7 Signs Your Floor Plan Needs Work

1. Bad Door Swings

If a door hits another door, abort. This is begging for a daily micro-annoyance at best and crushed fingers or damaged doors at worst. Hinged and bifold doors are easy to spot in a floorplan and change, but don't forget to check cabinet and appliance doors too.

Sometimes open doors can block passageways. Hallway closet doors, bedroom closet doors, and dishwasher doors are frequent offenders. If this happens, consider other solutions. Any block in traffic flow or eye flow will make a house feel smaller.

Sometimes a door may not fully open. A fridge could be too close to a wall preventing it from opening enough to pull out the drawers inside. A toilet might end up being longer nosed than expected so avoid doors that swing out in front of them. Furniture might be a problem too. A builder spec home I lived in had one wall lined with closet doors, one wall shared the entry door and bathroom door, another wall had a double glass patio door that swung open into the room. The only wall available for the bed had an ill placed window meaning in order for the bed placement to look normal, the patio doors couldn't fully open, the door hit the side of the bed.

Consider alternatives. The door could swing another way. Pocket doors, barn doors, sliding doors, accordion doors or curtains may work. A door may not be needed. Closet interiors could be finished to look beautiful without a door.

2. Outside Corners

Inside corners belong inside, outside corners belong outside. Outside corners inside a home can be a red flag a floor plan isn't maximized. Well thought out plans are integrated and appear easy, logical and seamless. Designers who excel in their craft (or artists or athletes) know the appearance of easy only happens after lots of hard work. Do the work. If two walls meet and create an "arrow" pointing somewhere, try to find another way. Otherwise, it can be like puzzles pieces that don't quite fit together.

3) Trapped Corners

A trapped corner is any corner that can't be fully and directly accessed straight on. These difficult to reach or hard to use places require fancy solutions to make them even partially useful. These corners either become like attics, depositories for lost and forgotten things, or remain mostly empty.

In a larger house this may not matter, but if you want a smaller footprint or a more affordable house without needing to be a minimalist, reducing the inefficiencies of trapped corners is key. Closets and kitchens are the biggest offenders of trapped corners.

The easiest way to remove trapped corners in closets is to not frame in closets using hinged or bifold doors. Without these doors, a wall doesn't need to be built to frame the door, without the extra walls the extra trapped corners are removed. Barn doors, sliding doors, no doors, curtains, or frameless cabinetry (i.e. Euro style, like what they sell at Ikea or the Ucreate line at Menards) are good alternatives. Removing trapped corners from kitchens can be trickier, but not impossible. If you can find a way, you will be rewarded with more usable storage and better traffic patterns.

6) No Traffic Circles

Strategic traffic circles create a freer flow of people, which creates more comfort and ease, which creates more satisfaction and a love of a home. It's counter-intuitive but short cuts make a house feel bigger. There is no joy or benefit in walking farther than needed to to go to the bathroom, to get a snack, to put something in storage. The kitchen island is popular for a reason, it's a wonderful traffic circle. Go right or left it doesn't matter, you'll get where you want to go no matter who else might be blocking a path. Common circles are hall bathrooms with a second door to a bedroom, jack and jill bathrooms that connect between to bedrooms, or main floor layouts that go around a staircase or 1/2 bath. Other circles could be a bedroom that doubles as an office or dining room, a mudroom//laundry area that connects to both the kitchen and master bedroom closet, or fun secret or kid-sized doors inside closets or under stairs.

The floor plan below shows a three potential circles and one existing.

4. Front Closets

In smaller homes, critical entry space is too often sacrificed for an unnecessary front closet. Hear me out. Space to maneuver two to four people comfortably at the same time - while simultaneously opening and closing doors - is essential. A place for shoes, coats, and hats is essential. Placing those shoes, coats and hats behind a closed door closet, however, is NOT essential and often sacrifices precious space for multiple people to stand.

Instead, replace front closets with hooks and cubbies (Personal Valet Station) and/or consider an outside swinging door (like they do in Sweden). Hooks and cubbies are easier to use than a traditional closet helping Stuff flow. There will be more room for people to stand improving People flow. Odd shaped rooms and conflicting door swings are eliminated improving Chi flow. Extra square footage becomes visible improving Eye flow. A cabinet style closet can always be added later if desired. Building in the front closet with studs and drywall removes flexibility and removes the possibility of improving other flows.

5) High Traffic Laundry

For a long time laundry machines were only found in basements or laundromats. Now they might be found in mudrooms, kitchens, hallways, or bathrooms. If the machines are in a high trafficked area, like in between the kitchen and an attached garage, there is a 100% likelihood you'll be stepping over clothes on a regular basis. Laundry does better in quieter corners of a home. If that isn't possible, make sure there is room in front of the machines for baskets of laundry as well as room for people to pass in both directions.

The example below shows a two-story home where the laundry is as far away from bedrooms as possible and directly facing the busiest corridor of the home. (Can you spot all the bad door swings too?) The tragedy of this floorplan is the main bedroom upstairs has plenty of space for the laundry machines (shown with the orange circle) but the space is wasted on ill-concieved hallways and a gigantic tub.

6)Toilet Views

There are six places you don't want to see a toilet from.

  1. Walking in the front door.

  2. While laying in bed.

  3. Walking into the kitchen.

  4. Eating at the diner table.

  5. Sitting in the living room.

  6. Being outside a window looking into the house.

From the front curve of every toilet seat draw a straight line and see where it leads. Use 3D renderings to check other angles. Don't be surprised by an over exposed toilet. If needed, a strategic door swing can help block a view too.

7) No Furniture

Lastly, never assume furniture will fit or make sense. Don't trust a floor plan without placing the furniture you plan to use or buy. Check door swings, window swings, window heights, and how much room there is to walk through halls or behind chairs. Think about trim widths too. Wide casings, while beautiful in large homes, may crowd furniture in smaller homes. Having no trim or narrower casings will mean more wall space for longer sofas, tables, or storage furniture.