Space Planning as Foundation

“Our living spaces need to do more than just look good, they must efficiently serve our daily needs.”

- Rory Everitt

Space planning is the first step in creating a functional interior. It involves analyzing how a space will be used and creating a program to design to.

All good designs starts with critical thinking, which is facilitated by writing. Who will use the space and how?

Assessing Your Needs

Ask yourself:

• How do you use the space?

• Who else will be using the space?

• What activities will take place there and how often?

By thinking through answers to these questions - and other questions like them - you can create a plan that works for your unique lifestyle. This informs what we call your interior program.

There will usually be tradeoffs to be debated and activities that need to be prioritized. For example, if you host 16 people once a year, do you optimize your dining arrangement for that Holiday or for the daily meals that you and your partner enjoy together? 

A good interior designer is well versed in ethnographic research and excels at uncovering your needs. They can also help navigate tradeoffs and competing priorities between stakeholders, to arrive at a functional room layout that will be pleasurable for all parties involved.

Overlay the program on the spaces

Take your program and assign each bullet to a space within your home. This is your space plan, which helps organize all of your functional needs. For example, here’s how we thought about a client’s home entryway:

Public entry - for house visitors to use

• Place to sit, while visitors take their shoes off and on

• Space to temporarily store up to 10 pairs of shoes

• Place to set down a heavy package or other items being carried into the home

• Hooks to hang jackets, hats, and scarves

• Place to set or hang purses and bags

Mudroom - for the family to use, with primary access coming from the garage

• Place to sit, while taking shoes off and on

• Space to house 30 pairs of shoes, including tall boots

• Place to set backpacks and school supplies

• Place to hang child jackets, at height appropriate for an elementary-school-aged child

• Quick access to jackets, hats, scarves and other items in heavy use

• Hangars for storage of other jackets

• Storage for sunglasses, gloves, hats, sunscreen, umbrellas, and shopping bags

• Storage for kid and adult sports equipment

• Drop zone for mail and things coming out of the car

Create a space plan by assigning functional needs to specific areas within your home

Create Zones

In larger spaces, consider creating zones for different activities. For example, in a living room, you might have a reading nook, a TV area, and a play space for children. This zoning helps to organize the space and makes it more functional by creating visible spaces for key activities.

This strategy goes back hundreds of years - in the royal palaces of England and France, those massive rooms were made much more approachable through careful grouping of furniture, that broke down the overwhelming footprint into usable areas.

Ready to Elevate Your Home?

A well-designed home brings joy every day because it’s both practical and beautiful. Schedule your introductory call to see how Rory Everitt Design can help.