It won’t be long before you have to hand your home design ideas over to a builder or drafter to sketch the floor plans and begin building. You only get one shot at creating a living space that meets you and your family’s immediate and future needs. You have tons of ideas floating around in your head about what you’d prefer your dream house to look like. How can you possibly make it all come together? Use these tips below to guide you.
Brainstorm
The first step to creating your custom floor plan is to brainstorm. Start writing down ideas that you have. Create a list of ideas and features you’re interested in pursuing. You can look for innovation online, and even cut images from magazines to help get your vision onto paper. When you start working with experts like Monster Home Plans, the more you have for them to view, the easier it is for them to help you in selecting a floor plan that is closest to your wishes.
Keep Your Budget in Mind
When you have so much control over how your dream house will come out it can be empowering. You begin coming up with all kinds of ideas, many of which aren’t even in your budget. As you mull over your ideas and create a floor plan for your new house, just be sure that you’re remaining within budget. You can talk with the homebuilders about costs based on the things you’ve come up with so far.
Don’t Overlook Future Needs
You don’t want to build a home to find that in just a few short years you have to complete expensive renovations or even worse, need to move. So, consider your future needs. For example, if you’re newlyweds think about children and having enough space to accommodate them. If you have elderly parents, will you need to take care of them in your home in the future? Are you interested in having a home office to start your dream business? Then, you’ll need to factor that into the floor plans as well.
Get Real About Features
You’ve probably watched enough home improvement shows and flipped through enough magazines to have a pretty good idea of the features you’d like to have in your home. That being said, you are on a budget and what looks nice could easily cost you a fortune. Now that your vision is starting to come together, it’s time to get real about the features. Review your list of features. Put them in order of importance. This way, if the builders aren’t able to complete everything on your list, at least the ones you want most are completed.
Don’t Forget Flow and Function
Part of designing a layout for your new home means deciding where you’d like each room to be situated. As you’re making these decisions, don’t forget to factor flow and function. You want the house to flow and function according to your family’s lifestyle. Placing bedrooms near the kitchen or bathroom, for example, might not be ideal because those are communal areas where things tend to get loud. If you need easy outdoor access from your home office, placing it near the back of the house would be ideal. For large families, an open-concept kitchen and dining room can make mealtimes easy and special.
Lighting Matters
Another factor to consider when designing your floor plan is the lighting. Natural light adds aesthetic appeal, makes spaces look bigger, and improves your mood. So when deciding where each room should go and window placement, keep this in mind. If the lot you’ve chosen has a nice view of the sunrise or sunset, take advantage of this. Opting for larger bay windows, skylights, or glass sliding doors is another option to gain access to a lot of sunlight.
As you can see there’s a lot involved in designing a floor plan for a home build. While having inspiration from television, the internet, and magazines is a great place to start, what looks good on a screen or in print may not be what’s best. Consider factors like your budget, personal lifestyle, current, and future needs, health, and comfort. In doing so you and the floor plan drafters will work together to create a home you’ll love for a lifetime.
