How To Measure A Room

In order to create accurate floor plans of your house, you need to make sure that you are measuring the space correctly. Below is a plan of a Living Room. It is 19' x 10', It has a front door entering into the space, as well as a fireplace at one end of the room. Along the wall opposite the front door are two windows.

Once you measure a room, you have the overall size, which in this case is the 19' x 10'. Then you need to break the architectural elements in the room down so that you will know exactly where they fall within the room. By architectural elements, you want to know the location of anything that can not be moved. By beginning in one corner and moving around the room, you can quickly measure a room like a pro. This may be a little basic for some of you, however, for those of you who have never measured a room in detail - read on!

This entry has been kept clear of furniture, however, notice
the artwork, wall brackets, exquisite marble floor & rug.

The room below was broken down as described here:

1. Began measuring at the wall across from the fireplace. There is nothing occurring on this wall, therefore, since it is an unbroken 10' (the width of the room), nothing had to be measured.
2. Next wall (with the windows) was measured so that the exact location of the windows could be drawn in plan. The first window begins 2' from the corner. The first window is 3' wide. There are 3' between the 2 windows. The second window is 3' wide (never assume that two windows in the same room are the same size. Very often they aren't!). Then it is another 8' to the corner or the end of the wall.
3. This fireplace happens to be centered in the room, but to make sure it is, you would begin measuring in the corner toward the hearth, which is 2'. Then measure the length of the fireplace hearth (6'). And then the distance again from the hearth to the corner (2').
4. The last wall only has the door on it, therefore, you can either begin measuring the length from the corner to the door, or simple begin in the corner behind the door. In this room, the door is 4" away from the corner. The door is 3' wide. Since you know the room is 19' long, you do not have to measure the long stretch of wall - since you know it will be 15'8".

Measuring Columns

If your room has columns in it, you need to measure as below in order to find out exactly where the column or columns fall. You will need to measure from two walls to get the exact location, as we have measured for the 3 columns at the end of a room below: