Where you live is probably one of the most important decisions you’ll ever make during your lifetime. Some people move from place to place, while others wind up living in the same area for 30 years. For many, the ultimate goal is to design a house that encompasses every feature they ever imagined.

To design your own home, the first thing you must do is decide the square footage. That may be limited by your budget as well as the size of the property where the home will be built. Once you have decided on how big your home will be, you need to organise your thoughts and create an outline of your project.

You don’t have to be a professional designer or even know how to drawer particularly well. Your job is to visualize the layout of the home first and worry about the details later. When you design your own home, it may take a week or even longer to come up with the final concept. Be prepared to draw and redraw your floor plan as you hone in on exactly how you want your house to look.

Using graph paper is a good way to draw your design to scale. For example, each box can represent a foot. If you prefer, you can purchase software that will make it easy to experiment with different layouts. When you design a house you must think about everything as a whole. While you may not know much about plumbing or electricity, you should know that you have to plan for each system.

For instance, try to keep plumbing along one or maybe two walls. An upstairs and a downstairs bathroom should be located one above the other. You should decide how many electrical outlets you want and where you want to place them. All of the technical details will have to be drawn by an architect. He will be able to create blueprints based on your design that meet all building codes.

Everything from the size of the rooms to how many windows you want can be sketched out. You can decide the best way to position your house on the property. Remember the sun rises in the east and sets in the west and the north side is usually the shadiest side of the house.

Once your design is complete, hire a qualified architect, let him draw out blue prints and if you’re satisfied with his work, then, it is time to hire a building contractor to build your dream home.