 2015, 10:12 pm

I have it. It's really nice and btw we dont have such nice things in our home so this makes a beautiful first impression. The privacy issue is not with all the bedrooms just 2 of them... so if only 1-2 will be exposed try to make the master bedroom out of view.

SingALong

Wed, Feb 18 2015, 10:18 pm

I have it and I hate it. Every time someone walks through front door my kids wake up. The bedrooms are like a u around open foyer, though master door isn't visible from front. The noise it awful.
It adds height and space to the room and a pretty railing on the staircase add a lot. But it's not worth the hassle every day after bedtime.

MamaBear

Wed, Feb 18 2015, 10:26 pm

My house is not that small (2400 sq ft) and you still hear the front door from everywhere in the house - that's just how it is often, foyer or not.

My inlaws have a nice one but the upstairs bedrooms are set back a bit - none of the bedroom doors are visible. There are two on each side.

amother

Thu, Feb 19 2015, 1:15 am

We have it! It really is nice. Personally, I would've rathered am extra bedroom upstairs, but since I didn't have a choice I really do like it. It adds a certain element and look to the house.

But we don't have that open staircase. Our railing is beautiful and noone can see our upstairs at all. Completely private. We have a half a wall on a loft kind of area upstairs, but its made with sheet rock so it's private.

I would HATE it if my upstairs was visible to everyone walking in.

amother

Thu, Feb 19 2015, 9:16 pm

Thanx for the replies.
Now I see why Shalom Bayis is affected by building a house...we cannot get the plans worked out together. DH loves grand, while I like nice but also want practicality.

Dolly Welsh

Thu, Feb 19 2015, 11:01 pm

How's this: see if you can find a place to put a narrow tall window that goes all the way up. But without having the whole thing open, just a little.

It would show a sliver of the outside, going all the way up. That's pretty grand but doesn't take up a lot of space. The idea is to see the sky. If there's any greenery, even better. Maybe one on each side. Or not.

imasinger

Fri, Feb 20 2015, 6:25 am

I once lived in a house that had an open foyer. The MBR was on the first floor, tucked away down a short hall that made it out of the vision of guests. The kid bedrooms were upstairs, but positioned with doors for 2 at one end of the hall, and one at the other. There was an open nook where we put a small study. There was a bannister around the staircase area.

Between the layout and the bannister, you really couldn't see into the bedrooms from the first floor.

I did have a safety concern, though. The first timemy toddler got out of his crib on his own, he got stuck between bannister rungs in the middle of the night. I was quite shaken about the big drop, had he fallen.

amother

Pearl

Fri, Jan 22 2021, 6:56 am

Bump ...

I’d love to build an open foyer. The house is a decent size and I love the grand entranceway for entryway.

Anyone build recently and can contribute to this topic?

amother

Indigo

Fri, Jan 22 2021, 7:39 am

I built recently. Didn’t do open foyer. The privacy issue, noise ,and heating cooling element were key issues. I have family with lots of open spaces and we knew to stay far away. We did do 10 ft ceilings which def helps give a grand feeling. A good designer can help with creating a beautiful entrance without the open foyer. Good luck!

amother

Plum

Fri, Jan 22 2021, 8:02 am

amother wrote:

We have a closed entryway that opens to an open foyer. Can you do that?

amother

Babypink

Fri, Jan 22 2021, 9:02 am

I have a huge open foyer. I had moved from a claustrophobic Lakewood townhouse and I absolutely love the open feeling. It’s so worth it.

amother

Tangerine

Fri, Jan 22 2021, 9:05 am

Its nice but another bedroom would be better in my opinion. Or even slightly larger bedrooms with larger closets for the kids (so can eventually move room around should they grow out of the way it starts)

clowny

Fri, Jan 22 2021, 9:07 am

amother [ Tangerine ] wrote:

Right. It all depends how much space you have and if you’re willing to give up lots of space for something like this.

Tzutzie

Fri, Jan 22 2021, 9:22 am

One of the things in my dream is a 12-15' ceiling foyer/entrance and on top of that would be a low ceiling little cozy reading nook and hobby center for my kids. With wall to wall windows Sunny

10" ceiling all around too of course.....

Around 15 years ago, I once stayed as a guest in a mansion of a house in Lakewood. At least it fellt like a mansion to a Brooklyn girl. And I grew up in a big house.... anyway, they had an open foyer and banister. But you could not see the bedrooms from the front entrance because the hallway was wide and the bedrooms pushed back far enough to not be visible from the front door/foyer. They also had the entire upstairs carpeted. I remember it was super quiet upstairs even when there were lots of little gits roughhousing around downstairs.

amother

Brown

Fri, Jan 22 2021, 9:23 am

I really dislike it. If I had to chose a room to have a double height ceiling, it would be the family room (with a fabulous fire place!) You don’t enjoy your own entryway enough that it’s worth The space in my opinion. So it looks grand for guests; but otherwise that’s it. (A lot of people use the side / garage door on a daily basis.)
Also, a lot of them have a McMansion feel, because the foyer isn’t big enough for the proportions of the double height space.
I like what someone said upthread - 10’ ceilings everywhere is a lot more grand in my opinion.