How to read a floor plan before you approve it

Start with the doors. Draw their swings in your head and check that none of them hit furniture, a wall or each other. Most awkward rooms come from a door that nobody tested.

Next, walk the plan as a person: from the front door to the kitchen with shopping bags, from the bedroom to the bathroom at night. Count the turns. Fewer turns is almost always a better plan.

Finally, ask where each thing is kept. If you cannot point to a place for shoes, luggage and the vacuum cleaner, the plan is not finished.