Picture this: a living room so overwhelmed with furniture, it resembles a cluttered garage sale. A couch that blocks the TV, a coffee table that's more obstacle than amenity, and a dining table that's always covered in paperwork. It's a space that suffocates - it does not inspire.
Great space planning brings flow and efficiency to your home and also impacts how you feel. Like any good design, you shouldn’t notice it – it should just work. Better use of space increases functionality and creates a visually aesthetic and pleasing room.
The following is a guide to help you understand space planning and plan for it. It will include numerous tips and mistakes to avoid.
Understanding Your Space
Assess your needs: Identify the primary functions of your space – do you mainly dine there, cook, watch TV, entertain guests? Do you like to host? Is the space also used to work or exercise?
Measure the space: Accurately measure the dimensions of the room, including walls, windows and doors. Invest in a solid tape measure that’s at least 25’ long and has a self-lock. Here are some recommendations from Crescent and Stanley.
Alternatively, use a laser measure like one of these highly rated ones from Bosch and Klein Tools.
Consider the flow of traffic: Think about how people will move through the space and avoid creating traffic bottlenecks. Strive to create walkways that are 36" whenever possible. This provides for enough leg room and space to walk around furniture.
Your space should work for YOU!
Key Principles of Space Planning
Balance and symmetry: Create a visually appealing and harmonious space. Spend some time considering how you want to feel when you walk into your home. How do you want to feel when you’re cooking, watching TV? What experience do you want guests to have when visiting your home?
Proportion and scale: Select furniture and accessories that are proportionate to the room size. Oversized furniture will make the space feel crowded and smaller. Smaller furniture may not only be functional, it’ll just look off. Remember – great design doesn’t make you think about the space. In other words, you shouldn’t notice great design once it’s executed.
Flexibility: Consider future needs and plan for adaptability. Growing family? New hobby? Empty nesting? These are all events that will change the way you use and move through your space.
Tips for Effective Space Planning
Start with a floor plan: Bring out the measurements you took and use a floor plan to visualize the layout of the space. Remember to consider ceiling heights. Some space plan programs include: Freefloorplanner.com, Floor Plan 3D, 5D Planner, Lucid Chart, Canva. Most of these have a free option/trial, which might be enough for your space, that you may unlock after putting in your email. These should be enough to assist you in visualizing. Otherwise, grab some graph paper and do it the tried and trusted way!
Pro tip: whether you draw by hand or digitally create the floor plan (including walls, separations, windows, etc), make a few copies (3-5) before adding anything to it. Use them as templates. This allows you to make mistakes and/or make side-by-side comparisons.
Consider the focal point: Identify the main feature of the room and plan the layout around it. Sometimes, this can be a rug, a painting, a window or a TV. Every room has something that naturally grabs your eye or something that you can create to make the eye gravitate towards that.
Use furniture to define zones: Divide the space into different zones using furniture arrangements. These can be further delineated, accented and decorated by adding a rug. A few plants grouped together may also help create a visual separation between spaces.
Maximize natural light: Position furniture to take advantage of natural light. For the most part, and mostly in the Northern Hemisphere, South-facing windows receive the most natural light. This is due to the Sun's East-to-West daily trajectory. North-facing windows receive the least throughout the day. East-facing windows receive morning light and are typically less hot than West-facing windows, which receive afternoon light and can be very hot in the summer.
Incorporate storage solutions: Utilize storage solutions to keep the space clutter-free. This can include the incorporation of custom consoles, built-in cabinetry, kitchen-island storage, etc.
Accessorize with intention: Add decorative elements to enhance the space’s aesthetic appeal, but be mindful to include a combination of collected, new, refurbished, found, and personal pieces that tell a story, your story. Don’t accessorize for the sake of accessorizing! This creates clutter and can take away from the feeling you are in the process of creating.
Common Space Planning Mistakes to Avoid
Overcrowding the space: Avoid cluttering the space with too much furniture. Consider your children and how you can help yourself with organization & storage. Having a space to store their things (and yours) will create less clutter, give them some responsibility and destress you.
Ignoring the importance of scale: See above. Choose furniture that is proportionate to the room size.
Neglecting the ceiling: Consider the impact of ceiling height on the overall feel of the space.
Forgetting about acoustics: Pay attention to sound absorption and noise reduction.
Great space planning helps create a functional space and promote a healthy home environment. It is visually aesthetic and when designed right, you’ll get the feeling that it just works well. Enjoy the process and take time to be mindful about how you want it to feel. The journey can be fun and I guarantee it to be very rewarding once complete!
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