Building Design

Design and layout are essential to making your house into a home. Often, buyers will not be specifically aware of bad layout design, but will feel uncomfortable without quite knowing why. A poorly placed wall, a strange arrangement of rooms or an awkward passageway can subconsciously destroy the atmosphere of a beautiful house. Some common errors in layout that cause many complaints include:

• Bathroom in full view at end of hallway.
• Inside staircase facing the entrance.
• Hallway facing the entrance.
• Bedrooms located off a central room (i.e. living or dining room).
• No visibility from one room to another.
• Dining room in the centre.
• Adjoining bedrooms.

Open areas create an illusion of space, and being able to see several rooms from one central point helps to make the house appear larger. Multiple doorways or arches are a good way to create openness and easy access to shared spaces such as the living room. If you have to navigate through many different rooms to get to a destination, you will quickly become frustrated. Straight paths and hallways create easy accessibility.