July 15, 2008

Home Design Plans - Ways To get Your Own Home Design Plans

Filed under: Home Design — smvpune @ 11:02 am

If you are looking for custom made home design plans, then many publishers have thier own publications, which contain a variety of home design plans that cater to a variety of situations.

Many times special publications are printed with blue prints for a a particular type of building type such as

1) Independent bungalows
2) Homes on sloping grounds
3) Apartment plans
4) Single or multi-storied home buildings
5) Farm houses / cottages.
6) Log homes

These home design plans can be further categorized by number of rooms such as single bedroom, double bedroom, etc. These home plans are crated by professional architectural firms that are experience in designing and executing home buildings for a quite number of years.

Thus finding out home design plans is easy once you know what you are looking for. However sometimes it is possible that even after going through all the home design plans in the books, that you are not satisfied with their style of designs and overall architectural theme. In that case you will have to hire a professional architect to do the job for you.

Amazon.com is one of the biggest marketplaces for all sorts of books. Click Here to view their entire catalogue of home plan books.

Learn more about home design and other home decorating principles at my website

July 13, 2008

Energy Efficient Home Design

Filed under: Home Design — smvpune @ 3:47 am

Every home building requires satisfactory functioning of building services so that the occupants of the home can live a luxurious life. If all the services are working in proper condition, then only one can enjoy a pleasant stay in the building.

Normally there are many services that are running simultaneously in a home building. Some of these services are

1) Plumbing system
2) Electric supply
3) Drainage system
4) Air conditioning
5) Security systems

All these systems are a necessary component of every habitable architectural space. There are many ways to make a home building energy efficient by using simple techniques. Let’s have a look at a few examples and see how easy it is to go for energy efficient home design.

Example 1>

Let’s say that you have a backyard garden around your home and the home plot has a slope towards front yard. That mean the backyard level is higher than the front yard level as compared to the road level.

Now it is a wise decision to build a small water tank in the front margin of the home. This could be a sunken tank so that it does not appear as a visual obstruction. This water tank can be used to collect extra rainwater, which flows naturally towards front yard because of the pull of gravity.

This will serve two purposes. You will save electricity by not using a pump. Secondly you can use a system called as “rain water harvesting” to recycle the rainwater and reuse for toilets and other drainage purposes.

Example 2>

Let’s say that your master bedroom is facing the direct, which receives direct sunlight. In that case you can plant tall trees on the edge so that they cut off direct harsh sunlight. This will greatly reduce your need of using an air-conditioner cutting off your electricity bill.

Another way of cutting direct sunlight is to design the windows in an inclined manner so that the sides of the windows  (like a bay window) cut off most of the sunlight and instead can shadows on the adjacent wall to keep the external wall surface cooler.

These were just two small examples of what can be done to adopt an energy efficient home design solution. Many more options can be easily designed if enough attention is given at the actual site details of the home building.

Learn more about various aspects of home design at my website.

July 10, 2008

Exterior Home Design Ideas

Filed under: Home Design — smvpune @ 8:28 am

When it comes to designing a home building every architect takes into consideration not just interior spaces but the exterior surrounding areas of the plot as well. This is because every architectural building whether it is a home building or any other building type such as a commercial complex always has s relation to outside environment.

This is where exterior home design ideas come into picture. To clearly explain the importance of exterior home design let’s take an example of a home building where a family of four will live.

The family includes husband, wife and two kids along with Grandfather and Grandmother. They own two cars and of the two kids one has an MTB (Mountain Terrain Bike) and the other one is a teenager who owns a Motorcycle. All these vehicles must have their own parking space. So the architects design their own parking spaces adjacent to each other. Location of these parking lots plays an important part in entire home design. When the husband parks the car where he enters the home must be thought befor placing the positions of the parking lots.

Now grandfather loves gardening and likes to watch the garden from interiors when he’s having Tea at the dining table. So the position of the garden with respect to the entire home plan plays a major role too.

So it is quite clear that any independent home plan has two aspects attached to it, the interiors and the exteriors. The lifestyles if the people who will be using the home play a major role in how the architect handles the positioning of different spaces while design the home plan.

Exterior home design may include planning of various spaces as well as external appearance of the building as well. Some of the design elements where the architect may provide extra attention can be put together as follows.

1) Garden design and its position as per the requirement of the design
2) Pathways and driveways
3) Front yard and backyard landscaping gardens
4) Treatment on the external walls of the home building such as cladding.
5) Treatments on the roof of the building
6) Size and shape of the roof itself. Size and shape of the roof can dramatically alter the home design appearance.
7) External home design color schemes.
8) External lighting design.
9) Planning of building services such as drainage, electricity, water supply, HVAC, etc.
10) External elevation treatments such as “bay window” creation or erecting non-structural walls for the sake of visual balance. Such kind of treatment is sometimes used in areas where temperatures are extremely high so they cast shadows on the adjacent wall surfaces to keep the surface cool.

Thus external home design ideas depend entirely and change as per the home plan and particular requirements of every home building.

To learn more about home design visit my website.

August 4, 2007

How To Make A Modern Home Design Plan?

Filed under: Home Design, Home Design Plan — smvpune @ 12:36 pm

Designing a dream home is more than just dreaming about it. Careful planning and visualization can lead you to actually finalizing a ho\me design project in the shortest possible time.

However to get the project done in time is necessary to have all the raw data ready with you. y raw data I mean the kind of notes and observations you will be making when you visit the home plot for the first time.

Any home plot will have it’s own characteristics that will influenced the design plan to a great extent. Some of these factors and internal that belong to the plot itself. This can be shape and size of the plot itself, whether the plot is sloping or flat. etc.

Some other factors that have a major impact on the home design plan are surroundings of the plot. These can be any external influential factors such as seashore, flowing rives, airport, busy street, tall buildings, etc. If that’s the case then all the surrounding home buildings will have an impact on the design.

While designing the plan for the home it is necessary to play enough respect to all these factors and combine them with the requirements of the homeowners to come up with a satisfactory plan. The final home plan will have a functional yet aesthetical design that will serve all (or most) the requirements of the homeowner. Every design is unique and since good or beautiful design is a relative term, the success of any home design plan will entirely depend upon the satisfaction levels of the users that will be residents of the home building in future.

Learn more about home design plan by visiting my home design website

May 5, 2007

What Makes A Good Home Design?

Filed under: Home Design — smvpune @ 10:29 am

A home design from an architect’s point of view is not just brick walls painted with expensive colors and finishes. There are many factors involved while designing any architectural building.

Architect’s prefer two types of approaches while designing a home building. In the first type the architect focuses on the requirements of the client as far as number of spaces, style, budget is concerned. He may discuss various aspects with his client and come up with a unique home design that is the best possible solution for the needs of his client.

On the other hand some architects think the opposite way. They first visualize the complete form of the home building and then “fit” the necessary spaces inside this form in the best possible way. One of the best examples of this type of designs is the “Guggenheim Museum New York” designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

This museum designed has been derived from an inverted cone form pointing down at the ground. The rest of the museum spaces have been very creatively “fitted” in the cone shape without disturbing the massing of the cone itself. This type of design practice requires a great deal of command on visualization and designing of circulation spaces within the building.

So which of the above two is the correct method? Both are correct methods, that’s because the success of any building design is not dependent upon the methods of design but the comfort levels of the residents.

If a home building can not provide basic comforts to the residents ike fresh air circulation, ample sunlight, clear circulation spaces, then it can be said to be a failure. Fulfilling these basic requirements of a home design is not at all dependent on expensive construction methods.

Even a low cost home building can be a great design that makes full use of all the natural resources to make the residents comfortable. That’s why a good design does not mean “expensive design”. In the modern contemporary design styles simplicity is the key to better design and interiors. The design that can solve the basic functional problem as well as triggers the emotional impulse in the user is considered a good design.

Copyright Shrinivas Vaidya

Want a free home design tips? Visit my website http://www.homedesigndatabase.com and get the insider secrets to design the home of your wildest dreams.

April 26, 2007

Home Design - What’s it all about.

Filed under: Home Design — smvpune @ 12:25 am

When it comes to designing a home many people think mostly about painting the interiors and arranging the furniture so that the interiors look new. But truly speaking “home design” involves many things than just interiors. I would classify the whole process of home design into two basic parts as follows.

1) Exterior Home Design
2) Interior Home Design

Let’s have a look at some of the common things you can go about in both these categories.

1) Exterior Home Design.

This includes everything and anything that goes around the home building (including the building) that can increase the aesthetical and utilitarian value of your home building.

Things like exterior painting or wall sidings, repairing or installing new roofing materials, pathways to move around, artificial lighting in the garden, lawns and gardening, accessories such statues, patios, garage buildings, play areas for kids, swimming pool (if required), etc.

2) Interior Home Design

This includes wallpapers, color schemes, furniture and their layouts, lighting, curtains, upholstery, carpets, picture frames, other accessories such indoor plants, indoor fountains, statues etc.

So home design in itself is a wide area that needs to be worked out step by step and with enough planning. If you are thinking of designing you home, I suggest you first break down the whole process into two parts as mentioned above and it will be much easier to come up with a whole executable plan that will save your time as well as money.

Copyright Shrinivas Vaidya

To learn more about various aspects of home design visit my website http://www.homedesigndatabase.com

April 25, 2007

Home Office Design Ideas, 3 Factors Before You Start!

Filed under: Home Design, Home Office Design — smvpune @ 11:52 am

More and more individuals are quitting their jobs and are deciding to work from home, due to the burst of internet business opportunities. There are many reasons that a person can think of working from home and plan a home office. Here are 3 essentials that are necessary so that your home office functions well and you are able to give your best in your business.

1) The location of your home office.

This is the most important aspect of any home office. The primary thing that happens when you shift your office in your home or plan an altogether new home office is “privacy”. Think about other family members and their needs/habits as well.

For example if you have a teenager son/daughter and if he throws a party at your home what happens to the space that is occupied as an office and the environment as well. This gives rise to a primary question as far as location is concerned. Is the office going to be a part some other room such as living room/family room or a master bedroom or is it going to be in an entirely separate room with neatly designed furniture and color schemes.

2) The future growth of your business

You start a home business and it works out really well for you, the money starts rolling in and you decide to expand. What happens after you expand needs to be decided from the very first day before you start a home business? Also what’s going to be the nature of expansion?

For example are there going to be more number of employees or you alone with more number of (or bigger) computers. Thinking about future expansion is a great design strategy for a home office design.

3) The home office design theme.

It is quite clear that since you are going to setup your office in your home, should you go with the design theme of your rest of home or an altogether opposite theme that stands out. The answer to this entirely depends on you and what you like in the working environment.

For example you home might be in a very oriental design style but the office looks like an inside of a mini space ship. Nobody but you can define what works best.

There are many factors apart from these 3 that form a successful home office design. I have just tried to help you come up with more ideas that finally define your home office.

Copyright Shrinivas Vaidya

Shrinivas Vaidya is the webmaster of http://www.homedesigndatabase.com Visit today to get more free home office design tips to design a charming and motivating home office of your wildest dreams.