On the House Hunt? Draw a Floor Plan.

The other day while on the new-home hunt, I ran across a home with a living room that literally did not have space for a sofa. The arrangement of the windows, doorways and staircase made it completely impossible to put a sofa in the room without blocking a walkway. And that’s not the only wonky room I’ve seen.

Dining rooms too small for a decent sized dining table. Bedrooms too narrow for a bed. Family rooms with no spot for a TV. Wonky, poorly-planned rooms are everywhere. And the sad part? Most people don’t realize their rooms are wonky until after moving in.

Empty rooms are deceiving. When you walk through an empty home, you assume the furniture will fit in each room. But there are no guarantees. And if the home does have furniture in it, there’s often so much to take in you don’t notice you have to suck in and shimmy against the wall to get around your dining table. Or even worse, you assume they just arranged the furniture poorly. But that may be the only arrangement that works.

So before you sign on that dotted line, always draw a floor plan. Sure, your realtor or potential new landlord may think you’re a little crazy when you whip out a tape measure. But it’s well worth it, because you’ll know without a doubt that your new home will work for you and the way you live.

And don’t worry about it being perfect. Your floor plan doesn’t need to be pretty. You just need to make sure your furniture — or any furniture — will indeed fit.

If you need help drawing floor plans or would like to discover how to make yours better, pick up a copy of my how-to decorating book. I go into great detail about how to create and optimize your floor plan, which happens to be my favorite part of decorating.

Happy hunting — and drawing!