Drawing up a proper to-scale 3D floor plan was a revelation. My usual method is to drag furniture around the room shouting things like, «Yes, it’ll definitely fit there! It will! It’s going to look amazing! Okay, so it’s bit tight, what about over there…?» Until everything has found a home and I have discovered new arm muscles I didn’t know existed.
I used Autodesk Homestyler to make a free floor plan for my daughter’s new bedroom. Once I’d recreated a scale drawing of the space, I added the furniture we already own, like the bed, bedside table and chest of drawers. They don’t look exactly like ours, but the scale is pretty spot on. Then I played about with different types of shelving, storage, rugs and artwork.
My original plan was to buy a sofabed, which could double as a cozy place for Pearl to curl up with a book and then convert into an extra bed for overnight guests. But I just could not seem to make it work. It looked weird right next to the bed, so I moved the bed up to the wall and swapped the bedside table to the other side, which was an improvement.
I also realized that I probably need to look for a larger rug. I tried this 5ft by 7ft one out first for size. But it looks a little skimpy and disjointed.
Hopefully making a floor plan will save me from making some expensive shopping mistakes. But I have a feeling that despite my virtual planning, there will still be a fair amount of furniture dragging before I nail this layout.
(Image credits: Rebecca Bond)
