How to Design a Floor Plan to your Dream Home!
Designing your Dream Home Floor Plan is not for the faint of heart and that is typically why more often than not, the greater population will hire a designer. Although you may be good at playing Tetris, coordinating space for your Bedrooms, Bathrooms, Mudroom, Foyer, Laundry Room, Garage, Living Room, Kitchen and Dining Room can become overwhelming and leaving you wondering where the heck do you start!
A designer is your best option! No doubt! They are experienced, they understand circulation and flow within a space, they understand how and where to begin vaulted ceilings and where to start flat ceilings, they understand the space and dimensions needed for comfort and they have the best advice for this kind of thing.
Although hiring a designer is the best option, it doesn’t mean that you have to hire a designer. Maybe you enjoy laying out spaces and have a growing understanding of space and how it is used functionally. That is totally fine and it truly is doable with some patience. So…If you want to start programming on your own and developing your own Floor Plan for your Dream Home, you are at the right place!
Step #1 - Start with a list of rooms you are wanting and include all of your desires!
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This is where it starts! :) Welcome!
This part of the Design Process is called Programming. The best way to go about Programming is to start working with a Bubble Diagram. Easy enough to do at home on your own.
But first! You must list out what rooms you want incorporated into your Dream Home Floor Plan. Be sure to consider a room for mechanicals! Do your research! Be sure to research the sizes etiquette for a Bedroom, Toilet Room (if you so desire) and so on. The size and dimensions of the space is going to be the deal breaker and you dont want to end up with a room too small for your King Bed and your Dresser set.
The point of the Bubble Diagram is to figure where you want certain rooms located within the plan. Eventually you will start incorporating circulation (such as Hallways) and squaring off the Bubbles into a good understanding of how things will end up looking.
Step #2 - Consider your Roof Lines!
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Not only for Exterior purposes, but also Interior!
You should always keep in mind where the roof lines will line up and where there is potential for vaulted ceilings and where there isn’t. When you start laying out your Floor Plan and decide you want a vaulted ceiling in both the Master Bedroom and Living Room, you will need to either line them up on the Floor Plan or, play with the idea of connecting adjacent roof lines to allow for vaulted ceilings in different areas. Although the Interior and Exterior finishes of a home can be modified, one thing that isn’t easily modified is the vault of your ceiling and where the vaults land because that is the result of the structural components such as the trusses.
Step #3 - Window Placement!
Photo By: Deldon Garage Door
Once you have your layout of the space, you are probably eager to start laying out furniture…. But don’t do it!
Like with the vaulted ceilings relating to the actual structure of the house, the windows play a HUGE role as well! When you are placing your windows, always consider how it is going to look on the outside before you start considering how it is going to look on the inside. The Facade of your home is literally the first thing people see… more so than your front door. If you have no windows and one door on the Facade, it is going to be awkward. Or, if you have one window on any one side of your house, it is going to feel awkward. Consider where you want the windows to be placed on the Exterior of the home and then rearrange and modify the Interior of the home as needed for furniture placement.
A good rule of thumb is to keep your window heights even with your door height. By following this rule of thumb, everything will look nice and formal with one another.
Step #4 - Furniture Arrangement!
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As mentioned previously, your furniture arrangement is also going to be a big factor in the house design. This is your dream home after all! You aren’t just trying to arrange furniture around existing walls! This is the blessing of designing your Dream Home! These walls are NEW walls designed around you and your family needs!
The next step in your Dream House Floor Plan planning is to consider how you desire to arrange your furniture. You will consider a lot of things during this phase and often times, you will again begin another “Design/Revise” process. Do you want an open space plan with one sofa and two chairs? Do you want a sitting area in front of large windows looking over the lake? What furniture are you planning to have in the Guest Bedrooms? These are all things to consider during your furniture layout! Good design goes through a lot of Design and…Revise. There is really no easy way around it!
They do say… Good things come to those that wait!
Step #5 - Kitchen and Bath Design!
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Though part of this should be considered in the Programming Phase….
Things to think about include where you want your Refrigerator door swing to land and if you want your Kitchen sink in front of the window or in the middle of the Kitchen Island looking over your guests as they lounge in the Living Room watching the Super Bowl. Do you want an L-Shaped kitchen? U-Shaped Kitchen? Do you want a 48” Range or a 36” Range? Double sink- equal/double bowl or just an equal bowl?
Things will get deep once the Kitchen design starts! This is why often times there is a separate Kitchen and Bath Designer involved as they know all of the ins and outs on this topic!
Some other things to consider….
Do you want a pull-out garbage cabinet? A utensil organizer? What about your Bathrooms… Linen cabinets? Open shelf vanity or a basic cabinet?
Again… I highly recommend hiring a designer… Especially for things such as this. There is just so much to decide and you are going to want to enjoy the Design Process without pulling out all of your hair!
Step #6 - Finally to the Selection Process!
Yay! You have finally nailed down a Floor Plan, everything is perfectly laid out and your vision is coming to life! Now to start the Selection Process!
This may appear to be the exciting part but to be honest… The work does not stop here!
Lets start with Exterior selections… Do you want Natural or Maintenance Free materials? Asphalt Shingles or a Metal roof? I always recommend LP Smartside as it is maintenance free product and they can custom match to any color you pick. And then there is also cedar siding which is natural and beautiful! You will want to coordinate the main Exterior finishes with your Windows and Garage Doors as well. Create yourself a Design Board showing all of the finishes and decide if it fits your design style. Another great source available is the internet, be sure to use it! Research via Houzz and Pinterest and look at what other homes using your color combinations look like.
Interior selections you will need to consider things so small such as using a flat drywall texture or a scraped drywall texture. What paint colors and what other materials, such as wood, do you plan to incorporate? And where?
As you continue the process you will consider a variety of different light fixtures, cabinet pulls, door handles and plumbing fixtures. The finishes you selected for this part of the design is important and so is deciding where to have them installed.
As for the Finish Selections part of the Design Phase, this is a short and sweet description. There are so many pieces within a home that need to have your input. Contractors are pretty good about helping during this process but prefer to have a designer involved to help you.
Step #7 - Consider Hiring a Designer!
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Yep! I said it!... Consider hiring your Designer! After working through this post, I have realized that in order to describe ALL of the fine details, I would of been up all night! There are so many elements to designing a home and unless it is your full-time job, things are often selected out of exhaustion before they are selected for function and design aesthetic.
I personally work through a spread sheet to be sure that every element (including, but not limited to, the drip edge on the roof) is selected and ensure that it coordinates with the full purpose and model of the desired design.
A great tip from your seasoned designer…Be sure to create your checklist! Even the best Designers could easily forget one, out of the hundreds of decisions, thing that needs to be decided on without their checklist!
Lastly…..
Once the space is coordinated and planned out, make sure the space speaks to you on every level. This is your dream home after all right? Pretend like you are actually traveling the space from your car with arms full of groceries to the Kitchen. How many turns did you have to make? How difficult was it? Rearrange the floor plan accordingly.
Also consider where the Main Bathroom is. The last thing you want is a guest needing to go “potty” and having it right next to the Dining Room where every other guest is trying to enjoy their dinner. Do you want your childrens Bedroom on the same side of the house as your Bedroom? Do you want to access your Laundry Room from your Master Bedroom?
The list of things to consider goes on and on…Haha!
I hope this post was able to give some insight on planning for your dream home! It all can be overwhelming and thank the highest power there are Designers to help you coordinate the chaos. If you do plan on doing it on your own, my best advice is to be sure to create a spread sheet of each and every decision needed to be made so that you can ensure you are on top of it all!
I personally LOVE checklists and they can be so gratifying when you see things checked off your list!
