If you’re planning an interior room, you may have seen the item you’re envisioning (a sofa, a chaise, a sectional) in one or more rooms on a magazine photo or a website. As much as you’re drawn to the idea of the piece, it’s helpful to understand that the photo is not showing you the actual item size. Depending on the height of the ceiling in the room that’s shown, the other items in the room, the space around the piece in the photo, the camera lens and angle that was used by the photographer, and the location of the photographer, the size of the featured item can appear to be much different than the reality.
Reference photos are best to use as inspiration for material combinations, palettes, focal point ideas, shape relationships, etc. They can show you what looks good next to what, but you should always refer to actual dimensions of the items before you buy them.
The best way to use the reference photo is to understand what you like about it (shape, color, etc.) and find the actual item(s) and compare the footprints on your scaled floor plan.
For a scale drawing of any room you’re planning, it’s important to include a couple items of the same type but different sizes. If you’re trying to select a sofa, for example, find two you love, one larger than the other, and make cutouts for both. Place those on your room’s scaled floor plan to see how the different-sized sofas affect the room: the walking paths, the space remaining, etc.
If your walls are quite long and uninterrupted, a larger item may make a positive statement and be the right choice. A smaller sofa may create an awkward small space that may not be usable for anything and leave you feeling the furniture looks too small for the room. Sometimes smaller items look great in the store, in person, but can look too small in your space. Proportion is relative. Scale drawings help you see how the items fit into your room space, and then you’ll be able to better judge what size will look best in your space.
Another example, you may see a small sofa in a great reference photo but the coffee table pictured could be too large in your room, and ruin the look of your space. Though your sofa fits, the scale of the other items in your space may not, and that coffee table may be the one that’s throwing the balance of the room. Use a few different items’ footprints on your floor plan before making purchasing decisions.
When making your floor plan, you’ll be tempted to only look at the height and width of each item in your room, which certainly matter, but it’s also important to consider how the pieces will work functionally in your space. Will the chairs be able to move at your dining table? Will someone be able to walk to and from your bed on both sides of it? Is there enough room for your doors to swing open and drawers to pull open on your storage pieces? Will your desk chair be able to slide back to sit at your desk? These are questions to consider for each piece of furniture, so you can make sure each item is not only the correct size, but will function as intended in your space.
When you can scale-draw a space on a floor plan, and look at the actual dimensions of the furniture, and include the other functional areas you need to get in and out, and have room for each piece and the circulation in a space, the process will go much more smoothly, and you’ll be left with a space that’s not only beautiful, but also functions the way it needs to.