Make a chart of the traffic patterns in your home to uncover problems and hazardous conditions

Improve the safety and efficiency of your home by analyzing traffic flow

Have you ever taken time to notice the traffic patterns of the various rooms in your home?

When I was younger, if traffic patterns had been mentioned, I would have immediately thought of street lights and highway signs. Now that I have owned several homes, traffic flow is in the foremost of my mind when looking at possible furniture arrangements and decorating ideas.

One of the first homes I lived in had a bathroom with 3 doors! What were they thinking? Or were they thinking at all?

Another had a living room right smack dab in the center of the house. There was not one room you could walk to without going through the center of the living room. We never could relax in that room and be sure there would be no interruptions from people coming and going.

One had a kitchen where the traffic had to travel between the stove and the sink. It was the only way in and out of this room. I can't tell you how closely I came to burning family members with hot food, with a traffic flow as ridiculous as this one.

You may have some situations that resemble traffic pileups more than straight pathways, or maybe hazardous conditions like the previous example. Once you recognize and analyze how people travel through a room, then you can begin to develop a floor plan that suits this flow of movement.

MAKE A TRAFFIC PATTERN FLOW CHART

The first thing to do is make a floor plan of your home. This does not have to be a detailed blueprint, but only a floor chart showing the positions of the rooms and all the doors leading in and out.

Once this is done, mark how people travel from room to room. Use different colored pencils to mark different paths.

Entertaining

• How to guests travel to the living room when you are entertaining?
• Do they have to go through private areas of your home?
• How do they get to the powder room?
• Is the kitchen handy for serving food and drinks to your guests when you are entertaining?

Children and the Home

• When you children come home from school do they go directly to their room?
• Do they head for the living room or family room?
• Do they bring home friends to swim in the pool?
• Do they have to go through the entire house to use the bathroom, dripping water all the way?

After Work

• Do you or your spouse come home from work and head directly to the master bedroom for a shower?
• Do you head for your home office or study to drop off work?
• Do you go directly to the living room to relax with a drink and watch TV?

What is the Traffic Flow in the Kitchen

• Can the cook prepare a meal without worrying about constantly walking into someone going by?
• If people can eat in their rooms or living areas, can they get there without leaving a Hansel and Gretel trail through the entire house?
• If you spend a lot of time grilling outside on the patio, is it convenient to the inside food prep area?
• Do you have to walk through to the other end of the house to reach the outdoor grill?
• Can you bring the groceries right in from the outside without having to go through the living room?

Many of these patterns you will find are set in cement and just can't be adjusted. If it is in your budget and there are traffic patterns that really are bothersome, they can be adjusted by adding or removing doors to get a traffic flow that is convenient.

A solution can be as simple as arranging your furniture to make traffic go where you prefer

An example of this would be to make a traffic pattern that goes around the edges of a room instead of directly through a conversation or entertainment area. Another example would be to arrange the furniture so the children would not have a long straight area to run through from one end of the house to the other.

In any case, you will be using this traffic blueprint to arrange your furniture for the most convenient flow from room to room. So, with your traffic flow chart in hand, we will now turn our attention to the floor plan.

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