Develop a floor plan that uses space and light to full advantage.
Creating a nice floor plan requires using every square inch productively. It's amazing how much more livable a house is with well-placed closets and bathrooms, for example. By reviewing how most people move about within a house and use various spaces, it's easier to develop a layout that flows well. There are many ways to design a good floor plan that will not increase the overall budget. For example, using natural light doesn't necessarily require anything other than appropriate placement of windows. Opening up ceiling space helps as well. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Sketch the basic home perimeter. Create a rectangular house 60-by-40 feet, for example. Design the floor plan around exterior windows and plan the exterior facade along with the overall floor plan. Look through home design books to review what you would like to include, such as a fireplace or garage. Transfer the drawings to graph paper as the plan progresses. Figure all major rooms and spaces of the house first. Go over the budget to decide if any extra amenities can be included.
2. Define where to place the entrance foyer. Sketch the front door placement and the actual width, including side panels of glass. Draw a foyer area of about 50 square feet to provide a welcome space just inside the front door. Add a coat closet off to one side of the foyer. Make the foyer much larger if it will include a staircase leading to a second floor.
3. Sketch a main living space close to the home entrance. Plan square footage of this area around placement of windows on the front exterior. Draw all living room walls to create a room that will embrace front windows or side windows in balance with room dimensions. Picture sitting on a sofa, for example, facing the front lawn with two large bay windows spaced perfectly from end walls of the living room. Plan to vault the living room ceiling so that front windows of the house will look appropriate in larger sizes.
4. Draw the kitchen as the heart of the floor plan. Sketch the kitchen about 15-by-18 feet, for example, near the living room. Make wide doorway openings between the rooms if they will function as one space. Plan a bar to divide the kitchen and living room if the house will be informal in design and function. Create a more enclosed kitchen in a formal house or build it away from view of the living room.
5. Define square footage for bedrooms and bathrooms. Create these spaces off common hallways. Sketch two bedrooms side by side that each measure 12-by-16 feet, for instance. Add a bathroom that is 8-by-10 feet between them. Draw various ways to make bedrooms fit the floor plan, but create a master bedroom that has a private hallway.
Tags: floor plan, living room, feet example, floor plan that, front door, front windows, house will
