Aside from location, one of the biggest decisions you will have to make when planning for your custom home in Northern Virginia is what type of floor plan you want. Sekas Homes understands there are many factors to consider when choosing your floor plan:
Establish a budget. While this might seem like an obvious first step, your budget will determine the size of lot and therefore the size of your custom luxury home.
Research other floor plans. Consult a variety of floor plans to determine what you like and what you don’t like. And don’t forget to consider your current floor plan. What do you wish you could change about it? Compile and incorporate these changes into your floor plan for your new luxury custom home in Northern Virginia.
Consider the size of your lot. When thinking about the size of your floor plan, remember to factor outdoor space as well as indoor space. For example, are you interested in porches, decks or balconies? How much garage space do you want? Finally, calculate how much indoor square footage you want.
Decide how many floors you want. Do you want one, two, three or more stories? Are you considering a loft? What about needing a finished lower level? Visualize what indoor and outdoor square footage will cover these stories.
Begin to plan your interior. Consider not only the numbers of rooms you want, but also the size of these rooms. Sure you’ll have a kitchen, but will you have a small or large kitchen? Consider your lifestyle when planning your interior. If you plan to have house guests often, this will impact the number of extra bedrooms you might need. Don’t forget bathrooms! How many full bathrooms do you need verses half bathrooms?
A luxury custom home can be great for entertaining, but you have to factor that need into your floor plan. If you plan on entertaining frequently, you will also want to plan your foyer, dining room, living room and even outdoor area to accommodate a larger number of people. Or if you plan to work from home a lot, remember to plan an office area away from other high noise areas.
Finally, consider the measurements of any existing furniture you plan to incorporate into the new floor plan. Make sure this furniture will fit in your new floor plan, and with adequate walking room around it.
Choose between an open or closed floor plan. Open floor plans are much more common now verses the highly compartmentalized floor plan designs of the past. Once again, consider your lifestyle. If you have children, it might be a plus to have a more open floor plan to monitor your children. Open floor plans are also well suited for entertaining, such as an open kitchen, dining room and living room space.
Decide the layout of the rooms. You should also heavily consider your lifestyle before you determine your room layout. If you have young children, do you want the children’s bedrooms near your bedroom? Do you want all the bedrooms on the same floor? And think about what rooms you want to receive the best natural light, for example, the kitchen, living room, owner’s bedroom, etc.
If you need more ideas, check out our Northern Virginia communities.
