The most popular layout today includes either a bar built into the counter space or a breakfast nook directly connected to the kitchen for the morning meals. That bar or the table in the nook is a great place for the kids to do home work or school projects not to mention a place for mom or dad to balance the check book or some other task.
A properly designed kitchen also should not be hard to work in. For instance, it should be layed out so that there is no more than a twelve to fourteen foot triangle between the stove, sink, and refrigerator. This method allows for less steps and more cooking.
Natural light should also be a major consideration. A good sized window should be placed directly over the sink if possible. If it isn’t possible, then there should be large windows in the nook area to reflect light back into the cooking area.
There should be plenty of storage space whenever possible that would include a pantry integrated into a closet in easy reach from the cabinets. In corner cabinets, A Lazy Susan should be installed. A Lazy Susan is a rotating set of shelves installed so that everything can be reached by turning a carousel of shelves.
Drawers are very important for storing silverware and a good planner will make sure there are some deep drawers for those catch all things that always seem to show up in the kitchen. Actually, junk drawers aren’t a bad idea for keeping the kitchen tidy. Some cabinet companies have racks built into special cabinets that pull out like drawers for storing pots and pans that are hung on special runners for saving space.
Time and labor savers like a dishwasher should always be installed near the sink. Other appliances to be considered would be a built in microwave for quick snacks and warming meals.
About the Author
Tim Davis is an Architectural Designer with 30 years experience. And he does not believe you should spend a fortune designing your home. His website is at http://customhouseplans.8m.com
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( 3.1 / 64 )When designing a home, my belief is that there is no method to use other than simplicity even in the largest houses. The greatest problem when laying out a large home is the danger of allowing the design to become monotonous. Monotony is the greatest causes of home owners becoming bored with their new home shortly after it is built. Simplicity more or less eliminates this possibility.
What I mean by simplicity is that there shouldn’t be a maze of hallways. There is more space wasted by designers adding halls to the plan than most any other cause. And rooms should flow together with one another with access to most all area’s of the home available to those rooms. Some call this method the open floor plan concept. The Kitchen should be serviceable enough for two or more people to freely move around the room and the dining / nook rooms shouldn’t be far away from it.
Be patient with your designer. It will pay off in the long run. There are times I have seen the owner insist that the work be rushed, sometimes ending in a catastrophe of an under designed home or one whose function is not what it should be. Communicate with them and let this professional know what you are hoping for so he or she can put your individuality into every room and then trust their training and experience.
Our home is our castle no matter how humble it may be. It is where we should spend the happiest and most memorable moments of our lives. Therefore it should be built to look attractive so that the father, mother, and the children can feel that there is really “no place like home”. Sounds corny I know, but you know it is true.
About the Author
Tim Davis is an Architectural Designer with 30 years experience. And he does not believe you should spend a fortune designing your home. His website is at http://customhouseplans.8m.com
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( 2.9 / 61 )Personally, I'm a man of few hobbies and plenty of interests. What I mean by that is I very seldom spend time just playing or tinkering. I guess that's called being goal oriented. Whatever it's called, I've tried a multitude of diversions like flying, reading, fishing, boating, farming, art, etc. and none ever seemed to fill the relaxation goal I was shooting for.
That is until I started doing carpentry. I started off just working with the basic tools like a hammer and saw. I had to build a book shelf so the family books wouldn't be cluttering the house. And it was a masterpiece to be sure if a square box with a shelf in the middle of the box can be considered a masterpiece. The thing is that I took note of how much I enjoyed this simple task and started looking for other things to build. I started asking my wife if she needed items built for the house and the "honey do" list started to compile. And with each project completed for my wife, I noticed the stress going out the window. And the cool part of it was that while I was playing with the carpentry tools, I was having a blast.
It's a scary thought guys, I know. A wife can sometimes make a to do list for you that would scare off even the bravest of souls. But that's how it began. But wives have buddies and if the word gets out, next thing you know other ladies and even buddies of your own are asking you to build things. Hey but that's OK, with the exception of my wife’s projects, I tend to pick and choose what I build.
My doctor was surprised at how my blood pressure has gone down as a result and my concentration has improved ten fold. It's possible I've even added years to my life just eliminating all that stress. It's not that I've stopped working and devoted all my time to the wood shop. No, I'm still a goal type of guy. I just have something I can look forward to after stress starts to build in my life.
Years have passed now since that first book case and I have built so many different things and accumulated so many different tools that I now have my own personal play house complete with all the toys. We are talking routers, various power saws, table saw, lathe, drill press, band saw, 6 varieties of drills, radial arm saw, power mitre saw, etc., etc., etc...
And just to let you know how diverse you can be with what you build, here's a list of just some of the things I've built over the years:
Water Wheels
Church Pulpits
Church Pews
Lords Supper Tables
Push Carts
Lawn Furniture
Gates and Fences
Car Consoles
Tool Boxes
And the list goes on and on.
About the Author
Tim Davis has created a very complete course on learning to draw mechanical drawings in a CAD program at http://draftingservice.us/m101/ You will also find some woodworking plans on the site, free to download. If you are looking to learn to read and understand blueprints the author teaches this at http://blueprints.8m.com. Free Woodworking Plans are available at http://woodworkingplans.8m.com
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( 2.9 / 60 )Everyone in the world speaks a language. The definition of language is the expression of thoughts in an understandable way. And if we want to be understood, we learn as much about our language as possible including learning other languages as well. Facts are that I really do not know too many people who prefer to be misunderstood. And to become more proficient, we read books, magazines, newspapers, and practice composition in order to become completely familiar with our language.
However, if we try to describe in words the geometry, appearance, and details of a fixture, machine, house or building, it can be down right impossible using just words in most cases. This is where we need to use another language called the “Graphic Language of Drawing”. So that when our words fail to give a complete or accurate description we look to literature that uses diagrams, pictures, and drawings to better explain the concept of whatever it is we are studying or attempting to build.
This is where drafters come into play. A trained drafter is able to draw an image from many different perspectives so that there is very few questions what a finished object will look like when fabricated. This professional drafter not only creates a pictorial representation of an object, but also gives dimensions and instructions that can be understood in any workshop or construction site.
In the past, the tools of the drafter were pencil, pen, paper, tee square or parallel bar, drafting board, scales, dividers, and templates, but for the most part, with the invention of computer aided drafting tools or CAD for short, the professional can create accurate drawings that can be easily understood by most anyone. That’s not to say that drawing on a drafting board is a lost art. It’s still very common today and a excellent way for the drafter to keep up his discipline and skills.
About the Author
My name is Tim Davis and I draw architectural and mechanical plans for a living. I also teach others how to draw house plans, site plans, mechanical and shop drawings and other types of drafting that I have been trained to do in a virtual classroom on the internet called 101 Info Dot Org at http://101info.org
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( 3 / 49 )Architectural details are drawings that made at a larger scale than the floor plans and elevations. They are used to accurately describe the various methods of construction. The scale of detail drawings vary according to the need. 3/4" = 1' - 0" is a good size for the general details like exterior elevations and wall sections while interior elevations are often made at a scale of 1/2" = 1' - 0". Full size details are drawn when absolute accuracy is needed for things like fine mouldings of a fire place mantel.
The smaller scale details are usually included in the main drawings while full-size details are furnished only to the professional worker who specializes in a particular trade such as the finishing framer, plumber, or H.V.A.C. installer.
The details for most any building consist of the following types of drawings.
A. Vertical wall sections describing all horizontal mouldings, the sill, wall thickness, method of framing the floor into walls, windows, cornice, and roof lines at the cornice.
B. Details on the exterior elevations that could not be shown properly by the 1/4" or 1/8" = 1' - 0" scale elevations.
C. Detailed elevations and sections of the various items in the interior of the house such as doors, fireplaces, stairways, ornamental beams, cornices and other decorative features.
D. Parts of the plan are detailed when necessary.
After the general drawings are completed, the full-size details are drawn, usually in the order in which the building is finished. So then the basement windows are almost always the first full-size details made for the better class of residence work, since these windows must ordered and then delivered before the basement wall can be completed. The interior trim, stair finish, etc., are drawn full sized lastly because that is the last work to be put into the home.
My name is Tim Davis and I draw architectural and mechanical plans for a living. I also teach others how to draw house plans, site plans, mechanical and shop drawings and other types of drafting that I have been trained to do in a virtual classroom on the internet called 101 Info Dot Org at http://101info.org
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