Figuring out what you need is not just jotting down the names of the rooms you want and a guess as to their sizes. There are a many other things to consider in order to get a good floor plan for your new home.
Similar to creating a dish you haven’t served before, you’ll need a recipe before you begin to plan. Figuring out what you actually need will create the recipe you’re to follow when designing your new home.
For the Introduction to the Four Steps, please see the article “Four Steps to Take Before You Design – Introduction”.
THE BIG PICTURE
The largest components of your new home will be the property (known as the ‘building site’, or simply the ‘site’) on which you’ll build the new house. Each of these will have a huge impact on the final product.
The Site
The site is the ‘base’ of your project since it’s what you’ll build on. A site can be any size and any location, and its up to you to understand what you need and want. However, the most important thing is to know what size you’ll need in order to build the house you want. You’ll need to determine the size of your house first to understand the size of property you’ll need, unless you’re building on a very large piece of land.
The House
Your new home will consist of the various rooms and spaces you need and want, and from that information you can determine the final target size of the house, your initial project budget, and the size of site you’ll need. Let’s break this down in the following sections.
THE ROOMS AND SPACES
The rooms and spaces for your new home are the starting point for your project. These create the framework from which you’ll plan and design. However, most people don’t put enough thought into these spaces, often assuming certain room sizes and layouts will work for everything they need and want.
Contemplating and analyzing the rooms and spaces for your new home is the most important starting point for your journey. This is beyond just looking at floor plans you think are nice. The goal is to have a home custom to you, and only you can determine what ‘custom’ is for you.
Your Current Rooms and Spaces
A good starting point is to look at and analyze the rooms and spaces in your current home. Make a list of each room and space and list what you do or don’t like about each one. Be sure to include all spaces, including closets and other storage spaces. Write down information about each room such as:
- The size of the room – What is the length, width, and height of the room? You don’t need to worry about fractions of an inch or exact millimeters, so don’t sweat it too much. Just measure to the nearest inch or centimeter.
- The furnishings in the room – List what you have in the room. Is this everything you want in the room? Does the room accommodate the furniture comfortably? Could it accommodate any additional furnishings you’d want in the room?
- The materials and finishes – What materials and colors do you have on the floors, walls, and ceilings? Do you like the material or would you change it to something else? Do the materials make the room comfortable or uninviting?
- The spatial feel of the room – Does it feel too large, too small, or just right for everything in it or that you’d want in it? Is it a comfortable room to be in, or a space you don’t want to spend much time in?
- The natural lighting in the room – Is the daylight comfortable? Does the room feel dark or too bright? Does it get direct sunlight, and if so is that bad or good? Are the windows large enough or too big or small for the space? Do the windows allow for any privacy you might want for the space? Is there enough daylight for daytime activities without needing to turn on lights?
- Nighttime lighting – Is the current lighting good for it’s use in the evening? Is it garish or comfortable? Is there enough nighttime light for the activities in the room? Do you like the types of light fixtures, both permanent (fixed to the ceiling or walls) and plug-ins (such as lamps)?
- Views outside – Do you like the views from each room? If so, what do you like, or what don’t you like? If you don’t like the view, what would you like to see in your new home?
- Views to adjacent spaces – Do any rooms look into other rooms or spaces that you’d prefer not to see? For example, can you see into a bathroom from the living/family room, dining, or kitchen? Do you like seeing into the kitchen from other rooms?
- Adjacencies to other rooms and spaces – Are there any issues or problems with the current location of the room in relation to other rooms? For example, is an open kitchen too loud for an adjacent family space? Are bedrooms too close to active spaces such as living, dining, and kitchen areas? Do washers and dryers make distracting noise in a nearby room? Is a bathroom too close to the living, dining, and kitchen areas such that noise and odors create a problem nearby?
As part of this exercise you should also look seriously at where you and your family actually spend their time throughout the day and over the week. Almost everyone spends a good chunk of their mornings and/or time before bed in the bathrooms bathing, dressing, and getting ready for the day. Most homes with kids tend to spend a lot of time in the kitchen/breakfast area, with the second most time being spent in the family room or outdoor living spaces. A home with a lot of kids might have a laundry room that’s busy on most days.
Other households might spend most time in a home office if working from home. Couples without kids might spend most of their time in the living area watching TV, playing video games, and entertaining their friends. Teenagers might spend most of their time in their rooms or a rec room to gain a sense of independence from the family.
Below is a diagram representing a typical American family based on a 2013 UCLA study on the American Middle Class. The dots represent where family members tended to gather over time in a typical home.
Be sure to put serious thought into this so that you can think about what you’ll actually want in your new home.
Your Desired Spaces
Many or us often dream of having that extra bedroom for guests, a comfortable bedroom suite to escape to, or a special room for activities such as workouts, hobbies, a rec room, home theater, or a space to work from home. List out any additional rooms or spaces that you want in your new house. Be sure to list out all furniture you’d put in that room and the size of open area you might want for such things as exercise, yoga, or play activities.
Also be sure to consider space for such things as holiday decor, such as for one (or more) Christmas trees.
Size Up Your Current Furniture
Knowing the size of your current furniture pieces is very important since you’ll need to accommodate these into the new rooms or spaces. This will help in determining the sizes you’ll need for the new rooms and spaces. Refer to the “Getting to Know Your Furniture” section of the “How to Create Room Layouts for Your House” article for more information.
List out each room and space and then list the furniture pieces in it. Then get out a tape measure for the width and depth of each piece. Also, get the height of any tall items such as bookshelves. Be sure to include everything that sits on the floor and taked up space, including such things as floor lamps (include the lamp shade size) and trash baskets (yes, that’ll be important). Be sure to also include the sizes when furniture pieces are fully extended such as for recliners, table leaves, and table chairs when pulled out for seating.
Be sure to include the kitchen, laundry room, bathrooms, closets, storage rooms, and mechanical equipment spaces. Note the types of cabinetry you have (base cabinets on the floor, wall-mounted cabinets, medicine cabinets, freestanding storage lockers) and measure the width depths and heights. Note the number of shelves and drawers for each.
For bathrooms be sure to list and note the sizes of the tub, shower, and toilet so you can be sure to plan for similar or larger versions in your new home.
Include all shelving and cabinets built into walls and closets, as you’ll need to account for everything stored or placed there.
Be sure to account for the garage(s) and spaces for things such as bikes, ski equipment, ATV’s, and boats. Areas for bulk storage, such as attics or basements, should also be included.
Also include such things as storage sheds, potting sheds, equipment sheds, etc. Though they won’t be built as part of the house you’ll need to plan for them on your new property.
Size Up Your New Furniture
List any new furniture you want in any room or space. Do some research for the types of pieces you want, select the most likely type and size of each piece and use those dimensions for your new furniture. This will be important for your floor planning purposes.
Also, be sure to think about the large appliances for your new home. You’ll want to make sure you have the sizes of each type based upon what you have now or what you want new.
Determine Your Room Sizes
You’ll now need to determine the sizes of the rooms and spaces for your new home. Don’t just assume the size unless a current room or space is the size you want. Please refer to our articles on room sizes and planning at the following links:
“The Ultimate Guide to Room Sizes and Layouts“
To determine the size of a room you want, its best to create a simple diagram for it. Please refer to our article “How to Create Room Layouts for Your House” for methods and examples.
INSERT EXAMPLE
Don’t sweat this – it doesn’t need to be anything fancy. It’s just simple information for you to use as a guide for your new home.
The easiest way is to get some graph paper (you can purchase or print from an online source) and use a pen or pencil. Use the squares of the graph to determine a size for each square (one square = inches or one square equals on foot, or whatever works for you). You can then place the furniture into an arrangement you think is best, accounting for comfortable clearances around the furniture. The furniture can be drawn by hand or you can draw and label each furniture piece individually and then cut them out.
These cutouts can then be placed on a sheet of graph paper until you get the layout you want. You should take a picture of each option you consider so that you have a record. Once you get the furniture layout you want you can then draw a line representing the size of room you’ll want. Be sure to accommodate space for circulating around the room and furniture.
These diagrams will be a great reference for when you start the actual planning of your new home. Since they are reference diagrams you don’t have to worry if the rooms in your new home floor plan are a bit different than what you’ve diagramed. The diagrams are starting points, but not cast in stone.
Don’t Forget the Outdoor Spaces
Another element you need to put thought into is outdoor spaces such as porches, patios, decks, swimming pools, etc. Treat each of these spaces the same as a room, figuring out the types of furnishings you want for each to get you a minimum size for these spaces.
If you want a built-in grill station or an outdoor kitchen be sure to determine the sizes and cabinetry you’ll want.
For swimming pools and hot tubs you’ll need to determine the general size you’ll want and then account for any paved areas around them for circulation and sunbathing. Be sure to account for the swimming pool mechanical equipment to be housed in a space, either as part of the house or part of a shed structure. If you also want a cabana be sure to include a size for what you want.
Also, be sure to include other separate structures from the house such as storage sheds, potting sheds, separate garage, etc.
All of these outdoor and separate spaces are just as important to keep track of as part of your planning efforts.
What’s Up (and Down)?
You need to think about the number of stories you want for the house. If you want everything on one floor that’s great. If you want an upstairs and/or a lower level (basement or walk-out basement) you should think about which space you’ll want where. This will be important to determine the ‘footprint’ size of your new house when it sits on the lot, and will help in determining the size of property you’ll want.
CALCULATING SQUARE FOOTAGE
You now have the information you’ll need to determine the size of your new home. Below is the step-by-step to determine this number. Below is an example of an outline you could use.
Rooms and Spaces
You now know all the rooms and spaces for your new home. List these out and then write down the size of each space based on the diagram you created for each room. Then multiply the length and width of each room and write down the square footage (or square meters) of each.
Add up all the room size totals. This number is NOT your final number but is the base number to determine other factors.
Circulation
Circulation will encompass hallways, entry spaces (if not already diagramed), stairs, mechanical spaces, and any additional spaces to move through or between rooms. A good rule of thumb is to take the total of the room sizes above and add 5 to 10 percent.
Framing and Structure
The room sizes are for the inside space of the room. You now need to add in floor area for the framing of the walls. Take the total of the rooms and spaces plus the circulation, and then add another 10 percent to that subtotal.
Contingency
A contingency is a set aside for what you haven’t yet accounted for or thought of. When you get to the actual planning of your new home there could be things you decide to add during the design such as bay windows, a grand gallery space, a sun room, or an opportunity for a new space to make the home nicer. Adding 5 to 10 percent to the numbers above is a good place holder.
The Ups and Downs
If you want more than one floor in your new home be sure to determine the size of the ground level. To do this you should determine each level as its own ‘home’ using the steps outlined above. The size of the ground level will help you in determining the size of property you’ll need to build the house.
THE LAND
Every piece of land you build on will have to account for things other than the house. These can include yards, gardens, driveways, swimming pools, storage sheds, etc. You need to make sure your land can accommodate the house plus all of these other items.
Sizing Your Lot
Except in more rural areas, your land will have limitations as to what you can build on them, and any setback requirements from property lines based on the zoning category in which your property is located. You should talk to a real estate agent about the types of lot sizes you’ll likely need for the size of house you want. You can also check with your local governing authority about the zoning code requirements for housing in your area.
If your site will not be served by public utility services you’ll likely need to account for water wells and septic systems with septic fields. You’ll need to check with your local jurisdictions about requirements and limitations regarding these items and account for that as part of you site sizing.
Take the Next Step
Take your next step by reading the article “Four Steps to Take Before You Design – Step 2: Determine What You Want“.
Top photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels.
Feature image of question mark from Pixabay via Pexels.
All other images by Hodeby.
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