Splanch style?

Any pros or cons? I was not sold on this style but my DH likes them and we found a house under budget with a lot of potential. I'm just nervous it isn't as open as I'd like. Additionally the wasted space in the foyer bugs me lol. However, I'm sure it can be redone.

Re: Splanch style?

I am in contract to purchase one now. I can't speak from experience yet because we haven't moved in..

It needs work too, so we plan to take the wall between the kitchen and dining room out completely .. The foyer is big, but I am coming from a small house with a 3x3 entry so I am happy for the bigger entry

Re: Splanch style?

I think the large foyer is one of the selling points.
Cons would be the small basement and many people feel the floating formal living room doesn't really get much use and is a wasted room.
I actually like splanches though especially if the wall between the kitchen and family room is taken down.

Re: Splanch style?

I grew up in one and I live on one now. The one I grew up in sounds like the one you are all describing. I like the layout but friends referred to my mom's living room as the "do not touch room." My mom made it formal but she never used it. I had a friend in the neighborhood who had a pool table there and I thought his parents were just so cool for doing that. Now I live in a house that is considered a Splanch but it's smaller than the one I grew up in. The living room is not located like that and we use it. The drawback to my current house is that we need more closets. My house doesn't have the big hall closets. I consider these houses to be very open. I never liked the smaller colonial houses that have very narrow staircases with walls all around the steps. I like the fact my house has bedrooms that are upstairs but not isolated and I don't feel like I'm going to the attic. I felt that way with some other when we looked. PS....small basement doesn't bother me and in both my house and my parents, we find the basements stay dry bc they are partially above ground.

Splanch style?

I grew up in a splanch and loved the layout. When we were looking at homes I really only wanted to look at splanches and colonials. In the home we grew up in the wall between the living room and family room was opened up and stairs were added leading from the family room to the living room. I loved the look of it. I've also seen people knock down the wall between the kitchen and family room to open up the space more.

Re: Splanch style?

A lot of people like splanches because they are generally large homes (when speaking of Long Island, older homes... obviously not on par with new construction). They also have a lot of "common" living space (family room, living room, sometimes a finished basement), as opposed to other styles of houses (e.g. capes) that tend to have more square footage in the bedrooms.

Another plus is that all of the bedrooms are on the same level and removed from the living space, kind of like a colonial. I know many of my buyers with young children don't like the idea of bedrooms on differen levels. There are different models of splanches but it's fairly common to have 4 bedrooms.

A splanch is also a good style of home for those who want a formal dining room and for those who like the idea of having a den/family room off of the kitchen. There is usually easy access to the yard, too, from the entry level.

Downsides are similar to that of a split - lots of stairs (small flights, but several), small basement (not like a full basement in a ranch or a cape), and as others have said, many people find the "floating living room" to be odd or wasted space. However, while it was intended as a formal living room, I have a friend with 3 boys who uses her floating living room as a game room (air hockey, video games, etc.). It's kind of nice because it's a family hangout that is halfway between the bedrooms and the more "public" entertaining space" of the downstairs.

Re: Splanch style?