Line Work Makes the Design Work
“What in the world am I looking at?” As an interior designer, I get that question from my clients all the time. The truth is, I don’t expect you to understand every drawing detail or how it will impact your overall design and execution. However, I do want you to understand when starting a project, is what you need from designers/ contractors and why you need it from them.
Each drawing element provides it’s own unique perspective in creating the complete story of your space. I will break down the importance of each and a few quick tips that you should be looking for in each.
Dimensioned Space Plan:
At it’s core, your dimensioned space plan will help you discover what walls need to be removed, what new walls have to be built, plot existing furniture as needed, discern dimensions for any new furniture, determine recommended clearances/ accessibility and maximize the use of your space to meet your needs.
This is the absolute basic drawing that you will need when redesigning a space. From here you can think through design components like overhangs, adjacency requirements, and develop construction documents for permitting. An accurately dimensioned and to scale drawing is key in providing a successful renovation project.
Outlet Plan:
Your outlet plan will help your electrician determine his wiring path of travel, as well as, the required usage based on your computer, telephone, TV and all your data needs. While I am not an expert in power specifications I do know that you need to think through electrical locations to optimize the equipment in your home or office. For example, if you locate your WiFi router near your microwave (or think you can just through it where ever is convenient) then you are not maximizing it’s use. This works for a multitude of other pieces of equipment as well. Thinking through these outlet locations should not just be based on code requirements but in easy tech management (think of convenience of plugging in vacuums and other mobile equipment) but in reducing the messy cords as well.
Lighting Plan:
While similar in thought to an outlet plan your lighting plan (Reflected Ceiling Plan or RCP) is created so you can focus on your general lighting, but also determine areas that will need supplement lighting. There are many ways to compliment overall lighting, such as ambient light that creates a cozier mood, working smarter with task lighting, and making it look good with beautiful decorative lighting (that may or may not add any real value other than aesthetics). It also determines how all of those fixtures will connect to switches as you move throughout each room. I’ve seen some very odd things done in regards to switching locations. Also, the obvious place for lighting is on the ceiling, but think about the other options: walls (sconces), inside drawers or cabinets for convenience, under wall cabinets and inside toe-kicks just to name a few other options.
2D Wall Elevations
After you have your overall design details figured out with your plans, the next thing to do is go vertical. In-depth design details come next with 2D elevations. Taking time to work through size, height and function of your furniture, cabinetry, and structural elements will help you assess these design details in a comprehensive way. Is there adequate storage? Will there be enough work space? What sizes of artwork/ wall art/ mirrors can I hang? How large can my windows be? The best part is, you will have a very good idea of how the final product will look installed — even before a hammer is swung on demo day.
Connecting the puzzle pieces of an office or home renovation is not easy if it’s not something that you are used to seeing day-in and day-out. It may seem like a tedious process when your designer, contractor or architect is reviewing all of these elements with you, but we hope that you do express all questions and concerns before you get to the part that you see at the end; because by then it is often too late and timely/ costly process to rework.