How to create a 2D Room Planner

• Ruler
• Graph paper
• Measuring Tape
• Scissors

Steps:

1. Start by getting the measurements of all your rooms
2. Your graph paper will become your outline for the room. Take those measurements and draw the room. Typically, this will be a box or a rectangle. For every one foot, you will use one box on the graph paper. Use a ruler to help get your lines straight. For instance, if your room measures 16’ x 20’, you will count 16 little boxes down, and 20 boxes across. If your measurement include inches (as most rooms will), estimate on your graph paper how much of the box it will take up. For instance, if your room measures 16’ 6”, then you would count 16 and a half boxes on your graph paper.
3. Now that you have the outline of your room, it’s time to start measuring all of your furniture. You will need to measure the length and width/depth. (note: since this is a 2d design planner, you will not use the height of each object.)
4. ake another sheet of graph paper and draw little outlines of all your furniture. Mark what each item is within the box outline. For instance, if your couch is 3 feet deep and 6 feet long, you will draw a box on your graph paper that is 3 squares down and 6 squares across.
5. Cut out each of your items. You can leave them as black and white, or you can shade them in with the colors they actually are to make it easier when planning. For instance, i have a big red couch that i’ve moved 5 times. It’s large and typically only fits one or two ways in a living room. I shaded my little graph drawing of my couch with red pencil. The end tables i shaded brown, and my coffee table i shaded in a cream color. All of these colors coincide with the color of the actual item.
6. This is where the fun begins! You are ready to lay out your room! You can move the pieces in several different ways so that when it comes time to move your furniture, you only have to move it once!

Important tips:

1. How much walking space you have in a room is important.
2. Take a picture of each of the different room layouts while you are working. This will help when you decide between several different layouts.
3. If you don’t have a camera handy, just draw a few copies of the same room on different sheets of graph paper. When you like a design, trace around the items in that box or rectangle (the shape of your room). This will allow you to compare your top 3 designs.

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Follow lifestyle design expert Paige Hemmis on Twitter @paigehemmis and check out her site www.paigehemmis.com.

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