The key factors with any home is 1. The home addresses your families needs. 2. Potential room to expand if you need to. 3. The layout is one
that offers the greatest use of space and comfort. Lets examine the
third factor in this article, layout. Many many times the importance of
layout is overlooked when people do initial searches for homes. Buyers
tend to zero in on square footage and use that to assess their family's
needs over everything else. Additionally many believe that open concept
design automatically means a better more functional layout and this too
is not really always the case.
Things to Consider:
When thinking in terms of good layout vs. bad layout, one thing that
is a basic way to determine which is which is to think flow. Imagine the
home you are looking at, beyond the furniture inside. Think of the home
when it is empty. Imagine it being filled with a steady stream of water
from the entrance. Ask yourself, will the flow have to navigate around a
lot of structural obstacles, or could it flow rather easily from one
living space to the next. Chances are if you see it not having an issue
in the living areas, that means the layout is conducive to good flow
potential. Also look around the spaces to see if furniture arrangements
will work with the best flow a space has. Many times a home can have
great flow potential but due to bad design allow for limited furniture
placement which may interrupt that flow. On the other side what may seem
like a home with a bad layout may be due to the fact the homeowner is
not using the space to its advantage. If you rule out that and the home
still feels “choppy” chances are the square footage wont matter, the
flow will still be off.
Read more here:
Layout vs Square footage in home design - Columbia home and living | Examiner.com
