I'll Pick My Nose in Private, Thank You! (BCCC 2017.13)

I have seen many images of houses sporting an open floor concept and they are interesting as a concept, but I've been in two houses with this plan and can tell right off I don't like it. The first time I was in one the owners quickly shuffled my wife and me out of the "great room"/living room/kitchen and into a back room that did not seem like it was originally designed for entertaining guests. Our hosts, it turns out, were trying to save on their energy bill and we could tell during the trek from the front door to the couch where they served us drinks. It was a hot day in Woodland California and they had shut the registers off in these open rooms to save. This was obvious when we broke a sweat walking through the rooms getting to our destination--a room with a door. The temperature dropped significantly and by the time we left for dinner we were a bit chilled from the A/C.

The second time I was in one of these kind of houses was only a few months ago when my neighbor Raoul--who had been working with his father-in-law for months on something--invited me in after I asked him what he had been up to while walking my dog. When I stood in his living room I could see his wife, Susan, across this spacious room, across their new formal dinning area, and all the way into the kitchen where she was presumably making dinner. At one point my neighbor said, "Hey Honey, look. Jack is here checking out our upgrade." 

My neighbor and his wife carried on a conversation on how my dog's manners had improved recently. "We rarely here her bark, anymore." (They were being polite, of course--my dog is not very well mannered and barks at every twig the breaks.) 

The thing is they had the conversation at nearly the top of their lungs. It wasn't until Susan took the hike across three rooms did the conversation drop to a normal level. I thought this must be exhausting. I wonder later if this athletic couple have fitness trackers. They could put in their daily 10,000 steps and never leave their house.

One last thing about why I don't like open floor designs is I like to hear my more civilized family members coming. I mean, I like picking my nose in privacy. Stuff like that. 😉