What to know about choosing the right floor plan for you, your family, and your lifestyle… 

Floor plan

The process for choosing the design for a new home is exciting and fun but can be overwhelming. There are so many decisions in building a home that will have a lasting impact. The layout of your home is probably one of the most significant choices you will ever make regarding your custom build. Regardless if you are looking at building a small cottage, large family home, or multifamily project the layout of the rooms and how they flow will largely depend on your lifestyle.

Whether you prefer single story or multiple stories; choosing a perfect plan can be stressful. While you browse through our Inspirational home designs on our website or perhaps anywhere online, here are some tips to help you decide on a floor plan that is right for your family, your lifestyle, and your budget.

1.) Choose a floor plan that suits your family’s lifestyle.

Floor Plan

Are you looking for an open floor plan? Where will you put your Christmas tree? Do you have young children or teenagers?  These are all questions that need to be answered.  Layout of rooms with consideration of family size and ages of children is essential. Most families who have young children prefer to have private spaces in the house: bedrooms and bathrooms grouped in one area of the home. Families with teenagers and young adults prefer to have bedrooms separated from each other. Assess your floor plan and make a list of pros and cons.

2.) Understand the flow.

Imagine yourself in the space when you are looking through floor plans. Is it convenient when you step through the door? Is there a place to hang up your jacket or place your shoes? When you are entering the main living area do the proportions feel right? Understand the placement of the bedrooms in comparison to the main living space. Do they provide you enough privacy? Understanding the flow is extremely important to help you understand if it is the right floor plan for you.

3.) How much do you entertain?

Outdoor space

Many floor plans are centered around entertaining! A large wide foyer with living and dining room will let your guests feel right at home from the moment they walk through the front door. Guests usually like to socialize with the host while they are preparing the meal.  How about an open concept kitchen to gather around with a large kitchen island!

However, if you and your family are more private and don’t like your entire home on display every time the front door opens, you may opt for a formal living room adjacent to the front door. This will allow guests a place to immediately gather, while leaving the rest of your house private.

4.) Should I build Single-story or Multi-story?

There truly are advantages to both.

Advantages of Single-story Builds:

Many families enjoy single story homes for the quietness of no overhead foot traffic noise.  Some single story homes or ‘Ranch’ style homes tend to group public rooms in the center and bedrooms and baths are located on the “wings” of the floor plan.

Perfect for Aging and Youngsters

Single story plans are perfect for aging because they allow freedom of movement for all ages. Elderly aren’t the only ones for whom stairs can be a challenge. Your child that loves to slide down the stairs with a sleeping bag may be better suited to a single storey design. This means less stress and hospital bills for you!

Easier Maintenance

It can be difficult to clean the exterior upper stories of the home and who actually likes vacuuming the stairs?

Increased Energy Efficiency

It’s easier to heat a single-story house plan. Most modern single story house plans feature a central shared living area, surrounded by more private rooms such as bedrooms and offices. Heated and cooled air naturally flows through such a design. In contrast, multiple story house plans require more complex (and more costly) HVAC systems.

Plenty of Open Floor space living

Single story house plans tend to include a generous communal area, sometimes called the “Family Triangle” of living room, dining room, and kitchen. Many modern single story home plans are often designed to merge these three areas into one large, open space. Vaulted ceilings and expansive windows create a natural and comfortable space for the entire family to hang out.

Adaptability and Freedom of the design

Floor Layouts can easily be adapted to suit your needs. You can place the kitchen exactly where you want and same for the living and sleeping areas. This may not always be the case in a multi storey home.

Advantages of Multi-story Builds:

Multi-story homes give the added benefit of views to the outside instead of looking directly into a neighbor’s window. Multistory homes also give each family member their own space and more room to have privacy compared to single story floor plans.

Building on a smaller lot?

Multi-story homes are well suited to smaller lots as you can get more living space on the same amount of land. This means you don’t have to sacrifice any of your backyard or veggie garden to have a roomy house.

More Separation

A multi-story home can provide you with more separation between your living and sleeping areas, one example is to have the kitchen, living area on the ground floor level, with the bedrooms and bathrooms upstairs.

Staircase

The staircase in a home that leads between the different levels of your home can become an exceptional feature within the home.

More Storage

Multi story homes can provide you more storage if you utilize empty spaces. How about a custom built-in bookcase beneath the stairs?

5.) How much outdoor living do you wish to have?

Your floor plan will most likely include an outdoor leisure area. What about creating a covered porch, lanai, patio or perhaps even an outdoor fire pit? Adding an outdoor living space can be an expensive endeavor, but a proper outdoor living area can enhance your lifestyle and increase the value of your home.  When choosing a floor plan, assess how much your family will use these outdoor leisure amenities. Similar to a large yard, it looks beautiful when you keep up with the care and maintenance but can look terrible if you don’t.  Ensure you want the added responsibility of keeping up with the outdoor plan.

Deciding on a floor plan can be fun and frustrating at the same time.  Assess your family’s lifestyle, wants, needs, and your preferences to how you enjoy living. Work with our experienced building and planning experts to work out all the essential details to make your home as seamless as possible.

Tour our extensive line of inspirational floor plans, offering a variety of styles and designs for you to use as a starting point in your home building journey.

VIEW INSPIRATIONAL HOME PLANS

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