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What makes a floor plan good? Ideally, it should reflect a family’s lifestyle by providing easy and livable routes into, around and out of the house. A floor plan includes the arrangement of rooms and how they relate to each other as well as public versus private space. What may be livable for one family may not work well at all for another.
To help identify a good floor plan for your family, list the rooms you’re currently using and imagine how your family and their needs might evolve over time. Think through a typical day’s activities with children at various stages from infancy (crying at night) to teenagers (loud music). Consider your preference for a first floor master bedroom versus one that’s upstairs with other bedrooms. Think about how often you would use a living room. Formal living rooms are not as popular as they once were and often remain unused even when there are guests. Today’s more casual lifestyles and informal entertaining has made large family rooms or great rooms the focal point of many newly built homes.
Evaluating the Floor Plan
If you anticipate caring for an elderly parent or retiring in the house yourself, a single story, rather than a multi-story, home may be the best choice. Finally review your needs regarding a basement, attic, garage, and outdoor living spaces. Be sure to consider all the items your family will need to store and where it will be most convenient to keep them. Once you have a pretty good idea of the kind of space that meets your family’s needs you’re ready to house hunt. To evaluate the floor plan in each house you look at, ask yourself:
1. In general, does this home meet or come close to our ideal floor plan?
2. Does the main entrance open directly into living space or does the entry provide some privacy and a handy closet. Even a small entry can act as a weather buffer and help keep out the cold, rain, and wind.
3. Is the front door easily accessed from the kitchen? Trips between the kitchen and the front door can be frequent.
4. Does the alternate entrance, usually a side or back door, lead directly into the kitchen? Ideally, the kitchen will be near the garage or back door to make hauling groceries as easy as possible. In our often wet climate it’s nice to have the pathway between the vehicle being unloaded and the kitchen sheltered from the weather. A mud room or laundry room between the back entrance and the kitchen helps keep dirt and muck away from the living areas by providing a space to leave shoes, boots and wet jackets.
5. Does the route to the living room end with an enclosed room or does it serve as a hallway and continue through to more rooms? Dead end living rooms are likely to have fewer interruptions when entertaining or relaxing with a book.
6. How are the rooms arranged? Is any room, aside from the dining room, accessible only through another room? For instance, is a bedroom accessible only from a bathroom or another bedroom? For obvious reasons, this arrangement can be inconvenient.
7. Are the outside living areas, such as a patios and decks, easily accessed from the house, especially from the kitchen? Family and guests should be able to move easily between indoor and outdoor areas.
By taking the time to evaluate your family’s current and anticipated lifestyle and determine the most efficient floor plan improves the likelihood of selecting a home you will be comfortable in and will enjoy for many years.
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