"Are you having trouble sketching out a floor plan? Try this app which allows you to trade your tape measure for your iPhone to automatically scan walls and draw your floor plan. RoomScan - The app that draws floor plans by itself by Locometric http://ift.tt/1JL11W7"

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Meet the team: Ben Crow Ben has enjoyed a passion for graphics since an early age and now turns the pair’s ideas into accurate drawings. His enthusiasm regularly sees him inspecting new homes and display villages, which keeps him on-top of current trends and styles and allows him to step away from standard designs. http://ift.tt/1vopdai

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Renovation & Extension: behind the scenes

Renovating your home can be a big job. Lucky for our client Lucy, who is blogging about their renovation and extension, her husband is also the builder on the project (Andrew Cato, Cato Constructions). 

Her blog chronicles the ups, downs and the reasons behind layout decisions. It's a fascinating peek behind the scenes at the process once the plans are on their way to becoming reality. The project should be completed in five weeks so if you're about to embark on a similar process or curious to see how it all turns out, you can see the blog here. 

Here's a sneak peak from Lucy's blog:

Welcome to my small space on the internet. This little blog is my journey through my indecisions on our home renovation which I hope turns a sharp 180deg and re-routes down the “you’ve got this in the bag” mental pathway to produce an excellent result on our family home. In turn, I hope you find this read amusing and a good resource for ideas, materials and suppliers for when your turn comes to renovate.

Contact us for renovation, extension or new home design.

www.danthomson.com.au

What is the "Queenslander" style of building? This style was originally developed in the 1840’s to survive the wet climate. Queenslander homes are still constructed today, displaying a long lasting durability and practical design. Click through for more... http://ift.tt/1FFG1u1

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Understanding Architecture: What Style of Home Do You Have?

Queenslander architecture is a distinct and unique style originating from Queensland. This style was originally developed in the 1840’s to survive the wet climate.  Queenslander homes are still constructed today, displaying a long lasting durability and practical design. Key features:

• Primarily of timber construction and can be low or high-set, one to two storeys.
• They are typically “tripartite” in sectional composition; underfloor (stumps), primary rooms (can be two levels), and the roof.
• The house is raised off the ground, held up by vertical stumps that give the appearance that the house is ‘floating’.  This is both a stylistic and practical design to accommodate to areas prone to flooding.
• All Queenslanders have one or more veranda spaces (a sheltered edge of the house that is typically only part-enclosed and can be used as another living area).
• The roof is quite large and can be made of slate or tiles, but most Queenslanders are characteristically sheeted with corrugated metal.

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There're lots of styles of homes to choose from. When it comes to deciding the best style to suit your needs, climate, outlook, and the space you've selected, talk to Dan Thomson Architectural Drafting.

Planning for your new house design

Thinking about your new home? Here's five ways you can discover some really great home designs to get inspired and get organised so that when you're ready, you'll be able to communicate your design to get the perfect end product:

1. Inspiration board apps: these days there's lots of different apps out there that help you discover inspiring designs and organise them into separate boards to distill your ideas into things such as facade, living areas, finishes, colours etc. The main players in this market include Pinterest, Houzz and Flipboard.

2. Photo folder: You know that house you always drive past? Snap a pic of it and add it to a folder on your computer labeled "home design". Keep adding pictures when you see homes, rooms, features and designs that interest you. This will give you a great repository of images that you can examine to determine what elements of these you might want to incorporate in your design.

3. Lists: What's the top 10 must have things you want in your new home design? What finishes and features are you most interested in using? Think about floor size for each of the main rooms, energy efficiency, living vs outdoor areas. Actually getting these things down on paper will help you qualify elements and discover other important factors in your new home design.

4. Sketch it out: you might not be the best draftsman, but it's important that you have a basic plan in your head of how you want the different areas of your house design to interact. Do you want a large open plan living area or are outside and bedroom spaces more important? When you understand these ideas, even on a basic level, it will help you communicate your design requirements better.

5. Examine your block: Your design has to fit the land you have and be responsive to your future needs - if you're not ready to put a pool in now, make sure you've planned services to avoid the future pool area and position the house pad to give enough room. Considering things like breeze, light and elevation can have a big impact on how comfortable, and how efficient a house can be.

These are just a few ways you can prepare and make sure you get exactly what you want when you're designing your new home. For more information, contact Dan Thomson Architectural Drafting.

If you need some inspiration, check us out on Houzz http://ift.tt/1A3sn5l

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