If the rules are complex, you may want to hire an architect to help you design your home. They will be aware of all of the rules and know how to design a house that will be up to these standards.

For example, if you want to create a 2 story house with 4 bedrooms, you would need to create 2 separate floor-plans and label each room. You could also include special features that you want the house to have, such as built in cabinets and light fixtures. Consult pictures of houses and rooms that you like as your inspiration. [2] X Research source

For example, if you want the living room to be a 12 by 12 ft (3. 7 by 3. 7 m) space, then you would represent this with a 3 by 3 in (7. 6 by 7. 6 cm) room on the blueprint. Make sure to consult your scale often and continue to check the scale throughout the design process.

The poster board is important since tracing paper is transparent.

For example, you might make the exterior walls of your house 30 by 50 feet (9. 1 by 15. 2 m) if you want an extra-large living room.

For example, if you will be insulating the walls with hay bales, then the walls will need to be thick enough to accommodate the hay bales.

For example, you might create walls to indicate the borders of the bedrooms, bathrooms, hallways, kitchen, closets, living room, and dining area.

If your stairwell will not have walls on 1 or both sides, use a dotted line to represent the border of the stairwell. Do the same thing for the stairwells on the second floor of the house, except write “down” and draw an arrow to indicate where people will walk down the stairs.

For example, write “bedroom” in the center of each bedroom, write “living room” in the center of the living room, and write “closet” in the center of each closet.

Make sure that you indicate which direction the door should swing out when you create the doorway symbols.

For example, you could include symbols for built-in cabinets in the kitchen, a washer and dryer in the laundry room, or a toilet and sink in the bathroom.

For example, you could include symbols for light switches and electrical outlets in each of the rooms, wall sconces or other built-in lighting fixtures in the rooms, and symbols for a doorbell by the front entrance. Make sure to consult an electrical symbol chart. There are special symbols for different types of electrical outlets, switches, and other elements. [15] X Research source

For example, the flooring in your living room may simply be a 0. 75 in (1. 9 cm) thick layer of hardwood, while the flooring in the bedrooms may be a layer of carpet over a 0. 75 in (1. 9 cm) thick layer of subflooring.

For example, if you have a 12 feet (3. 7 m) long living room next to a 10 feet (3. 0 m) bedroom, label these, and then include another line with the total dimensions of the outer wall of the house.

For example, if your bedroom furniture will not fit comfortably into the bedroom you have drafted, then you could add 3 to 5 feet (0. 91 to 1. 52 m) to the room.

For example, you might call the front door “Door A” and place an “A” by the front door symbol. For windows or doors that will be the same size, you could use the same letter for each. For example, for any windows that will be 26 by 36 inches (66 by 91 cm), you could use the letter “C. ”

Keep in mind that some programs can be quite expensive, while others are cheap or free. Make sure that you can run the program on your device by checking the software specifications before you get started. If you cannot run a program on your computer, try one that you can use in your internet browser, such as Smart Draw.

Make sure that you consider the total size of the house when you are creating your house’s rooms. For example, if the total length of your house will be 30 ft (9. 1 m), then you should have plenty of space for 3 10 in (25 cm) bedrooms on 1 side of the house. You can also use a tool in the program to label each of the rooms if desired.

Make sure that the dimensions of the doors and windows are appropriate for the size of the rooms. For example, you might want to create a small window for a small room, and a large window or a couple of medium sized windows for a large room.

Although appliances are not actually part of the house, putting symbols where they will go in the house will help you to ensure that the spaces will be large enough for them and that the electrical outlets in those spaces will be adequate for each appliance. [24] X Research source

Keep in mind that some free programs will not allow you to download and/or print the blueprints unless you pay for full access to the program.