Design a Room

Learn how to design a great layout for each room in your home

Before you start to design a room with colors and fabrics it’s important to give some thought to the activities that will happen in a room and how the room’s shape and size, fixtures and furniture layout can best accommodate them. That’s what this section of the website is all about.

The floor plans for houses section will also be helpful to you. It deals with layout for the home as a whole.

Rooms

Living room layout

Suggested layouts for different living room sizes
Conversation area dimensions
How to work with the fire place
Spotting bad door placement

Bathroom layout

Master bath layout suggestions
Small bathroom layouts
Jack and Jill bathroom layouts
Fixture dimensions
Planning guidelines

Kitchen layout

Kitchen layouts - U, L, G, Galley, Island
Planning guidelines
Exploring the kitchen triangle
Kitchen storage
Kitchen cabinet dimensions

Dining Room layout

What size table do you need?
What size dining space do you need?

Bedrooms

Bed size
Bedroom size
Master bedroom
Kids bedroom
Guest bedroom
Bunk beds

Closet Design

Walk in closet designs
Closet dimensions
Design a closet

Laundry Room Design

Home Office / Study

Entry and Foyer Design

Staircase Design

Garage Design

My intention is to cover each room – the usual rooms and some more unusual rooms. I’m writing up these pages as quickly as my fingers will type, so if the room you want isn’t ready yet why not sign up to my newsletter (it's up a bit on the right --->) so that I can let you know as the design a room section progresses.

Helpful books on room design

Here are some great books that are really helpful with room design from a layout perspective.

[Disclosure: Please note that the book links below are affiliate links and I stand to earn a small commission if you purchase through these links. I own, have read and refer to often the books listed below and recommend them.]

What's Wrong With This House?

This is a great book which gives a few simple rules about each room in the home and also helps you think about the flow of spaces in open plan spaces. Most of the examples in the book contain space efficient open plan designs. John and Matthew are architects who went online in late 2009 to find people interested in home design and I, along with about 20 others joined them to test the ideas for the book - we all got a shout out in the acknowledgements - In the first edition at least!

Use What You Have Decorating

This is a great book to make you think about furniture arrangements and what you need and don't need in a room. It also talks you through how to make the most of accessories. I got this book when we moved from Canada to Japan which was a move with the same square footage but different rooms. Anyway it really helps with furniture arrangements and accessory arrangements.

Why room layout is important

If you're looking at house plans, working with an architect or working on your own home design, the layout of the fixtures and furniture will make or break how it feels to live in your home.

You'll float around your home and use each room with ease or your home design will make things feel awkward and no amount of coordinating carpets and wallpaper can change that.

Perhaps you’re looking to design your own floor plan from scratch or maybe you’re remodeling or building an addition. Sometimes it’s just fun to fantasize about your dream floor plan.

Shape and Size

The design a room pages cover different shapes and sizes of each of the rooms, with ideas on proportion or architectural elements that can make a room feel really special thrown in.

Fixtures and Furniture Layout

Who said that furniture always had to be lined up with the walls or pushed up against the walls when you design a room layout? We’ll explore options for fixture and furniture layout for each room.

Lighting

Ask any interior designer and they’d probably say that lighting is one of the most important aspect of room design. Check out the pages on home lighting design.