Designing your own log cabin floor plans are part of the fun of building your log home. You move the walls around and add rooms to make it match your dream. It’s going to be your home and it will be uniquely yours.
One thing you need to do before finally giving it to the contractor to make real is evaluating the layout. One way of doing this is a mental exercise I like to call ‘living in the plan’. This is taking a mental trip through the layout and mentally living in the planned home.
You start by picking out some basic things you would be doing in the home. Make a list of them. These would be things like entering the home, walking around the home, going into the kitchen from the living room, or going to bed. All these are standard things you do while you are living there. You can make the list as long or short as you wish. However remember that the more activities you try out, the more problems you will find before construction starts.
Imagine yourself doing those things while in the log cabin floor plan. If you are going to enter the building, imagine yourself going up the stairs and unlocking the door. Are there more stairs than you want to climb on a daily basis? When you enter the building is there a place to put your coat or packages? Where are you in the house when you enter? Is this the view you would like to greet visitors to the home? Ask yourself these kind of questions.
Be sure to take notes of your thoughts. Anything you notice could be important and as you go through the entire floor plan you may not remember your earlier comments. You don’t have to do it all at one sitting either. You are going to live there for a good while and you want to work out the problems before it takes a carpenter and a lot of money to fix them.
As you find problems you can figure out fixes and change the plan. It’s your plan and you want it to be the best it can be. Once you make the changes take a few days off and redo the exercise. Then you’ll see if it’s better. Do a few revisions until you are happy with the plan.
One of the benefits of this exercise is that it makes the log home real to you. It will get you excited about living there. You can start to see the fun you will have in your log home.
We at Log Cabins for Less would be glad to answer any of your questions on building your home. Remember that we offer excellent prices and selection on most of the items you will be needing. Even with shipping our prices are competitive with local supply houses.
