Looking for an easy-to-use floor plan app

last month

last modified: last month

Hi everyone! We're about to start renovating the existing extension on the back of our 1875 Victorian cottage. Living in a remote area of Victoria means that it has been hard to nail down a draughts-person willing to travel and help us sketch-up a workable plan. We have been toing and froing on design ideas for the best part of a year! Much of the work will be undertaken by ourselves, with the help of our builder neighbour. The intention is to work with what we have (footprint-wise), and remove the central passageway walls in this area to create one large space (thankfully, not load-bearing!). Basically, the current layout does not work for us - central, narrow, dark passage; kitchen off to the right; dining area (with bathroom beyond) off to the left. Husband wants to move the kitchen to the existing dining room side so that we can eventually convert the old bathroom into a walk-in pantry in one half, and create a laundry in the other half. We plan to install larger windows, double French doors which will lead onto a deck in due course, and replace (and relocate) the existing back door with a full glass one - to maximize on light. The extension is on the south side, has a small step-down from the rest of the house, and a lower ceiling with a slight slope. It runs the width of the house. Neither of us is particularly good at drawing up plans, so if anyone has any ideas, or can come up with a fail-proof, easy to understand app, we will be most appreciative of your help and guidance in how to use it. Many big thanks!

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Melt In ACT

last month

If you have plans (even hand drawn) plus some photos of current openings that would be useful.

Is your council particularly picky in approving works to older homes?

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Comments (7)

Cee
last month
I will be following your post - my plans are currently circle blobs on paper ;)

Here is a list I found... my son also suggested SketchUp.
aussiebushgirl thanked Cee
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Congratulations, really good bones, lots of nice natural light. I was a bit unsure if you were about to do kitchen laundry. The current kitchen looks neat and tidy but here are a few thoughts if that is what you are about to do. I love bamboo floors. Would be good to see what they look like. Some thoughts Structurally are you able to take out the two kitchen walls that enclose the kitchen from the living dining. Leave the entrance wall in creating an open plan living dining with either a peninsula or an island bench with breakfast bar. Keep that area closed from rest of the house as is now to save on your heating cooling costs. Can you locate the laundry into the current mud room and perhaps expand that room - though functionally it is a long way from the rest of house. It may pay to get a building designer to help you. The fee would be worth it. Especially if changing structural features like walls. Court yard - are you able to put a roof over it then you would be able to walk to games room under cover depending how much access you would like to that room and how frequently you would use it. However you would behave box gutters and they would need to be able to take high volumes of rain Good luck and keep us posted with updates.
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Learn Sketchup is on my to do list. I use the IKEA and Reece online tools, which are good for quick mockups to help visualise the space with basic 3D rendering, but they can be a bit buggy and of course only have their own products to work with. I use Illustrator and photoshop for quick plans and mockups too, but only because I have a graphic design background.
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great, has the plumbing already been installed as there could be some other options but it's always good to have external access to a place to walk in with dirty shoes, to have an air lock to save letting out all your heat and have outside access to the toilet through the rear or front entries but hope you notice that this is at the expense of the original built in shelves in the family room and increases the family room deck to allow for the doorways to the rear mudroom (and bonus external sliding door off the study) btw i've also enlarged the south entry foyer to allow for enough space to walk through with the door open and for several people to stand there at once and strongly suggest you consider sliding cavity doors (full height?) to separate the front entry from family room and family room from bedrooms to zone sound and heating..should be a gorgeous house
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obviously there are some "professionals" operating to arguably less than professional standards and unfortunately they contribute to the confusion of the value of what we do, and make it harder for you guys to trust us at the time that you actually most needs us. There is also a significant difference between a Pro who knows what their doing properly clarifying/translating information as required throughout the design process, to having the subtleties and complexity dumbed down for the sake of "plain language" that risks misinterpretation and underestimation of what's involved. I completely agree, it's often made way harder than it needs to be, and I think again it's horses for courses and certainly there are many professionals who would arguably be best utilised for their skills specifically contained to within the professional industry boundaries, yet others who are naturally better at "bridging the gap" and liaising/working/communicating seamlessly with both the clients and the industry. Unfortunately, to the average punter it's very very difficult to distinguish and gauge these critical key differences between the various Pro's.
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aussiebushgirl
Original Author
last month
Thank you both so much! I will keep you updated on what works best for us technophobics.
oklouise
last month
last modified: last month
if you post a rough hand drawn sketch with dimensions of your original house (including location of windows, doors and all sinks and toilets) a site plan showing length and width of your block, distance from existing outside walls to all boundaries, location of north, a Google Earth image and/or photos showing the roof and a wish list i can make a basic plan for you and other HOUZZERS can offer suggestion but you''ll eventually need to have a draughtsperson make on site measurements and a final plan for Council and your builder but a floor plan app won't tell you how to fit everything in or know the building regulations and structural issues ....for that you will need professional advice but hopefully your builder neighbour has already advised about removing load bearing walls etc
aussiebushgirl
Original Author
last month
Thanks oklouise! We'll try and get most of it together, then pass it to you for comment. I'd just like to mention that we will not be altering the footprint of the extension itself, except to remove two non load-bearing walls that currently comprise the passage. The intention is to open it up into one large space, with two separate zones - kitchen + relaxed diner-type dining area. The biggest change so far has been the removal of the old woodstove alcove and exterior chimney in the kitchen. It was in a bad state, leaking and leaning to starboard! Sadly it had to go. However, if we decide to keep the kitchen where it is, the wall it stood on will give us a blank canvas and some wriggle room to work with. The alternative plan is to move the kitchen across the hallway and into the old dining zone, the objective being that we will later re-fashion the current bathroom off the dining area into two zones - a walk-in pantry + a separate laundry. Since we are not going to make any dramatic changes to the existing extension, except install new windows and doors, Council and a draughtsperson are not really needed. Our aim is to gather as much inspo from the kind people here, as to what will be the best layout in both zones to suit our needs. This is the biggest issue we have faced so far! We can't seem to agree which side of the extension the kitchen should go, and the best footprint/layout in this area. Until we get that sorted in our heads, we cannot position the windows or doors!

I will take some pictures of the extension to give you a better idea, together with the dimensions and positions of windows and door. We plan to install a double French door off one of these areas, and have a full glass door which we'd like to use as a back door - so this would need to be incorporated into the plan. I had thought about positioning it where the old wood stove had been, but since that's on the west side of the house, it gets extremely hot in the afternoons. Give me a couple of days to gather it all together for you. We'd be so thankful for any input from yourself, and others. Design and layout are toughies! For the most part we are aiming for a "de-constructed" type modern farmhouse kitchen where less is more.
PRO
MB Design & Drafting
last month
Hand drawn plans are still acceptable to most councils. Go with that or perhaps use Sketchup. If using Sketchup you could draw it in 3D or you can 2D draw too.

The advantage of a designer on board is that they know good design (obviously) and what is required for council approvals, in your case probably need approvals for new and/or relocated windows and doors, relocating kitchen (relocating a non habitual area to a habitable area and vice versa), etc., etc.
PRO
Kitchen and Home Sketch Designs
last month
Hello Aussie Bush Girl, I would be more than happy to assist you: this is what I am best at! Getting plan right for you and your family. I do not do working drawings but the scaled sketch designs with all the plan, layout, construction, practicality, functionality and sensitivity resolved! If you would like to ring me we can chat about the best way forward and I will, no doubt ask you about 25 questions! We can do this via emails, phones and pictures. Look forward to chatting and fixing this for you. Cheers Margot

Looking for an easy-to-use floor plan app

Melt In ACT

Comments (7)

Cee

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