How to Make a Floor Plan of Your Apartment
An accurate floor plan of your apartment unlocks every furniture decision, sharing with roommates, and apartment-shopping comparison. Here's how to make one in 30–45 minutes.
What You'll Need
- •Tape measure (25 feet or longer)
- •Phone for photos
- •Room Sketch 3D — web, iPhone, iPad, and Android
Step-by-Step
- 1
Walk the apartment with a tape
Start at the entry door and work room by room. Measure every wall, doorway, window, closet, and fixture. Note door swing directions and window sill heights.
- 2
Sketch the layout on paper
A rough sketch with measurements written in keeps everything organized. You'll transcribe to Room Sketch 3D in the next step — the sketch is the working draft.
- 3
Open Room Sketch 3D and create a project
Start a new project for the apartment. Plan to add multiple rooms in the same project — they share walls and the relationships matter.
- 4
Draw room by room with snap-to-grid
Start with the largest room (usually living/dining). Use snap-to-grid for accurate walls. Add doors and windows with their actual positions.
- 5
Connect the rooms accurately
Apartment rooms share walls. When you add the second room, make sure shared walls match — same length, same door positions. Errors here propagate.
- 6
Verify in 3D
Switch to 3D and walk through the apartment. The 3D view often catches misplaced doors, wrong wall lengths, or rooms that don't connect cleanly.
Common Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them)
Measuring after furniture is in
Existing furniture blocks walls and obscures doorways. If possible, measure before move-in or after pieces are pushed away from walls. Otherwise, account for the obstruction in your sketch.
Skipping the kitchen and bathroom
These rooms have fixtures that matter for any planning involving the rest of the apartment (open-plan kitchens, primary bathroom layouts). Measure them too.
Ignoring the path-in to the apartment
The hallway, elevator, or stair turn between the truck and the unit kills more big-furniture orders than the apartment itself. Measure these paths and include them as notes in the plan.
Not updating after lease changes
If you renovate or rearrange, update the plan. Outdated plans cause expensive mistakes when you next need to make a decision based on the layout.
Tips for Better Results
Photograph each wall as you measure
Wide-angle photos capture the context — windows, outlets, vents, trim — that dimensions alone don't. Useful when shopping for furniture later.
Save the plan to cloud sync
Cloud sync makes the apartment plan accessible from any device. Useful when shopping in-store with your phone — you can verify any candidate piece against your plan immediately.
Add neighbors' walls as fixed features
If your apartment shares walls with neighbors, mark those walls explicitly. Affects sound planning (don't put the TV against a shared bedroom wall) and sometimes structural decisions.
Use the plan for landlord communication
When you need to ask the landlord about a change (mounting shelves, painting, etc.), include a floor plan with the request. Specific plans get specific yeses; vague requests get vague nos.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I make a floor plan of my apartment?
Walk the apartment with a tape, sketch each room on paper, then transcribe to Room Sketch 3D using snap-to-grid drawing. Verify in 3D. The whole process takes 30–45 minutes for a typical 1-bedroom. $9.99 one-time, no subscription, on web, iPhone, iPad, and Android.
How accurate does the apartment floor plan need to be?
Accurate to 1/2 inch for most furniture decisions; 1/4 inch for tight fits or built-ins. Pacing or eyeballing produces 6–12 inches of error — enough to fail furniture fit checks.
Can I get a copy of the existing floor plan from my landlord?
Sometimes — larger property management companies have plans on file. The plans are often inaccurate or out of date. Better to measure yourself and use those as a sanity check.
Do I need landlord permission to make a floor plan?
No — measuring and digitizing your own apartment is your right. Some landlords are sensitive to plans being shared publicly (protecting tenant privacy); keep your plan private.
Ready to plan your apartment?
An accurate apartment floor plan unlocks every furniture decision, every roommate negotiation, and every layout question. Build yours once and use it for years.
Start with Room Sketch 3DNo subscription · 30-day money-back · Web, iOS & Android