Tools to Lay out Rooms to Scale

Grid Paper

• Grid paper is printed with perfectly sized squares, each a percentage of an inch. Grid paper with squares that are 1/4 inch in size work well for laying out a room on paper. Each square represents 1 foot of your room. Draw the outline of your room, with each wall represented to scale, and draw in doors and windows. Now you have a blank canvas for design and decorating.

Measuring Tape

• To lay out your room on paper, you need a good measuring tape. Start by measuring the length of each wall. Translate these measurements to scale by allowing for one 1/4 inch square per foot. For instance, for a 12-foot wall, you need 12 quarter-inch grids on the paper. Look at your room, and note each interruption to the walls, which would include doors, windows and fireplaces. Measure the distance from the nearest wall corner to the first interruption and then the width of the interruption itself.

Ruler

• A ruler helps you draw straight lines on your grid paper, and you'll also use a ruler to help draw the interruptions in the wall. For a window, draw a short line across the wall line, one at each end of the window space. For a door, you'll draw a diagonal line that corresponds to the scale width of the door, coming out from the wall where it sits. Bifold doors are made by drawing upside down V shapes.

Scale Furniture

• The Internet offers several ready-to-print options for one-quarter scale furniture. Buildwise.org is one site that has two pages of these cutouts. Cut out the scale furniture that corresponds to your real furniture. Now you can lay it out on the grid paper scale room and rearrange it without breaking a sweat. Keep your cutouts handy, and you can judge where to put a new piece of furniture to decide whether or not to buy it or where it will fit best in your space.