Open Concept

Is the most evil thing you can possibly do to an old house. 

The very idea that someone would purchase an older home with the intent of taking down walls that had been standing proud for more than 75 years disgusts me. If you want to live in a place where you can see from your front door into the backyard then either build a new home or find an existing home that looks like a charmless, modernist, sure-to-be fad (like avocado colored appliances). 

Having said that... 

That is a 'before' picture of the one and only bathroom. I spent my Sunday pulling up the linoleum floor tiles to find...

a rotted subfloor underneath. So extensive is the damage caused by this rot if I should step hard in the wrong place I fear I may fall through the floor into the crawl-space beneath the house. 

What does this have to do with open concept? Only this:

The state of things made me want to demolish something. Since the tub surround was falling off the wall at one side, and I didn't like the placement of that wall (added only as a support for the tub surround), I removed it. 

I may still have a rotten floor, but at least I'm not carrying pent-up frustration about it. 

So here is my one and only 'open concept' adjustment to my home. I have created an open concept shower.