If you’re not used to making plans, it’s a great idea to get a handle on the room you want to draw, before you begin to make your floor plan. Measure the length of each wall in the room. Take note of any doors, windows or recesses as you go.
Rooms that appear to be simple rectangles often have small alcoves, projections, and other complications that, while they may not take up much room, will affect your layout.
Doorways and windows, radiators and built-ins, projections or recesses all need to be included on your drawing. Even a shallow alcove or a radiator, which could fit under a table or sofa, may affect the layout.
Make sure you measure the length of the walls, not just the width of the room. Often these walls may differ in length and it will also help you judge the shape of the room. As you go, also measure the position of any doors or windows. You can do this by measuring the distance from the wall corner nearest to the door or window, to the edge of the opening, and then the width of the door or window.
Measure in one direction round the room, rather than in pairs, from one wall to the opposite wall. It’s far easier to match up the figures to the correct wall when you add them to the drawing and it will alert you if you’ve missed a measurement.
If you’re measuring a big room it’s worth investing in a laser measure, which makes measuring distances much easier, but for smaller rooms a tape measure is fine.
Write down the measurements as you take them. If you’re not used to measuring rooms you will find it very difficult to remember all the measurements, let alone work out where they all fit.
As you measure the room it’s a good idea to make a rough sketch that will help you match the measurements up with the correct feature, later on.
Measure the doors carefully, making sure you draw them opening the correct way and indicate the arc, to show the space needed to open them. Do the same for kitchen units and any other built-ins, which will have doors and shelves that need to be able to open fully.
Draw the position of any chairs or other items of furniture that can be moved, as a dashed line to indicate that, but also draw the space they require, to show how they affect layout options.
It’s better to spend extra time at this stage, to ensure that you get the details correct, than to realize that a piece of furniture will not fit or the space is not working properly.
You can draw the plan freehand or use graph paper and a ruler. Try to establish a scale and keep to it throughout. The drawing does not have to be neat; it’s a working document, not a professional architectural drawing.
If you choose to use a scale, make sure the size of the room allows it to be drawn at the same scale. If your room is too large, you may find it easier to draw each side or corner, then put it all together. Try to keep each section at the same scale, so you can then join them together.
At this stage, you may find it useful to draw the position of the larger pieces of furniture, like sofas, storage units, beds, tables, etc. Make sure that they are drawn at the same scale as the room.
Look carefully at your finished plan. Check that all the features, doors, radiators, alcoves, windows are in the correct order.
Stand in the middle of the room and walk the space, to make sure all the dimensions match up and the doors open and close without blocking circulation routes.