With 1128 E Lake Place, we wanted to create bright, social, family-friendly spaces.  The original floor plan divided the space into small, disconnected rooms.  So we opened the space up by moving a few walls.

The first wall we removed to connect the kitchen with the living room.  We cut back the wall far enough to provide an immediate view from the front door through to the yard to draw nature inside. But we intentionally left part of the wall in place to provide a more efficient work space in the kitchen and to create a semi-private spaces where different activities could happen without either interruption or isolation. 

The second wall we removed was beside the staircase.  We wanted to connect the upstairs and the downstairs better for better flow between the two spaces.  So we moved the staircase entrance from the kitchen to the living room and gave it an open railing.  Now the flow between up and down happens seamlessly, without losing the feeling of connection to the rest of the house.