Brief
The best small house design uses every inch of your floor plan to its maximum potential. Get some expert advice and inspiration with our compact home guide.
Insight
Even if you’re building a modest property, small house design will help you make the very most of your space, ensuring its an inspiring space to spend time in.
That’s one of the main benefits of self build — the chance to make a home, no matter its size, work to its full potential means that even a limited budget can go a long way in creating a house that’s a dream to live-in.
But just how do you design a house on a small floorplan that’s a joy to live in? House designer Pete Tonks offers his top tips for planning a small house design
Floor Plan Advice for a Small House Design
When it comes to small house design, learn to think in three dimensions rather than two. If you are knee-deep in floor plans and your architect/designer is feeding you with ideas left, right and centre, it is often difficult to comprehend how the spaces within the design will actually function and connect to one another.
The increased use of 3D modelling and more recently, virtual walk-through modelling, allows us as designers to explore potential spaces in ways we have never been able to do fully before. However, this isn’t limited to professional architects, there are plenty of home design apps you can download to model your home with too.
Beyond your floor plans therefore, think about the spaces and environment below your feet and above your head.
Perceived space can be visually expanded by a subtle change in floor levels such as a sunken lounge or family snug zone, or you could incorporate cantilevered floor decks at first floor level which in effect project the floor zones out above the ground floor in a ‘floating’ fashion.
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