Consider the following scenario. You move into your new home and start arranging your furniture and other belongings, only to find that things seem overly cramped in one room, nearly empty in another and none of it feels comfortable to you. It takes several tries at re-arranging to get things even halfway presentable and you are too exhausted to try yet another time. Does this sound familiar? You could have saved time and energy if you had taken some time in advance to design a floor plan layout.

Designing a floor plan layout is a simple matter. While there are computer programs that can help with this, they can be expensive. All you need to create an effective floor plan layout is a tape measure, pencils, paper (preferably graph paper) and a list of your furniture and other significant pieces that require arranging. Okay, let’s start.

The first step in your floor plan layout is to take your graph paper and a tape measure and get down a picture of the space you have to work with. Measure available floor space and set up a scale system using the graph squares. Make sure to include all doorways and windows in your floor plan layout. Now take an inventory of what items will need placed and their sizes.

With measurements in hand, you are now ready to start putting things in place on your floor plan layout. Start with the largest items first. This includes couches, beds, kitchen appliances and other large pieces of furniture. When you have these positioned in places that allow sufficient room around them, you can then start placing smaller items. If the initial floor plan layout doesn’t seem like something you would like, then you can easily move things by erasing and re-drawing.

When drawing up your floor plan layout, make sure you include room to navigate around items. Consider, also, what activities will be taken place in each area. For example, you may have a pool table you want to place in the den. You will need to make sure you include enough room around the pool table for people to comfortably walk around and shoot.

When you have everything on your floor plan layout in a place that works well with both your needs and wants, you are finished. All that needs to be done now is to have your floor plan layout handy as you move into your new place. Each piece can immediately be placed in its permanent home and you can spend a relaxing evening enjoying your new home.