Design Home Cheats
There is a way to use an app to house sketch every room within your home. This app will allow you to place furniture within the virtual home to see a 3d model on screen of what it would look like. In terms of design home cheats it really doesn’t get any better. It is good planning. In the event you do not like the online tool a paper sketch of the home on graph paper can do the same you create yourself.
If you want to get a bit more technical and 3d model the setup there are other options. Some of the sketching options here cost a little but it can be worth a look.
Why use the sketch method at all? When planning a change in home decor or furnishings things can look great within our mind but they do not always go according to that mental picture. Coming from a man who once upon a time planned for nothing, art taught me to plan accordingly. There is nothing like getting halfway through a project to lose the time and money invested into something that doesn’t work.
Example 1: Front Room Furnishings
Whatever room is your main entry room from the front door we will call your front room. For many people this will either be a den or living room. To plan this room can be a pain when the furniture you like does not fit with the room layout of door, windows, and where the tv must be mounted due to a lack of options.
Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to see a concept of what the front room furnishings would look like before you dive in hoping that it will work? In the old school days we would just pull out the trusty tape measure to see if things would fit. Yet this too often will not capture the complete scope of the impact the furniture makes with its footprint on that space.
Just because furniture will fit does not mean that it will work. I have seen too many spaces that became cramped or appeared to be stuffed rather than inviting to relax. The danger is the front room will end up looking like a college kids dorm room who made use of every square inch of space. This can cause problems within the comfort of the home and the flow as one room will be stuffed while the next may be more empty.
A house sketch can save you. Taking grid paper and mapping out to scale how a room layout should be will give a lot of insight to how your floor plan will be impacted. To do this the easy way measure the length and width of the room. Then using the grid paper allow each line to represent 1 foot either on a 1:1 scale or a 2:1 scale (Two lines = 1 foot) so that you can measure by half a foot.
This method will allow you to see a lot about the footprint of furnishings within a room, especially one as important as your front room. There is a certain complexity to be found within some parts of a home that need to be both inviting to guests while also providing comfort to those living within the house.
Example 2: A Wall Art Experience
For the home decor side the same thing can be accomplished. The issues with art and decor is that not all pieces fit as we have imagined them. Wall colors alone can create uncertainty if one is moving in the right direction.
This becomes more evident as we discover furniture does not center properly in a plan thus throwing off our ability to properly center wall art. This can become an annoyance and is easily caused by features such as stairwells, fireplaces, or window placement.
If one does not wish to use an online app to create a house sketch then the grid paper can be once again used. In the same format as before use a 1:1 or 2:1 scale allowing a wall to be laid out. Account for the footprint of the furniture, doors, and windows that is set on that wall. What is left is the usable space for your wall art experience.
What this will allow you to do is to move the said art on the virtual wall to scale measuring how effective it will be. Although you may not be able to see the actual artwork on the wall the footprint it will impact will become evident in relationship to other features on that wall. It will also give you a good measurement of where to drive in that nail or screw when you are ready to hang the wall art. A lot of guess work is taken out of the picture.
Never underestimate the power behind a well decorated wall space. Utilizing artwork within your home adds more than you can initially imagine while living without it. If all you can afford are some prints then that is fine to start with. Natural elements such as wood art and plants are major bonuses that bring life to a home which did not exist before. With ideas such as a wall for family decor as an accent can aid in giving life and character.
A wall art experience is more than just a way of trying to use a term to market an idea. It is a real experience when you create the right space. It is your canvass where you can create your own world. It should give you more than just being pretty. It should invite relaxation, inspiration, and creativity. If what you surround yourself with does not impact your emotions and mind in some way then make it so that it does.
Your wall art is a reflection of what you envision or see. An inspiration of values you hold to or seek to achieve in life. It embodies a physical representation of ideas that you have towards something. Surrounding yourself with meaning is more important than some imported generic nothing. Let yourself be inspired by what you love and where you want to be.
How Effective Is This Method?
Up front, this method is very effective if used and is a concept born out of the interior design industry. Let me get into the why behind it. Too often when we shop for furniture, home decor, or artwork we buy based on what we like then try to fit it into our home spaces. The biggest issue people look at is matching colors and fabric or perhaps how big the artwork is and if it will fit on a wall.
We then bring our new decor items home and toss them into a room pushing and pulling them around. The art ends up being hung after several screw or nail attempts into the wall and finally it is all there but not exactly right. We say its good enough and finally sit on the couch.
What if we knew up front how much space we had to use in a space or along a wall by more dimensions than its length and width? Furniture for example we need to think in cubed space rather than linear or square footage. The only way to really capture the true footprint of a piece is to account for that cubed space it will occupy.
The house sketch is a way for you to gain a better understanding of this impact. The grid line method is problematic in that it will require not just a floor plan sketch but also a wall sketch in order to get a better image of the space that will be occupied. Here is where the online app has the advantage in rendering a 3d model of what the room will look like.
Ultimately these methods remove the guess work once you begin shopping. You can start to add in other real factors as you look at a potential purchase visualizing it within your room rather than the store showroom. It really helps to eliminate the optimized floor plan that any store uses to sell their merchandise. For them making the furniture or artwork appear so perfectly laid out is easily done by moving their staging to account for what they need.
I wish that it was as easy at home to bump a wall out an extra couple of feet as it is on a sales floor mock up wall. The house sketch allows you to take the measurements you need and then apply the real footprint of any piece before a purchase. In this way you will know the layout and placement before you ever bring anything home.
Why Does This Matter With Home Decor?
To answer this question all I need is one word. Clutter. It is too easy to over decorate. I am not talking about hoarding here yet some who attempt home decoration tend to lean in that direction. The purpose behind the sketch is to plan and place. Eliminate the clutter or excess. You will thank yourself later.
The more that is within any space creates multiple issues. Aside from over filling a room it can destroy the flow of a home. What could have been comfortable and open begins to be cramped and messy. A general rule is that if you cannot at any time access your counter spaces or table spaces then it is too much. This includes the coffee table or side tables of the front rooms.
Wall space is the same in that we can over stuff a wall with pictures, paintings, prints or other memorabilia. Having pictures of the children on every wall is overkill. Yes we love them but typically it is best to have family decor dedicated to one wall as family wall decor. The goal is to add flow and beauty to the home bringing things in that add to comfort and relaxation.
A wall plan is just as important as a floor plan. In fact you have more wall space than you have floor space so why would it not be planned out? This may need to be accomplished on a room by room basis over time yet it is something that can be accomplished. Often going room by room over time allows for a more effective layout than trying to do the whole house at one time.
Having enough space is always the problem with family homes. Aside from buying a much larger new home the only way to achieve this space is to optimize what we have. You will soon discover that a lot of the clutter came from either too much decor or pieces that did not fit properly. A small home can still be comfortable and effective even for a family.
The End Goal
At the end of the day the goal is to create an environment where you can have comfort and relax. Too much of anything is bad and with a home it means a lot more cleaning with less room to move around in. I am not advocating a minimalist mindset yet trending to that bend is better than over stuffing.
The impact of a well planned home would shock you. Your house may not be perfect and few floor plans are ever just right. In fact most of us just cope with what we can afford. This doesn’t mean we need to suffer.
When the day is done and you sit to relax the space should allow you to relax and not think about what needs to be cleaned. It should help to take the stress away rather than feeling like you are squeezed into the box. The wall art experience should give something to you other than seeing your kids at every age from every school year.
Memories are great but so is your emotional and metal health in being able to reflect on beautiful things that can allow you to let go. For many achieving this goal will mean getting rid of some stuff. Instead of throwing things away think of selling what is not needed so that you can begin to fund this decor renovation.
A house sketch can help save you money as you optimize the space you are decorating. It will let you add beauty that adds flow and design to the room and the home overall. No longer will your house have to look like it was tossed together from different eras of your life history. Make the most of what you have for your benefit and health.