Draw a scaled floor plan before buying ort rearranging furniture in your apartment.
Make a scaled floor plan, or blueprint, of your apartment to help you figure out position your furniture or give you a clear idea of how new furniture could fit in the apartment. Using a scaled floor plan will allow you to figure out how a furniture arrangement will look--and if it will even work or not--without wasting time or energy physically moving your furniture around or wasting money by buying furniture that won't fit in the available space. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Draw a rough sketch of your apartment on plain paper. This is just a guide of the basic shape and placement of each wall, counter, door, window and other elements. Draw each room while standing or sitting in the room to make sure you note anything that should be present in your scaled floor plan.
2. Measure the dimensions of each room, wall, divider, counter, window, closet and other architectural elements. Note these on your rough draft drawing at the corresponding location. For example, if an outer wall is 9 feet long, write "9 ft" along that wall.
3. Draw the walls on your graph paper using a scale that makes it easy, such as 1 foot is equal to 1/4 inch. Each small line on a graph paper is typically 1/4 inch, as this is a common scale to use.
4. Trace over your floor plan with blue or black ink. Use colored ink to note certain elements, such as windows or doors. Mark the area that a door needs to fully open so you don't put furniture there.
5. Note the actual wall measurements with small, neat numbers on the corresponding walls. This keeps that information handy without having to remeasure.
6. Create scaled furniture pieces using the same method. Measure the furniture, then draw it on the graph paper. Cut out the furniture pieces. Color them in if it helps you better visualize the room. This allows you to rearrange the furniture, move items or add pieces without having to draw a new floor plan or make tons of copies. Having little furniture cutouts saves time in the long run.
Tags: floor plan, scaled floor, scaled floor plan, graph paper, your apartment, each room, floor plan