Snug, charming and cozy are often used to describe places you lived when you were first starting out in small apartments or homes eons ago. If you are planning to design a modest log home to reduce costs, you can still create a space with design elements to make smaller rooms feel sprawling. It is often a matter of making structural changes to plan for multiple uses of these rooms and to make the most of your square footage.
Create good traffic flow in your floor plan by placing doors strategically.
Plan door placement so small rooms are not cut in half and so that doors open in the direction of traffic flow to keep your rooms feeling spacious.
Eliminate hallways.
Hallways are often unused space and can be eliminated from your design plans to gain an extra three or four feet in your small room.
Enlarge your rooms by raising the wall height.
Your rooms will appear much larger if you raise the wall height to eight to ten feet high. Be aware that this may increase the cost of building your home since you may need additional logs or longer lengths for timber frame posts.
Add a cathedral ceiling or small tray ceiling.
The volume of your room will seem greater and the room more visually appealing if you add a king post to the cathedral ceiling for example. You may add additional heating and cooling costs, which is a trade-off.
Install tall narrow windows.
If you opt for multiple windows that are tall with thin widths, you will enhance the natural daylight in your rooms to make them seem airy. This illusion of height will also make the room seem larger without diminishing the amount of light.
Create well-designed closet storage space.
You will keep your rooms uncluttered by having organized closets for your belongings. You will be able to accommodate twice as many items in a closet if you include a well-designed closet storage system. Using sliding doors on your closet will also take up less space.
Build-ins will utilize your space well.
Built in bookcases, TV shelves and work spaces are back and are useful to help utilize space in a small room, and can be used for multiple purposes.
Include more lighting fixtures.
Adding more lighting fixtures will make your small rooms feel spacious. Utilize the three basic types of lighting to open up your space, including general, task and accent lighting.
Gastineau Log Homes has over 40 years of experience helping people realize their dream of building a log home. Contact us today and let’s explore your affordable log home dream together.
