Before I was a real estate agent, and even further back to before I was even a television producer, I was an aspiring television art director. My job was to find and create beautiful spaces, and turn them into backdrops for television productions. That was around the point in time when I became quite obsessive about Toronto floor plans.
Nerd? Yes. Come on, guys. I have always declared myself a real estate nerd. However, I eagerly encourage you and my clients to become as nerdy, obsessive and fluent in scrutinizing Toronto floor plans as I have.
Make no mistake, Toronto floor plans are not only an indispensable link between architects, contractors, engineers and yes, art directors too — both in regards to understanding, and visualizing, a structure’s functional characteristics prior to it being built — but to the end user, too.
The end user being YOU, of course!!
And as that end user — whether you’re building your dream home or trying to pick the perfect pre-construction unit from the available inventory — choosing the right Toronto floor plan can be extremely beneficial to you meeting your individual needs, since they reveal area, structure, circulation pattern, stair location, door and window locations, light, room layout and much, much more.
The right Toronto floor plan will also help ensure your house or condo unit will be marketable to future buyers, if and when you decide to sell at a later date.
So, needless to say, you’d be doing yourself a big service if you knew how to read one.
But how, you ask?
While it may seem a challenging task at first, take my word for it, reading floor plans is really a rather simple task. Here are 6 valuable pointers to keep in mind….followed by (so keep reading), my analyzation of 4 condo floor plans (what works and what doesn’t).
SIX THINGS TO LOOK FOR WHEN READING A FLOOR PLAN
(1) Realize that scale is important.
The very first thing to look at in a floor plan is the drawing’s scale. This will help you get an idea of how big, or how small, the structure is in relative terms. Furthermore, to understand the directions and orientation, identify the north sign. It’s a primary element!
(2) Identify the starting point of the plan.
The starting point is the main entrance of the structure, either as a whole or a space. This entry is usually indicated by an arrow mark alongside the entrance labelling.
(3) Know your symbols.
In addition to the entrance, a symbol or particular sign will mark every space. These symbols are usually accompanied by an index, but that’s not always the case.
(4) Make use of visualization tools.
For starters, the walls form the basic enclosure of the space, while the doors and windows help you envision what’s inside it.
(5) Understand how plans are connected to each other.
This specifically relates to vertical connections and overlay, which are typically represented by a continuation line indicating that the plan continues to upper floors.
(6) Pay close attention to dimension lines.
To find out the exact dimensions or measurements of a space — area wise — in a plan, examine the dimension lines. They are perhaps the most important part of a floor plan, and they’ll not only help you read it, but also visualize it more coherently. And with a three dimensional perspective, no less!
KARYN’S ANALYZATION OF FOUR CONDO FLOOR PLANS
Case #1: The first thing I notice when I look at this one bedroom floor plan is the lack of natural light. Look closer. There is one tiny window on this entire plan! And it’s a window that the master bedrooms gets none of. Furthermore, the living space here is extra tricky. They have the couch situated again what looks to be a wall, except it’s actually the sliding glass door to the bedroom. And is it just me or would all of that space in the closet have been put to better use — IN the bedroom?
Case #2: The bowling ball lane unit. If you haven’t seen this unit in your Toronto real estate shopping adventures, you’ve been living in a dark hole. Long and skinny with light at only one end, this is a classic floor plan. I’m not a fan though. In this plan you’re walking in to no hall closet. The “den” is a dark corner that most likely will be a landing pad for a chair and your coat thrown over it since it’s too dark for most of us to want to live in. And a 39 square foot balcony does not seat 4 chairs – lol.
Case #3: Now we’re talking. This here? This is a good floor plan (IMO). It’s a corner unit so you have an extraordinary amount of light coming in. Every bedroom is bathed in light from exterior windows. And the living/dining/kitchen is open concept and not weirdly-shaped. By that I mean, it’s easy to visualize where your TV and couch can go. Note the pillar in the 2nd bedroom. I kind of like pillar myself, but this does cut the room off in that corner.
Case #4: Don’t be afraid of triangular or odd-shaped floor plans. This one, for example, is shallow and so while not “exactly” a corner unit, it still offers sensational light. There’s also the wow factor when walking through the front door. When the door opens, you get to see all of the grandeur of this floor plan immediately. I like that there is an exterior wall between windows in the living room, to actually give you a spot to put your TV. Heads up though that the kitchen island and dining table would never work this close together in real life.
What’s your favourite floor plan? Join the conversation at Facebook.com/homesweetkaryn