How to Design Your Own House

Despite what others tell you, you can design your own home even if you are not an architect. It takes time, and you will have to do research. You will also have to hire an architect or draftsman to create the blueprint for the construction company to build the house. But a good draftsman can work from your sketches, plans and notes to create your dream home. Here's how to get started designing your own home.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Digital camera
• Graph paper
• Pencil
• Ruler

1. Visit as many homes of a similar type as the one you want to build so you get a feel for common floor plans and styles. If you love Victorian homes, visit as many Victorian homes as you can. Go to the public library and check out books on architectural styles. Search online for sample floor plans for homes and note the elements of a basic floor plan; room sizes, stairways, windows, doors, hallways, etc.

2. List all the features that are important to you in your home. Do you want a huge kitchen? Fireplaces? An open floor plan? Write down every single detail you can think of.

3. Take your graph paper and using a ruler and pencil, draw the outside walls of the house. On the first sketch it's okay not to draw in scale. In later iterations, you will need to draw it with a scale such as one box of graph paper equals one foot of house space.

4. Now draw your floor plan. Most homes feature an entrance hallway, a kitchen, living room, dining room, bathroom and closets on the first floor. One thing to keep in mind is that having a full bath on the first floor can increase a home's value. Also if you ever become ill or you can no longer climb stairs, having a bedroom and a full bathroom on the first floor are a great asset.

5. Sketch your dream house. Now check the sketch. Did you include stairs? Closets? Windows? Doors? Hallways? Houses need all of those things. Compare your sketch to sample plans online.

6. Redraw the floor plan now with your mistakes corrected. Draw this second iteration to scale. Use a scale of one box of graph paper equals one foot.

7. Take photos of houses that you like and that you want your house to look like. Walk around your town and other towns. Build a "dream book" of sample pictures. Begin to collect paint chips at the hardware store too. Add these to your dream book while you shop around for a draftsman to transform your sketches into an actual floor plan.

8. A good draftsman will also make suggestions. He or she may spot things in your design that can cause problems such as too narrow hallways, odd door placements, and things that can make a home uncomfortable. It's a give and take process to get to the final blueprint for construction.

Tips & Warnings

• Partner with an architect or draftsman to transform your homemade sketches into an actual blueprint.