Graph paper is a designer's friend. Drawing out a room on graph paper before a major purchase can save time and money. The ability to arrange rugs and furniture without heavy lifting is an added bonus.
- I like to use standard graph paper (1 square equals 1 foot) for most floor plans.
- I measure the room and transfer those measurements to the graph paper. This is a complicated room, but I would do this even if it were a simple rectangle.
- I then measure, draw and cut out existing furniture pieces. In this situation we were about to purchase a rug that came in three different sizes. I drew and cut out the three rug sizes "try out" in the room.
- I fold part of the floor plan drawing back and tape it so that it creates a pocket to store the smaller furniture and rug pieces.
- Let's try the bigger rug. This rug measures 8'3" x 11'. Intuitively, this would be the first choice due to the large size of the room.
- Now let's try the medium size rug. This rug measures 7'6" x 9'6".
The surprise here is the medium size rug works just as well as the larger rug because of the size and shape of the sofa. The medium size rug was several hundred dollars less then the larger size. The medium size rug was ordered and now lives happily in this room.
I realize that this process may seem very obvious, but I find myself skipping this step in my own home. When I sit down and take the time to draw it out I find I make better purchase decisions.
Next week I will be talking about using this technique to plan furniture arrangements.
A little energy spent on drawing your room can save you money.
I can be found at June Cleaver Nirvana drawing stick figures…
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Its a little more technical, but super easy I swear, to use this site…http://sweethome3d.sourceforge.net/
I need to do this! I have a room and I can't figure out what furniture I need. Can't wait till the next post on furniture arrangement!
I did this a few years ago before I rearranged the furniture we had. My husband harassed me to no end about it. It's nice to know I'm not alone in my quirky ways.
Sweet! I'll have to remember that when I'm decorating!
I've never done this. Looks like a lot of measuring and math. I see where it could have helped me avoid some past furniture-buying mistakes, though!
I do that every time we move! (And we move frequently.) My husband thinks it's a little weird. Glad to hear I'm not the only one!
Great idea. Graph paper is how I started out designing our new house.
I cannot wait to do this w/our house! I love to rearrange the furniture, but our carpet is SO plush I'd wear myself out quickly before I could decide how to leave it.
My mother-in-law has done this for years! My husband and I now do the same thing but on the computer. We either go to any number of furniture store websites and use their program or make rooms on our computer and "build" our furniture to move around in it. It's a great idea!
I used to do that when I was growing up! Only, it was a pretend house.
I did it with my bedroom too, though! I used to color in the bed and dresser etc. I had so much fun!
That is a complicated room. All those corners.
I have to see it.
Please provide proof that you are not making this up.
I'll check my email after I finish riding my water-skipper.
I've had geometry students do this as an exercise in scale factors (I don't let them do something as eay as 1 sq = 1 ft though). They always think I'm weird when I tell them I think it's fun.
You had the best designed doll houses as a little girl, didn't you?
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