How to sketch a floorplan – the easy way! First you have to imagine that you’re a bird – hovering above the room – looking down on your room.   All you see is the shape of the room – you don’t see any height to the walls, just the line where they meet the floor.  This is called a “plan view”.  Now, draw the outline of your room on a sheet of paper (Tip - graph paper makes it easy to keep your lines straight).  Try and keep the proportions of the room similar to what you see, although it’s not too important at this point – your dimensions will take care of that later. Next, add the windows and doors, using the symbols shown in the legend I’ve provided.  Make sure you show the direction that the doors swing properly. Make sure you label the room before you move on to the next one, so you don’t get confused later.   Now continue from room to room until you’ve sketched each one.  Once you have all the rooms sketched (don’t forget porches and decks) then draw the layout of that entire level of the house so I can see how the rooms are connected to each other.  If your house has multiple floors, then repeat the process for each floor. Now that the rooms are drawn, it’s time to add the furniture.  If you have access to a copier, it’s a good idea to make a copy of your sketches at this point.  Then you can sketch the furniture on the copies, to keep the sketches from getting too cluttered and confusing to read.  If you choose to sketch everything on one page, please try to keep it as neat and clear as possible – to make my job a little easier.  It’s not necessary to show all the furniture in your house, in fact, that makes the drawing too cluttered and hard to read.  I suggest just showing the basics – beds, sofa, dining table and chairs, bathroom fixtures and kitchen appliances.  A simple rectangle shown in its approximate location in the room will usually suffice when sketching furniture.  Then label it so I’ll know what it is.  I have a library of furniture that I use, so I don’t really need dimensions.  Simply specify the piece as “single bed”, “queen bed”, “sofa”, “dining table with 6 chairs”, etc.  The same applies for bathroom fixtures and kitchen appliances.  Just sketch the basics. Remember, when in doubt; just follow the examples shown - or email me with any questions.  I always provide a “check print” for you to review before I release the final drawings, so you’ll have an opportunity to point out anything I might have missed on the first pass.  Have fun sketching! Click to view examples: Example A:  Bedroom Example B:  Kitchen Example C:  Bathroom Example D:  Entire House Layout Example E:  Symbols Legend:

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The "Easier" Way:  If you provide me with lots of photographs of your home (interior & exterior), you can skip much of the measuring!  If your sketch is drawn "to- scale" (i.e. 1/8" = 1 foot) or contains a few  basic   dimensions, I can look at your photographs and add all the details (doors, windows, furniture, etc.) simply by studying your photos.  This method works quite well for those of you who really don't want to bother with all that measuring. Click here to see an example of a client's simple sketch and the final floorplan I created: