Are you dreaming of a new master suite or can’t stand the bottleneck in your kitchen?  Maybe you’re thinking it might be time to renovate. Don’t know how to begin?  It’s not always best to leave it all up to a contractor or designer.  After all, you are the one who lives there.  Never done it?  I’ll give you a step by step guide here to get you started sketching out your space so you can give those contractors and designers a better idea of what you really want.

YOU know how you live and what your most important factors are in your space. So why not try drawing it out?  I’m talking good old fashioned, paper + a pencil drawing. Here we go! Please note: This post contains affiliate links and if you happen to purchase any of the items I recommend, I might make a commission.

What You’ll Need Before You Draw

• Measuring Tape
• Friend, Spouse, Child, Partner, (Someone to hold the other side of the measuring tape)
• Paper + Pencil

What You’ll Need To Draw

• Graph Paper (I find 6 or 8 squares per inch work really well for me)
• Calculator
• Mechanical Pencil
• Really Good White Eraser
• Small 6-inch Transparent Ruler
• This process will be quicker if you have access to a good copy machine
• If you have the copy machine, you may find white-out useful as well

How Do I Start?

Take a look around the space you are going to draw out.  Let’s use the example of the downstairs of my house.  Look at it from outside and from inside, then draw out a rough sketch of the basic shape as if you were looking down on it from above, the way an architect draws out plans. Make sure to include little nooks or indents in the exterior walls, general locations of things that will not be moving, like fireplaces, staircases or perhaps a bathroom.  Leave out anything on the inside you are considering moving.

Now you measure.  Take that tape and go to town.  Start in one corner and go around clockwise so you don’t miss anything.  Label it all on your sketch.  Put in windows and doors.  Measure those as well.  Note the distance of each on your sketch.  To be thorough, do the following for each wall:

• Measure the entire length of the inside of the first exterior wall.
• Go to the start of that wall + measure the distance to the first feature (door, window, niche, etc.)
• Then measure the size of that feature (width).
• Then measure the distance from the end of that feature to the beginning of the next.
• Then measure the size of the second feature.
• Repeat until you reach the end of the first wall.

Then repeat the steps for each wall. When you are back to the beginning again, you have your outline. Be consistent. Right from the very start, decide whether you are including the trim on doors + windows in your measurements.  To be safe and have the least chance for mistakes in the future, I would include the trim in any measurements you make.  I recommend doing all your measuring on the inside of the house, so you don’t end up with a false idea that you have more room to work with than you really do.

Once you have all the measurements down + you are confident in them, you can begin to draw. Count the boxes on your graph paper. How many are there on the short side and the long side? You will use that number to help determine how many boxes should represent one foot in your drawing. Orient your rough sketch so the widest part lines up with the widest part of your graph paper.  Figure out how many feet the entire length of the space is. You need to fit the whole thing on the graph paper, so remember to count bump outs and features that only sick out on one side, or stick out, but only do so for 6 feet (like a fireplace).  Take the number of boxes on the longer side of the paper and divide it by the number of feet on the longer side of your space.  You can use any amount of boxes to represent one foot as long as it is smaller than that number.  Now do the same for the length in the other direction.  Once you have these numbers, you are ready to decide how many boxes will equal one foot.  In my example, I had a building that was mostly square, so orientation wasn’t super important, but I used 1 box = 1 foot.  I recommend trying to stick with the following ratios if possible: 1 box = 1 foot, 2 boxes = 1 foot and 4 boxes = 1 foot. Try to avoid 3 boxes = 1 foot.  It is confusing and since a foot is 12″, and can easily be divided in half or in quarters, 1, 2, or 4 works best.  You don’t often hear someone say, “My table? It’s 3 and 2/3 feet wide”.  People express feet + inches in halves, quarters, eighths, sixteenths and thirty-seconds.

Now, start drawing.  Using your calculator, figure out how many boxes you will need to create your first line and where it needs to go.  Use your ruler to draw that line. Follow around in the same order you measured the space, until you have the space entirely outlined.  Now locate + place any features that will not be changing, like windows, doors, fireplaces, staircases, etc.  Draw in the sweeps of the doors, the way the windows open if they open in, etc.  IF you don’t plan to bump out any walls, and you have a copier, now is an excellent time to make a few really good copies of what you have drawn so far. This way you don’t have to figure out this math over again, and if you want to draw out different layout options inside the outline, you have a few chances to do so.  I usually make 5-10 copies depending on how many ideas I have for different layouts. If you want to only make few, that’s fine, just don’t draw on the last blank sheet you have until you have made yourself more copies.

Taking note of things that can’t be moved without great expense (heating systems, electrical boxes, etc).  Think of the room that needs the most improvement, and how it could be improved.  In my example, the kitchen needed the most help. It was cut off from the rest of the house, and was way too small. It was also narrow and I hoped to be able to expand it somehow.  Draw out the furniture, cabinets, or fixtures as you would prefer them to be.  Do this as if no other spaces on that level matter. This is your ideal layout for that room.  Now look at what space you have left over.  Does it work? Is there enough room to complete your layout?  Often times, there isn’t, especially in your ideal layout.  So you start compromising with yourself, maybe make something 2 feet smaller in one direction or reduce the size of a really large appliance.  Consider a different size or shape for an island, or maybe you would do well with a peninsula.  If it’s a bedroom you are looking at, how much room have you left on each side of the bed? What would be the smallest you would be comfortable with?  After you have thought this through, get out your eraser and change the design so it allows the other rooms on this level the amount of space they need.

 

 

 

 

Then start over with one of your copies and try a different plan.  Repeat this process until you have as many designs as you can come up with.  It should become clear fairly quickly which ones you like the most.  You will focus on key issues, like, I want at least 3 feet between my sink and my kitchen island.  Or, I know I want to have a minimum of a 4×4 shower.  One design may give you those results where another may not.  This is the fun, creative part.  Try moving things around.  You may be surprised with what you come up with.  Imagine a totally different orientation, fitting a laundry room into a hallway that is rarely used, or incorporating it in the pantry.  Combine a pantry and mudroom, have your master closet accessible through the bathroom, or on the entire other side of your bedroom, no where near your bathroom.  Your preferences along with the size and shape of your house will guide you towards the design you like most.

At this point, I love to choose one, tweak it until lit is absolutely perfect, and then re-draw it on a brand new piece graph paper, making all my lines perfect, adding in all the furnishings I plan to use and including every single window, door + feature that may swing out, pull out, (drawers), open or otherwise take up more space than it normally does.  I hope this was helpful and got you excited about sketching your space.  I can spend hours just drawing layouts and trying new things. The copier is really helpful to not waste time drawing the outline over and over again.  Don’t forget to include the thickness of interior walls.  A solid line that doesn’t take up any physical space will lead you to believe you have more space than you really do.  Happy drawing!