An overhead view of each floor

A floor plan layout on blueprints is basically an overhead view of each floor of the completed house. You'll see parallel lines that scale at whatever width the walls are required to be. Dimensions are usually drawn between the walls to specify room sizes and wall lengths.

Drawn to a scale

Floor plans may be drafted to scale, which means reducing the size of a drawing so the whole room can fit on a piece of paper. They are drawn to ⅛" = 1'-0" scale and include most of the critical dimensions and specs needed to build the home. They act as a kind of road map of your home, showing how the different spaces relate to each other.

Floor plans may be drafted by hand with a pencil (to draw thick or thin lines), ruler (to draw straight lines to a specific length), a protractor (to draw the angles where walls meet), and graph paper (which usually has 1/4 inch boxes, to make floor plans easier to draft in 1/4"=1' scale). They can also be drafted by computer, using CAD (computer-aided design) software, such as AutoCAD or MS PowerPoint. CAD software makes it very easy to draft scale drawings.

Useful to help design other layouts

Floor plans are useful to help design furniture layout, wiring systems, plumbing systems and much more. They're also a valuable tool for real estate agents in helping sell or rent out a space.

The Importance of Floor Plan Design

Floor plans are essential when designing and building a home. A good floor plan can increase the enjoyment of the home by creating a nice flow between spaces and can even increase its resale value.

Key characteristics of a good floor plan

• Versatile and flexible. Make sure in the future an office can easily be turned into a child's bedroom whether for your family or a future buyer's.
• Ideal room layout. Make sure bedrooms are far from entertaining spaces. Bathrooms shouldn't face common entertainment spaces like dining rooms or living rooms. Most people will like if the kitchen opens to the dining or living rooms so whoever is cooking can still interact with guests or keep an eye on the kids playing.
• Size matters. Whenever designing any room or hallway, think about how many people will be in that space at one time. Do they have room to move around? Is there room for furniture to accommodate all the planned activities?
• Fits your priorities and lifestyle. If entertaining is important, make sure there's a good flow from the kitchen to an outside space and living room. If you work from home, make sure your office gets ideal light and is perhaps in a quiet location. When you do laundry, is it ok if you have to climb three floors to get from your master bedroom to the laundry room?
• Find the balance between architectural details and practical considerations. Think about the safety of kids, cleaning, heating and cooling before falling in love with some majestic staircase or floor to ceiling windows.

Floor Plan Examples

The best way to understand floor plans is to look at some examples of floor plans.