Creating a House Floor Plan

Draw the shape of your ground floor of your house on paper. Measure the width and length of the outside of your house. This gives you your house's footprint. Write the measurements on the plan along each line that you've drawn. Note that right now, you're making a rough drawing that isn't exactly to scale.

Draw the shape of your living room floor on a separate piece of paper. Measure the walls in the room and write down their lengths on the appropriate line in the diagram. Measure how wide each window is and far it is in for the corner of the room. Mark the window on the plan using a heavy line in the appropriate place on the wall line. Mark the position and size of any doors in the living room also in a heavy line. Label the plan as "living room". Repeat this for your dining room and bedrooms, labeling each draft plan appropriately. For the bedrooms, mark any built-in closets on the plan.

Draw the shape of your kitchen floor on a separate piece of paper. Measure the lengths of the walls and write these numbers on the plan. Draw in the position and size of the windows and doors. Measure the widths of the stove, freezer, dishwasher and any other kitchen appliances and cabinets and their placement in the kitchen. Draw these on the plan in black pen as rectangles in the appropriate places. Label the plan. Repeat this for your bathrooms, indicating the size and position of the bathroom fixtures.

Use your draft plan of the house's footprint to calculate the scale to which to draw the plan on graph paper. Start with one square equaling 1 foot, and adjust this so that your plan will take up most of the graph paper. Write the scale on the bottom of the graph paper.

Separate the draft plans according to which story of the house each is on. Arrange the plans for each story in the order that reflects the design on your house.

Transfer the draft plans for the ground floor rooms to the graph paper, paying attention to the scale. Write in all the measurements you have taken. Use a pencil in case you have to erase a line. Mark in the placement and width of the stairs, and whether they go upstairs or downstairs. Check the plan to ensure that you haven't left anything out and all the space is accounted for. Repeat this for each story of your house. Ensure that the stair placement lines up on each plan.

Take the appropriate story's scale plan back to each room. Measure the placement of the electrical sockets along each wall and enter them onto the correct place on the plan by writing an X on the line representing that wall. Do the same for any overhead light fixture, marking its position with a circle in the appropriate place in the room.