When remodeling your home, many people think an architect’s drawings are enough. The truth is you need both architect and interior designer drawings—and you need them developed together for a good outcome.
Architect’s Drawings: Building Envelope, Engineering, Code Compliance
An architect’s set of drawings provides the technical foundation of your remodel. These typically include:
• Site plans showing your home in relation to the property, setbacks, and grading.
• Floor plans with wall locations, room dimensions, and traffic flow.
• Elevations and sections that illustrate the exterior design and interior volumes.
• Structural details for foundations, framing, beams, and roofs.
• Door and window schedules that specify sizes, types, and placement.
• Mechanical, electrical, and plumbing coordination at a rough-in level, ensuring the systems fit within the structure.
• Code compliance and permitting documents for city approval.
In short, these drawings ensure the remodel is safe, legal, and buildable. But they stop short of the detail needed to bring a vision to life inside the walls.
Interior Designer’s Drawings: Function & Finish
An interior designer’s drawings focus on the experience of living in the home. These typically include:
• Furniture plans showing exact layouts, circulation space, and scale.
• Reflected ceiling plans with lighting placement, fixture specifications, and switching logic. These are often in the Architect’s set if an interior designer is not involved, but it is best to coordinate this with furniture and cabinetry.
• Electrical and technology plans tied to how rooms will be used (think outlets for home offices, charging stations, AV integration). These are also often in the Architect’s set if an interior designer is not involved, but it is best to coordinate this with furniture and cabinetry.
• Finish schedules for flooring, tile, wall coverings, paint colors, cabinetry, and hardware.
• Detailed cabinetry and millwork drawings—kitchens, built-ins, mudrooms, closets, bars, vanities.
• Interior elevations showing the design of each wall surface and how finishes and fixtures align.
• Plumbing and appliance specifications (faucets, tubs, ranges, refrigerators) coordinated with cabinetry and clearances.
Interior design drawings are not just about décor or making everything look pretty. These details make sure the home isn’t just buildable, but functional and tailored to daily life. Without them, contractors make many decisions on the client’s behalf about all of the interior deteails, which leads to mismatched finishes, awkward layouts, and costly mid-construction changes.
Why Both Must Happen Together
Architecture and interiors inform each other. A window may be shifted to center on a sofa; a beam size may change to accommodate recessed lighting; kitchen wall lengths affect cabinet design. If interiors are delayed, architectural plans often have to be revised—driving up costs and delaying timelines.
The Garcia Architects Advantage
Garcia Architects provides both architecture and interior design in-house. This means:
• Seamless coordination from start to finish
• Fewer mistakes & change orders during construction
• A cohesive design vision—what you imagine is what you move into
When structure and interiors are designed together, your remodel works better, looks better, and feels better.
