Before you begin decorating and laying out furniture in a room, you will need to do space planning to know how much space you have to work with so you can plan what to do with it. Space planning will allow you to try out different alternatives for room layout. It will also help you in budgeting as you will know how much will be needed for different types of materials (e.g. carpet, flooring, wallpaper or paint). The three basic steps in space planning are: (1) measure the area, (2) draw plans, and (3) determine the best layout.
You will need to measure the space to be decorated so that you can draw the room to scale (i.e. make floor plans). To do this you will need to accurately measure the room and ideally you should do this with a 25′ (or longer) metal tape measure with a lock on it. Measure and record the dimensions of all parts of the room, including walls, doors, windows, closets, any openings such as arch ways, electrical outlets, locations of switches, and any other permanent fixtures (such as fireplaces) in the room.
It makes the job a lot easier to have a second person (possibly your client) assist with the measuring. The helper can hold one end of the measuring tape, when needed, while you read and record each measurement. Measure not only the width and length of each room but also find out and record the height of the walls. Get into the habit of measuring everything twice to verify that each measurement is accurate.
After you have completed measuring and recording all measurements, the next step is to prepare two plans. In addition to a floor plan (also called a base plan or base map), you will need to prepare an elevation plan showing locations of windows, doors, cupboards and other vertical items.
Having a floor plan of the room drawn to scale will help you visualize the whole room. It is best to draw a rough floor plan while at your client's (at the same meeting that you take measurements) to ensure that you draw in all of the fixtures, openings, outlets, heat registers, doors, windows, etc. However, you will likely want to draw a more refined and thorough floor plan at your office (on your drawing table, if you have one), after meeting with your client using the rough drawing as a starting point. Most interior decorators use 1/4-inch grid graph paper (available at any office products store); however, many choose to draw to 1/2-inch scale with each 1/2 inch representing one foot within the room and each box on the 1/4-inch grid graph paper would represent six inches (half a foot) within the room. This means that two squares (on 1/4-inch grid graph paper) will equal 1/2 inch, which will represent one foot within the room.
For example, if the width of the room is 12 feet, you would draw a line 24 boxes wide (to represent 12 feet wide). It is easiest to draw a straight line with your ruler (or better yet, with a straight edge). After drawing the width of the room, then draw the length of the room. After you have drawn the dimensions, draw in any windows, doors (including which way the door swings), fireplaces and other openings, cupboards, built-in bookshelves, or other permanent fixtures, fireplaces, electrical, cable and telephone outlets, switches, heating ducts and returns, etc.
Elevations are particularly important when planning cabinets or wall systems. Here are a couple of tips from Homestore, Inc.
Another option, instead of drawing the floor plan, is to use computer software for home design. With this type of software you can even draw 3D plans. While making an accurate drawing (floor plan) is an important first step in space planning, most decorators will also take pictures with a digital camera to use as a memory aid (these images can then be used as "before" pictures for your portfolio).
After you have drawn the room to scale, you can then experiment with layout. To determine the best layout for the space you will be decorating, you will need to do the following (each of these is discussed in detail below):
To determine the balance lines of a room, take your floor plan (i.e. the scale drawing) of the room and divide the room into four equal quadrants. In other words, on your floor plan, draw a line (in pencil) down the center of the width of the room and draw a line across the center of the length of the room to divide the room into four equal sized areas. Where the two lines cross is your midpoint and you can use the midpoint as a starting point for planning where to place your furniture around. Drawing the balance lines (and determining the mid-point) will keep you in check so that you don't weigh down any one side of the room, but work towards keeping a balance of the furnishings within the whole room. The weight of the furniture should be more or less equal on opposite sides of the room to keep the room in "balance."
For example, if one side of the room has a large sofa in it, the opposite side of the room may have two chairs with an occasional table between them that faces the sofa. The two chairs and occasional table balance out the large sofa.
The next thing to determine is where the traffic patterns will be within the room. You need to take into consideration the location of doors (and which ways they swing), windows (your client will need to have access to open their windows), fireplaces, etc. This will tell you where you can't put any furniture because it would block the traffic flow of individuals moving around the room. If a door opens into a room, you will need to give at least 36″ of space before placing a piece of furniture or else a person entering the room will have difficulties maneuvering around.
Other things to take into consideration when determining traffic patterns are the placement of heating and cooling vents and units, where a television might be placed if there will be one in the room you are decorating and where conversation areas will be (avoid having traffic walk through conversation areas or in front of a television). You can re-direct traffic away from these areas depending on where the furniture is placed. Ideally, individuals should be able to "go with the flow" and the pathway from one place within the room to another should be unimpeded. Note that 30″ is about the minimum path width to walk around within a room. However, 48″ is desired for major traffic paths in a room.
A focal point is any interesting fixture or item that individuals will focus on within a room. In other words, it is the area that your client will want to be looking at when they are sitting in the room. Some examples of focal points are:
Most of the time there is one main focal point within a room; however, if a room is large, sometimes there can be a secondary focal point. For example, in a large living room that has a spectacular ocean view or mountain view and a dramatic fireplace within the same room, the view might be the primary focal point with the fireplace being the secondary focal point. In such a case, the focal points have been predetermined.
Other times, a focal point can be created within a room. For example, using a large and interesting piece of artwork or a television can create a focal point. After you have determined the focal point, it will be much easier to plan furniture arrangements around it because you will then know where to start placing seating arrangements (to face the focal point), etc.
When making plans for the layout of a room, it is important to find out what the room will be used for. For example, if the room you are decorating is a living room that will mainly be used for watching television, then you may decide to place an entertainment center with a television in it on one of the largest walls and have a sofa facing the television, etc. On the other hand, if a living room will be used mainly for entertaining and reading, then the layout will be very different and seating areas will need to be set up for both.
After you have drawn a floor plan, determined the balance lines of the room, traffic patterns, focal point and what the room will be used for, you can then start experimenting with the different options for furniture placement. You can do this by drawing different pieces of furniture in pencil onto your floor plan using a furniture template, or use furniture cut-outs.
Cut out the furniture pieces you want to use, and rearrange them until you have the layout you want.
When using a furniture template, ensure that you use one in the same scale as your floor plan. If you have drawn your floor plan to 1/2-inch scale, ensure you use a 1/2- inch scale furniture template.
Start by placing the largest pieces of wooden furniture, then the largest upholstered items, smaller upholstered items, then tables and so on. If an arrangement looks too cramped or doesn't look good, you can erase or move the furnishings and start again until you end up with an arrangement that works great within the room. As mentioned earlier, computer planning can make your job a lot easier by allowing you to quickly move objects around on your screen.
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