A Great Halfway House Between Open-Plan and Sectioned Off Living
If you watch any home renovation television programme or read some of the well known online publications, you’ll soon notice a growing trend amongst home interior spaces and how they are defined. Glass or partly glazed partition walls. In recent years, many people turned towards open planned living and understandably so, but soon started to realise their disadvantages as well as advantages. Open plan living is great if you want the feeling of light airiness, with space and flexibility but noise travels fast, and in smaller apartments and homes, cooking smells, smoke and steam can spread quickly. Sometimes, having all of your living areas defined into one single space doesn’t always work. This has given rise to the recent trend in glass partitioning in the home as well as the office and when you understand the advantages of this design feature, you’ll soon realise why it is becoming so popular. If you’re in the midst of an interior design project that involves a conversion or build that includes an open-plan living area, consider these six key advantages of installing a glass partition wall or two into the space.
Glass partitions allow light to flood into even the smallest of apartments. Image credit: Freshome
Light Still Spreads
Most home owners like the idea of open-plan living because it allows light to travel around the room, bounce off the walls and just make the place feel lighter and airier. That’s great but as most home owners who have a large open planned room will know, there’s never a place or space to get away from the noise pollution that can easily travel around the room. Whether it’s the television, the kettle boiling, a group holding a conversation or the banging and crashing of pots and pans in the kitchen, noise travels fast in open plan rooms. Walled rooms naturally create sound barriers but once they’ve disappeared, there’s no going back. Glass partitions offer an excellent compromise as they maintain that open planned feel whilst helping to segment off usable parts of the room and keep noises and smells contained to those areas. Light still travels easily and if done right, can be installed to offer a flexible living set up.
These full-height glass partitions look incredibly stylish as well as being very practical. Image credit: Uhozz
Stylish & Striking
Many glass partition system look extremely styling and work anywhere. There’s a wide range of steel framed Crittal inspired partitions available that make a beautiful statement in any room and add bags of character just where it’s needed. Some open-plan rooms can look a little cold and lacking in personality. With a nicely framed glass partition, you add a really unique look to the room that blends the old with the new and just makes for the perfect balance of the two.
This corner shaped partition has created a beautifully defined eating area separate from the kitchen. Image credit: Attic Mag
Defines the Space
Sometimes open plan rooms can feel too loose and random with no clear definition of where one area of the room begins and another starts. It’s not uncommon to find the living area in close proximity to the kitchen and cooking areas in open-plan rooms but you never want those two to collide. A partition can give these two critical key areas a defined line of where one starts and the other ends whilst ensuring your open-planned aspirations are maintained but your kitchen remains a kitchen and your living space remains as so.
This fully enclosed glass partitioning creates a separate space to prevent noise travelling and offers a private bedroom area. Image credit: Martin Architects
Noise Reduction
As we mentioned, noise pollution is part and parcel of open-plan living. A glass partition can make a huge impact on noise reduction and still make you feel connected to the rest of the space. If someone is preparing food or cooking, you don’t want your activities to interrupt someone enjoying a movie or a conversation if all they can hear if the crashing of pots, pans, plates and kitchenware. A partition will keep the noise at bay and confine it to the kitchen area, making for a more serene and calmer open planned living environment.
These simple glazed panels between the cabinets, create an invisible barrier preventing cooking noise and odours spreading to the dining area. Image credit: Clifton Leung
Odour Control
Continuing on from the previous point, cooking is not just noisy, it also produces plenty of smells, grease, steam and smoke. You never want that to enter into the living space of your room. Even with the best extractor hood or ventilation, you’ll still have food odours travelling across the spaces so by installing a partition, you can ensure the majority of those problems stay where they should. Right in the kitchen.
These bedroom glass partitions offer privacy whilst allowing light to flow, giving a boutique hotel feel. Image credit: Coco Lapine
