Professional designers are familiar with the saying: “good design is obvious, great design is transparent.” We use many things each day, from doors to websites, without realizing that seamless user experience is the result of a lot of hard work on the designers’ end.
The implications of this transparency can be a problem for the homeowner who’s trying to spice up their interior. Many of them are laypersons making a DIY job of someone’s specialty. When you search for Pinterest or other online resources for inspiration, you can get caught up in details but miss the underlying structure that makes everything work.
Revamping your interior plan is a great DIY project, but you should always proceed with care and well-considered design. Sometimes, structural work requires the expertise of drywall finishers at longhillcontracting.com. But there are other, less obvious ways in which structure can affect your home. Here’s why you need to understand the way layout affects your living experience before committing to a new floor plan.
The layout can alter the function
Your existing floor plan determines the functional spaces on each level: the number of bedrooms, bathrooms, available storage space, the size of the kitchen and living room, and so on. No doubt you’ll have that in mind as you proceed to make some changes of your own.
Perhaps you want to set up a home office area for remote work. But unless you’re adding an extension to your property, that office space has to come from somewhere. If you convert an existing room, does the floor area suffice, and do you have the necessary wiring? Or will you need to alter other rooms as well to accommodate these changes?
Simply knocking down a wall to create a more open space can significantly alter the functionality available. A bigger unified floor area might unlock more potential uses. But it can also lose a degree of privacy and silence that’s essential for focusing on your work. That is particularly noticeable when you replace a wall with a different kind of partition, such as a sliding glass wall or a shelf.
It affects flow
Whenever you reshape space, you also affect the movement of people within those confines. This tactic is frequently employed by retail store managers, for instance. They deliberately create points of interest deeper within the store and arrange shelves to facilitate foot traffic and increase exposure for their merchandise.
In the same way, you can be intentional when it comes to your floor plan, and use it to direct movement. With a busy area such as the living room, you can create a path using furniture and art objects, such as wall hangings, that help keep people interested. They will feel comfortable in this assigned space, instead of restless. That limits the traffic going to the other areas of the house.
But flow isn’t just people walking around. The ancient traditions of vastu shastra in India and feng shui in China both believe that homes contain energy flows. By arranging your home in a specific way, you can enhance the flow of energy, thus bringing a greater sense of positivity and balance to your living space.
It influences mood and perception
Even if you don’t ascribe any importance to such esoteric traditions, you can’t overlook the fact that layout also affects the mood and perception of individuals within a space. A room can look bigger if you use light colors and reduce clutter, but if you don’t arrange the furniture rightly, it can partition that space and negate the effect.
Perhaps inspired by the concept of an artist’s loft, homeowners can feel tempted to knock out a ceiling and create a similar airy space in their homes. Indeed, such wide-open floor plans may be conducive to movement and a variety of purposes in your home. But you’ll instantly get a different vibe if you dedicate a smaller space to a single task. A cozy little study with warm lighting can be a much better area for you to read in peace.
The layout is just one of many factors that can contribute to the overall aesthetic you desire. Indeed, you can use materials, color, tones, and lighting to significant effect. But you’ll get the best results, not to mention value for money, when you can align all of these design variables. So as you search for visual inspiration, pay attention to that transparent aspect of great design. You’ll be able to execute better when your floor plan matches your intent.
