How to Make a Room Blueprint

Walk the room boundaries with a pad and pencil. Jot down measurements within the space. Include floor dimensions, window and door opening measurements, plus nooks, crannies, enclaves, support posts and architectural elements that alter the room's configuration. Double check your measurements with a second tour of the room’s periphery to make certain you didn’t forget to record something.

Calculate the room's ratio of feet to inches if you’re not using graph paper to plot your blueprint. The easiest substitution to recall is that 1 inch equals 1 foot.

Buy an architect’s scale from a shop that sells drafting supplies if you want to use a professional guide to tackle this part of the task. These scales are fairly simple to use and calculate increments of 1/4 inch per foot of floor space, so you’ll be working on a smaller scale.

Choose a paper stock. If you’re blueprinting a small room, you probably won’t require anything beyond a standard 8.5-by-11-inch sheet of paper to do the job. Blueprint paper comes in 18-by-36-inch and 24-by-36-inch sheets.

Buy sheets of blueprint stock if you're drafting on a bigger scale or have a really large room to plot. Tape your paper to your worktable so it doesn’t slide around as you work.

Use a yardstick, T-square or a hard-edged ruler with a pencil to outline your room shape based on your calculations. Don't worry about doors, closets, windows and other features at this point. Once the room shape is in place, use markers to add elements that point out the room’s features.

Draw two parallel lines to indicate a wall. Two stacked, horizontal boxes symbolize window placement. A fan-like single line originating at a point of entry indicates the amount of floor space needed to open and close doors.

Add symbols for electrical elements like outlets, plugs, wall switches and wall lights. Drafting professionals use small boxes with a circle at the end to indicate an electric source, though you can color code elements on your homemade blueprint to make it easier to understand. Add a legend explaining that red boxes stand for outlets, blue boxes indicate light switches, etc.

Add furnishings to your room blueprint using the same math calculations you employed to plot out the room dimensions. Mark each door and window with a number or letter. Create a chart that lists each so your blueprint includes exact dimensions.

Or you could skip these instructions and head straight for a website that allows you to construct your blueprint online using a template.