5. Sketch A Floor Plan
Assuming you’ve measured your space and taken a few snapshots, it’s time to do a more accurate measured floor plan. Most art, office or stationary supply stores can sell you a large pad of graph paper ruled on 1/4 inch squares and an architect’s or drafting ruler. This ruler has the conversions in feet and inches to the scale of your graph paper printed on it’s three surfaces and is an invaluable tool for thinking visually while maintaining a grip on the real space you have. Do your drawing in pencil as you’ll be making a few mistakes as you go. And buy a good quality kneaded eraser while you’re getting your materials.
Giving yourself plenty of space around the perimeter, start at one corner and begin drawing the outside edge of your space using the measurements on your sketch as a guide. Draw a double line to indicate walls and add more lines at windows and doors as shown in the example. Sketch in a simple arc to indicate which way doors open. If you have casement windows that are hinged on the sides and swing open, indicate the range of their movement too.
Once you’ve made the basic outline drawing of the room, go out and get copies made. Have fifteen or twenty done for use by various contractors and to try different schemes. You’ll also want copies for various aspects of the job such as cabinet layout or systems planning.
