Let’s talk design & planning . . .

Let’s talk design & planning . . .

     Planning & design. It is so imperative that you explore and understand all of the choices you have when making a decision with your house plans. For me, every decision is based on mathematics. Once the mathematics is understood then the creative fun process begins . . .

For example:

     Typical Dining Room Floor Plan

     If a person sitting in chair 2, 3 or 4 would want to enter or leave the table area then the person sitting in chair 1 or 5 would have to get up each time someone wants in or out. This design has only one solid wall for furniture but there is no room other than for pictures. This plan does not function well at all.

Redesigned Dining Room Floor Plan

     Dining room left hand wall shifted into foyer by 7 ½”. Dining room right hand wall shifted into garage by 7 ½”. Now this room will work well and be functional without affecting the people sitting in chair 1 or 5. To have room for a piece of furniture you could add the additional walls (in red).

     The two plans look very similar but function so differently. The redesigned dining room got bigger but the overall square footage of the home remains the same.

   I went to the first plan book I saw on my bookcase, opened it up to the first floor plan I saw. Dining Room dimensions are 12’-9” x 10’-9”. Sounds nice, it looks pretty in plan, tray ceiling, nice and open – has a big double window centered on the front wall, right wall is solid, rear wall has an 8’-0” arched opening into the family room and left wall has 5’-0” arched opening into the foyer. Dining room has views of front yard, foyer and family room.

So now you bought, built and paid for this home.

     Now its move in day and you realize your furniture doesn’t fit. Typical dining room tables are 3’-6” wide by 6’-0” long (without the leaf). You can seat 1 person at each end which takes up 2’-0” depth of space typically and 6 people, 3 on each side, which takes up another 2 feet of space. A minimal 2’-0” of space is needed for people to walk around the table without affecting the person sitting down. Now let’s look at the math: 2 feet to walk, 2 feet for chair, 6 feet for table, 2 feet for chair and 2 feet to walk = 14’-0”. But look at our room dimension, its only 12’-9”. In order for the table/chairs, light and window to be centered the room would require another 1’-3” in width. I would make this happen for you. This is achieved by positioning or designing your surroundings around you and your use of space. In this scenario you would not be happy in time. People are going to be tired of getting up and down every day and the chair backs will keep hitting the wall and making marks on it.

    This is just one example why you need a professional that “gets it”. My  job is to work with you step by step throughout the process. I will just break it down into smaller sections and then put it back together again with you. Then you will not be so overwhelmed.