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Home remodeling blog from Home Indeed in the Cedar Valley, IA. Home design, renovation inspiration, and more!

Tips for Designing an Efficient Layout for Your Home

Home remodeling comes in various shapes and sizes. Sometimes, you simply need to refresh your house with a handful of cosmetic upgrades and new elements. Other times, you may desire a more comprehensive overhaul of the space.

If it’s not merely the design style causing you frustration or inconvenience but how your home or a specific room functions as a whole, you may want to consider designing a new layout. While changing your layout expands the scope of a remodeling project, impacting the timeframe and cost, it can revolutionize how your home looks, feels and performs to better suit your family for the future.

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Tips for Designing an Efficient Layout for Your Home

Creating a Balanced, Efficient Layout

To give your home, kitchen or bathroom in Cedar Valley a new layout, you should expect to spend more time on the research and design phase to make sure you develop a smart, feasible plan that optimizes your available space. If your home could benefit from a new layout, here are a few tips to help you get started:

1. Determine the Purpose of Your Remodel

The objective of layout strategy is to tailor the space in your house to serve specific purposes. Before you go changing your layout, you want to make sure you have a clearly identified purpose and goal. Do you want a more spacious, open layout for socializing as a family and hosting events? Does your home feel dark, narrow or cramped? Do you want to place your kitchen components in a more logical, convenient arrangement? Are you in need of more livable or storage space to accommodate a growing family? Do you want to enhance the energy efficiency of your home?

As you determine the answers to these and other questions, you can start figuring out what you need to do to achieve the purpose of your remodel and fashion a clear, cohesive design plan. Also, keep in mind that sometimes the best place to start is by asking yourself what you don’t like about your current space. From there, you can explore possible solutions and ideas for making the necessary change.

2. Improve Accessibility

An efficient layout is one that enables your space to be used by various household members, regardless of age or ability. As such, it should be easily accessible. If you have cramped corners or alcoves that can’t accommodate furniture or other items to make them useful, that’s effectively wasted space. The same can be said for storage space that’s inaccessible. As you’re designing a new layout for your home, think about how you can improve the accessibility of the space as a whole, as well as individual components. Your family members should be able to move from room to room without feeling uncomfortable or awkward, which may mean adding new entrances or removing a wall between rooms for an open layout. You may also want to change the type of storage you have or where it's located. 

3. Utilize Your Space

Building a new layout for your home or a specific room, like a kitchen or bathroom, is a major remodeling project and you should expect for it to involve tasks like knocking down or moving walls and rerouting your electrical and mechanical systems. However, it’s still prudent to consider the current infrastructure of your home and how to make the most of it. 

Also, don’t neglect to factor in how to utilize dead space, or those nooks and corners that generally attract clutter. If you can’t reconfigure the layout to integrate the dead space in a practical way, consider adding a window seat, creating a tiny home office or setting up a play area for your children. Your general contractor in the Cedar Valley may also have ideas and solutions for maximizing the use of your residential space. 

4. Allow for Easy Circulation

One of the most effective ways to improve circulation in your home is to ensure you have enough windows and, just as importantly, that they’re properly placed to allow for cross flow. You may also need to install a new ventilation system, exhaust fans or attic vents. However, sometimes the physical layout of your home impedes the circulation. Inconveniently placed walls can create pockets where stale air collects, leading to moisture buildup and potentially mold and mildew. Designing an open floor plan for your kitchen-dining area or your whole home can increase the circulation, which has positive health benefits and enhances energy efficiency.  

5. Maximize Lighting

Lighting is a vital part of your home design. Many people simply incorporate random lighting elements without first establishing a master plan for how the elements complement one another. Consider how to efficiently light your kitchen or bathroom. A perfectly balanced template blends both natural and artificial light to prevent your home from feeling too dark and gloomy or overly sterile.  

On a more basic level, think carefully about your paint selection, as the color palettes you choose can be one of the most cost-effective ways to harmoniously connect your spaces. Colors evoke different moods. They can be used to make a room feel larger and lighter or warm and cozy. You should also avoid creating disjointed rooms or spaces by choosing clashing colors. Keep in mind the outside surroundings of your house can impact the temperature of the light and how it reflects off your interior walls.

6. Add Outlets and Switches

As you’re designing a new layout for your home in Northeast Iowa, think ahead to how you want to place furniture and what appliances—both large and small—you plan to plug in where. This gives you a clear picture of where you should add new electrical outlets, light switches and other controls so they can be used and accessed easily and efficiently in the future. You don’t want light switches and outlets to be covered by bookcases or other large furniture, and you want plenty of energy sources situated by your desk or the couch so you can plug in office equipment or multiple devices.

Reconfiguring Your Home in Cedar Valley

Reconfiguring various spaces in your house or adding on to implement a new layout or design is a major project, but it can transform the space to make your homelife more comfortable, convenient and gratifying for years to come. Even if you simply know you need a change but don’t have a clear vision yet, Home Indeed can work with you to design a layout for your space that’s attractive, functional and complements your unique lifestyle.

 

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