Designs For Living
Floor plans are a quick and easy way to find the best possible furniture arrangement for a room. Whenever you’re updating an existing room-or are starting from scratch-a basic floor plan can save you both time and money.
All you need is a tape measure and some quarter-inch graph paper. Each square equals one foot. As you take measurements around the room, you simply record them by drawing a line around the coordinating number of squares and then estimating the inches. Be sure to include the locations of doors, windows, and electrical outlets. If you have an existing blueprint of your house, you can skip this step and go straight to the furniture placement using the blueprint as your base.
Once this step is done, you can clean up your drawing by using tracing paper laid over the top and a ruler, or you can isolate the room you’re working on from your blueprints. Just make sure they’re in one-fourth inch scale; if your home is very large, they may be done in one-eighth inch. A one-fourth inch scale rule can also help you draw out things in the right proportions.
Now that you have a completed layout of your room, you can start playing around with furniture placement. To get the right dimensions for your furniture, you can again use the graph paper and cut out the shapes of each piece, or you can use one-fourth inch scale stencils, available at building supply and craft stores.
Start by placing your existing items, and then add additional pieces you would like to include. Consider different sized sofas and chairs, as they can vary greatly. Also consider traffic patterns. You need to leave two-and-a-half to three feet of space for walking between pieces.
As you play around with the arrangement, you can photocopy the results you like to keep as a record. This will be a great aid to take with you as you start shopping. You’ll now know whether a flat armoire or a corner cabinet will work best, what size sofa you need, and what height table will fit under your window, etc.
You can avoid awkward situations like having a piece of furniture delivered that won’t fit through your door (believe me, this happens), misjudging the size of a piece and having it overwhelm the entire room, or having no place to plug in a lamp. A little planning can help avoid all kinds of mistakes.
As an alternative to the do-it-yourself approach, many design studios offer floor plan services with a purchase or for a small fee. Either way, it’s a great investment that can put you way ahead of the game with your design project. TPW
All you need is a tape measure and some quarter-inch graph paper. Each square equals one foot. As you take measurements around the room, you simply record them by drawing a line around the coordinating number of squares and then estimating the inches. Be sure to include the locations of doors, windows, and electrical outlets. If you have an existing blueprint of your house, you can skip this step and go straight to the furniture placement using the blueprint as your base.
Once this step is done, you can clean up your drawing by using tracing paper laid over the top and a ruler, or you can isolate the room you’re working on from your blueprints. Just make sure they’re in one-fourth inch scale; if your home is very large, they may be done in one-eighth inch. A one-fourth inch scale rule can also help you draw out things in the right proportions.
Now that you have a completed layout of your room, you can start playing around with furniture placement. To get the right dimensions for your furniture, you can again use the graph paper and cut out the shapes of each piece, or you can use one-fourth inch scale stencils, available at building supply and craft stores.
Start by placing your existing items, and then add additional pieces you would like to include. Consider different sized sofas and chairs, as they can vary greatly. Also consider traffic patterns. You need to leave two-and-a-half to three feet of space for walking between pieces.
As you play around with the arrangement, you can photocopy the results you like to keep as a record. This will be a great aid to take with you as you start shopping. You’ll now know whether a flat armoire or a corner cabinet will work best, what size sofa you need, and what height table will fit under your window, etc.
You can avoid awkward situations like having a piece of furniture delivered that won’t fit through your door (believe me, this happens), misjudging the size of a piece and having it overwhelm the entire room, or having no place to plug in a lamp. A little planning can help avoid all kinds of mistakes.
As an alternative to the do-it-yourself approach, many design studios offer floor plan services with a purchase or for a small fee. Either way, it’s a great investment that can put you way ahead of the game with your design project. TPW