Everyone aims to build their own home so they can finally have their own place. But, apart from its beautiful appearance, there are more aspects you need to prioritize to ensure that you build the most perfect one for your needs. One of these is the floor plan.
Although most people tend to neglect this factor, the floor plan can actually make or break your home’s overall design. With that, you should learn about its importance to achieve maximum comfort and make the most out of every corner of your house.
To help you out, here are some things you need to consider when choosing a floor plan for your home:
1. Budget
Even if you have the best floor plan for your home, if you don’t have the budget for it, it’ll only put all of your efforts to waste. To avoid disappointments with your home-building process, you should set your budget first and see what kind of floor plan your finances allow you to have.
Furthermore, you also need to consider the cost of stripping down your home, making some plumbing and electrical readjustments, ensuring the stability of your home, and seeing if it can accommodate the added weight.
2. Privacy Preference
Everyone needs privacy as it helps keep their peace and makes them comfortable while staying inside their home. There’s nothing like going to and entering different parts of your home without worrying about your privacy getting exposed. That said, some build a movie room, a private gym area, a home office, or even a separate formal dining room.
On the one hand, some people actually prefer to strip down the walls so everyone can be together and bond more in almost every corner of the house.
So, in terms of floor plan, you need to determine what level of privacy you’d like your home to have. From there, you can decide which type of floor plan you’d like to implement.
3. Existing Space
Before you get too busy adding everything you want for your home, you first need to consider your existing space and see if it can accommodate all of the features you’d like for your home. While having a game, gym, office, and movie room might sound amazing, if your house can’t accommodate those extra rooms, it’d never feel as comfortable as you want it to be.
Thus, identifying the exact measurement of your home can help you set your expectations and plan your entire home thoroughly. This will help you decide what kind of floor plan your house could have. This will also help you creatively and wisely think of ways to fit all the rooms and features you want inside your home.
4. Safety
If you’re living with kids, the elderly, and pets, you need to prioritize their safety and comfort above all else.
Adding a balcony in your bedroom might look beautiful, but, if your children can quickly access the locks, you might just put them at risk of falling. This can also involve removing or fencing your pool to avoid accidents. Moreover, removing the carpet on the stairs can also lead to slip and fall accidents among children and the elderly, as hardwood stairs may tend to be slippery.
As you live with people who require special attention and protection, you’ll need to adjust your floor plan to such needs accordingly. While this might lead to the construction or inclusion of some non-aesthetic features, it’ll still be better to have them than risk the lives of your loved ones.
5. Lifestyle
Another vital factor that’d help you determine the right floor plan for your home is your lifestyle. If you’re a homebody and aren’t fond of hosting dinners or parties, you can just create a floor plan that suits your own or your family’s requirements and needs. However, if you plan on frequently inviting friends and guests over, you might need to widen your living and dining spaces so that entertaining them won’t be a hassle.
Moreover, if you’re living with an elderly, you might want to go for a single-story house so that they won’t have to worry about climbing up and down the stairs. If you have children, prioritizing their privacy is essential as they’ll need it to develop themselves further. This could mean you’ll benefit from having a double-story home so you can separate your bedrooms from the other exposed spaces.
6. House Members’ Opinions
If you’re not living alone, you need to ask everyone’s opinion regarding the floor plan. Take note that when building or renovating a home, everyone’s comfort should be taken into account as they need to feel relaxed and safe at the same time. You can ask them what features they want so you can all meet in the middle. It won’t also hurt to compromise for a few adjustments if it means accommodating everyone’s attainable requests.
As you ask for everyone’s opinion, see if they prefer an open layout or would be happy with having a separate room for each part of the house. Also, you can all decide how much outdoor living space you’d like, along with your home’s overall design and aesthetics.
7. Priorities
To avoid missing out on the important features and allowing yourself to be truly happy about your home, you should list down your priorities and try to include them in your floor plan as much as possible. These can include having an eight-seater dining set, a wide living room, a two-sink bathroom, a gym room, or any feature or structure you’ve always dreamed of having. Just keep in mind your space and budget and see if they’re realistic enough for your home.
Takeaway
Choosing the perfect floor plan can be difficult as you’ll need to ensure that it matches your needs, wants, and budget. But, with proper planning and preparation, you should be able to decide on the best floor plan that works best for you or for every member of the family. While the process might be a bit tedious, the end result would absolutely make everything worth it.
Author Bio
Alex Taylor is an interior design consultant, CEO, and author. He writes about the latest trends in architecture and interior design. He is also a loving father, husband, and dog dad to three golden retrievers.
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