What is a floor plan and why is it important when designing your dream home?
The floor plan of your home should be the starting point around which all other design details are formed. Ensuring that rooms are of an appropriate size and that the layout flows so that you can move around the home is vitally important.
“Thinking about design is hard, but not thinking about it can be disastrous.” – Ralph Caplan.
Advances in construction techniques have made it possible for homes to become more open-plan than ever before, enabling clients to incorporate huge living / dining / kitchen areas. In addition to this, there is a movement towards flexibility so that rooms can be multi-purpose – a home office might double as a guest bedroom when needed, for example.
Google Analytics shows that search interest in the keyword ‘open plan’ grew 188% between 2011 and 2021.
National housebuilder St. Modwen Homes compared the number of online searches of specific terms, using data from 2019, 2020 and then 2021. Key findings:
- Searches for “open plan house” were up 168% from 2019 to 2021
- Searches for “open plan kitchen living room floor plan” were up 400% from 2020 to 2021 – and they’re up 6285% when compared with searches from 2019
- Between 2020-21, searches for “Open space home office” increased by 167%
- Over the same period, the number of people searching for “decor ideas for open plan living” went up by 50%
“You can use an eraser on the drafting table or sledge hammer on the construction site.” – Frank Lloyd Wright
It’s important to balance the openness of your home’s layout with the need to support upper floors or the roof structure. One client loved the idea of their whole ground floor level being completely open so that he could see what his kids were up to at all times. What shocked him was the cost of structural steelwork to achieve this, the projected energy costs to heat such huge open spaces, and his wife’s objection to not having any peace! Fortunately, we were able to talk him down from the ledge and come up with a compromise which worked for his family and his budget!
Referring back to the Frank Lloyd Wright quote above, it is better to think through your floor plan and make sure it works for you than have to correct it when builders are on site. Some changes of heart might be inevitable and ultimately it is better to make changes, whatever stage you’re at, than live with a house you don’t love. But you can save a lot of time, money and hassle by giving more thought to your layout at the start of the process.
Think about how you use your current home and how you would want to use your next home. Do you like the idea of an open plan kitchen / dining / living space or would you want some rooms separated to provide peace and quiet, or some privacy? If you intend your next home to be your forever home, does that mean flexibility in the layout for a time when you might not be able to manage stairs, or might need family or a carer around?
Browse through our house plan designs here. Alternatively, fill out our online contact form or call us at 01432 806409. We will be happy to answer any questions you may have or you can check out our FAQ page.