Glossary

Floor plan and interior design terms, in plain English.

72 terms you meet on a floor plan, on site and in a design brief. For the longer explanations, see the guides.

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2D floor planalso: Two-dimensional floor planDrawing: A 2D floor plan is a flat, top-down drawing of one level of a building, showing walls, doors, windows and room layout to scale without any depth or perspective. It is the standard format for construction documents and property listings because distances can be measured directly from it.Floor plan 3D floor plan Scale 2D vs 3D floor plans →
3D floor planalso: Three-dimensional floor planDrawing: A 3D floor plan is a view of a building level with the roof and ceiling removed and the walls drawn with height, usually seen from above at an angle. It shows furniture, finishes and room volumes, which makes a layout easier to picture than a flat drawing, but it is less suited to taking measurements.2D floor plan Dollhouse view Render 2D vs 3D floor plans →

A

Accent wallalso: Feature wallInteriors: An accent wall is a single wall in a room finished differently from the others, with a contrasting paint color, wallpaper, paneling, stone or tile. It draws the eye to one side of the room and is often placed behind a bed, sofa or fireplace.Focal point Color palette Wainscoting
As-built drawingalso: As-builts, Record drawingDrawing: An as-built drawing is a drawing that records a building as it was actually constructed, including every change made on site, rather than as it was originally designed. As-built drawings are the starting point for renovations, because the original design drawings rarely match the finished building exactly.Blueprint Floor plan Dimension line

B

Backsplashalso: SplashbackInteriors: A backsplash is a panel of water-resistant material fixed to the wall behind a sink, countertop or stove to protect the wall from splashes and grease. It is commonly made of ceramic tile, stone, glass or stainless steel and usually fills the strip of wall between the countertop and the upper cabinets.Galley kitchen Millwork Wet wall
BIMalso: Building information modeling, Building information modellingDrawing: BIM, short for building information modeling, is a way of designing a building as a single 3D digital model in which every wall, door, pipe and fixture carries data such as size, material and cost. Plans, sections, elevations and schedules are generated from that one model, so they stay consistent with each other.CAD MEP Section
Biophilic designInteriors: Biophilic design is an approach to architecture and interiors that connects people with nature inside buildings. It relies on daylight, views to the outdoors, plants, water, natural materials such as wood and stone, and shapes and patterns found in nature, with the aim of improving comfort and well-being.Japandi Scandinavian style Color palette Interior design styles →
BlueprintDrawing: A blueprint is a technical drawing of a building used to guide its construction. The name comes from an old copying process that produced white lines on blue paper; that process is obsolete, but the word is still used informally for any set of construction drawings, printed or digital.Floor plan As-built drawing Title block How to read a floor plan →

C

CADalso: Computer-aided designDrawing: CAD, short for computer-aided design, is the use of software to produce precise technical drawings and models in place of drafting by hand. In architecture, CAD programs are used to draw floor plans, elevations and sections at exact dimensions, organized in layers that can be edited, printed to scale or exchanged as files.DXF BIM Line weight Floor plan editor →
Ceiling heightBuilding: Ceiling height is the vertical distance from the finished floor to the finished ceiling of a room. Many US codes, following the International Residential Code, require at least 7 feet in habitable rooms, while 8 to 9 feet is typical in newer homes.Section Mezzanine Reflected ceiling plan Standard room sizes →
Circulationalso: Circulation space, Traffic flowBuilding: Circulation is the way people move through a building, and the space set aside for that movement: hallways, stairs, landings, entries and the walking paths that cross a room. A well-planned layout keeps circulation routes short and direct and avoids routing them through the middle of seating or work areas.Clearance Egress Open plan Furniture layout rules →
ClearanceBuilding: Clearance is the open space that must be left around or in front of an object so that it can be used, reached or walked past. Examples are the floor area a door needs to swing open, the space in front of a toilet or an oven, and the gap between a bed and a wall.Circulation Door swing Kitchen work triangle Furniture layout rules →
Color palettealso: Colour palette, Color schemeInteriors: A color palette is the limited set of colors chosen for a room or a whole interior, covering walls, floors, furniture, fabrics and accessories. A typical palette pairs one dominant color with a secondary color and one or two accents, so that the finished space reads as coordinated rather than accidental.Mood board Accent wall FF&E Interior design styles →

D

Dimension lineDrawing: A dimension line is a thin line on a drawing that shows the measured distance between two points, with a mark or arrowhead at each end and the measurement written along it. On a floor plan, dimension lines give wall lengths, room sizes and the positions of doors and windows.Scale Line weight Floor plan How to draw a floor plan →
Dollhouse viewalso: Dolls house viewDrawing: A dollhouse view is a 3D view of a whole building from outside and above with the roof or the near walls removed, so that every room can be seen at once, as in an open dollhouse. It shows how rooms and floors relate to one another and is common in virtual tours.3D floor plan Virtual tour Render
Door swingDrawing: Door swing is the direction in which a hinged door opens and the floor area it sweeps as it does so. On a floor plan it is drawn as a quarter-circle arc from the hinge side, which shows whether the door opens into or out of a room and what space must stay clear.Clearance Floor plan Legend How to read a floor plan →
DXFalso: Drawing Exchange FormatDrawing: DXF, short for Drawing Exchange Format, is a file format for 2D and 3D drawing data created by Autodesk so that drawings could be exchanged between AutoCAD and other programs. Nearly all CAD software can read and write it, which makes it a common way to hand a floor plan from one tool to another.CAD BIM 2D floor plan

E

Egressalso: Means of egress, Means of escapeBuilding: Egress is a continuous, unobstructed way out of a building from any point inside it to a safe place outdoors. Building codes set requirements for egress, such as the number and width of exits and, in homes, an emergency escape window or door in every bedroom.Circulation Landing Clearance
Elevationalso: Elevation drawingDrawing: An elevation is a flat, straight-on drawing of one vertical face of a building or of one wall of a room, with no perspective. Exterior elevations show the facade, windows, doors and roofline; interior elevations show cabinets, tile and fixtures on a wall. Heights are read from elevations, which a floor plan cannot show.Section Floor plan Scale
En suitealso: Ensuite, En suite bathroom, Attached bathroomBuilding: An en suite is a bathroom that is entered directly from a bedroom and serves only that bedroom, rather than opening onto a hallway. The term comes from French and is most often used of the bathroom attached to the main bedroom of a home.Wet wall Floor plan

F

FF&Ealso: Furniture, fixtures and equipmentInteriors: FF&E, short for furniture, fixtures and equipment, is the movable contents of a building that are not part of its structure: furniture, lamps, rugs, curtains, appliances and similar items. Interior designers list these in an FF&E schedule, which records each item with its supplier, finish, quantity and cost.Mood board Millwork Color palette
Floor planalso: Floorplan, Plan viewDrawing: A floor plan is a scaled drawing of one level of a building seen from directly above, as if the building were sliced horizontally about four feet above the floor. It shows walls, doors, windows, stairs and fixed fittings, and from it the size, shape and arrangement of the rooms can be read.2D floor plan Scale Elevation How to read a floor plan →
Focal pointInteriors: A focal point is the feature in a room that the eye is drawn to first and around which the furniture is arranged. It may be architectural, such as a fireplace or a large window with a view, or added, such as a piece of art, a statement light or an accent wall.Accent wall Circulation Color palette Furniture layout rules →
Footprintalso: Building footprintBuilding: A footprint is the area of ground that a building covers, measured around the outside of its exterior walls at ground level. It describes the outline of the building on its lot and does not grow with extra stories, so a two-story house can have twice the floor area of its footprint.Lot Setback Gross floor area

G

Galley kitchenalso: Corridor kitchenBuilding: A galley kitchen is a narrow kitchen with cabinets and appliances arranged along two parallel walls and a single walkway between them, named after the kitchen of a ship. It uses little floor area and keeps everything within a step or two, but it suits one cook better than several.Kitchen work triangle Backsplash Clearance
Gross floor areaalso: GFA, Gross internal areaBuilding: Gross floor area is the total floor area of a building on all levels, usually measured to the outside face of the exterior walls, so it includes the thickness of walls as well as hallways, stairs and service spaces. Exact rules for what is counted differ between measurement standards and local zoning codes.Net floor area Square footage Footprint

H

Headeralso: LintelBuilding: A header is a horizontal beam set across the top of a door, window or other opening in a wall to carry the weight above it to the framing on each side. The word header is usual in wood-framed construction; in masonry, and in British usage generally, the same member is called a lintel.Load-bearing wall Stud Joist
Home stagingalso: Property staging, Property stylingReal estate: Home staging is the preparation of a property for sale or rent by cleaning, decluttering, rearranging and furnishing it so that it appeals to as many buyers as possible. It can be done with real furniture brought into the home or digitally, by editing furniture into photographs.Virtual staging Listing photo FF&E Virtual staging guide →
HVACalso: Heating, ventilation and air conditioningBuilding: HVAC, short for heating, ventilation and air conditioning, is the set of systems that control the temperature, humidity and freshness of the air inside a building. It includes equipment such as furnaces, heat pumps and air conditioners, together with the ducts, vents and thermostats that distribute and regulate the air.MEP Rough-in Reflected ceiling plan

I

Image-to-imagealso: img2img, Image-to-image generationRendering: Image-to-image is a kind of AI image generation in which the model starts from an existing picture, together with a text instruction, and produces a new picture that keeps the composition of the original. It is used to turn sketches into finished images or to restyle a photograph of a room while preserving its layout.Text-to-image Inpainting Photorealistic rendering Sketch to render →
Inpaintingalso: Masked editing, Generative fillRendering: Inpainting is an image-editing technique in which a selected area of a picture is regenerated while the rest is left untouched. The user marks the area, known as a mask, and an AI model fills it with new content that matches the surrounding lighting and perspective, for example to replace a sofa or remove an object.Image-to-image Virtual staging Upscaling Edit part of an image →

J

JapandiInteriors: Japandi is an interior design style that blends Japanese and Scandinavian design. It combines the simplicity and craftsmanship of both traditions: low, clean-lined furniture, natural materials such as wood, linen and stone, a muted palette of warm neutrals, and uncluttered rooms in which each object has a purpose.Scandinavian style Biophilic design Mid-century modern Interior design styles →
JoistBuilding: A joist is one of a series of parallel horizontal members that span between walls or beams to support a floor or a ceiling. Joists are commonly made of sawn lumber, engineered wood or steel, and the direction in which they run helps to identify which walls beneath them carry load.Load-bearing wall Stud Header

K

Kitchen work trianglealso: Work triangle, Working triangleBuilding: The kitchen work triangle is the triangle formed by lines drawn between the sink, the refrigerator and the cooktop, used as a rule of thumb for laying out an efficient kitchen. A widely cited guideline from the US National Kitchen and Bath Association keeps each side between 4 and 9 feet and the three sides together within 26 feet.Galley kitchen Clearance Circulation

L

LandingBuilding: A landing is a level platform at the top or bottom of a flight of stairs, or between two flights, where a person can pause or the stair can change direction. Building codes require landings so that nobody steps directly from a doorway onto a stair, and to break up long flights.Riser Tread Egress
Legendalso: Key, Symbol keyDrawing: A legend is a table on a drawing that explains what its symbols, line types, hatches and abbreviations mean. Because drawing conventions vary between offices and countries, the legend is the authoritative guide to reading a particular drawing, including symbols for doors, electrical outlets and plumbing fixtures.Title block Line weight North arrow How to read a floor plan →
Line weightalso: Lineweight, Line thicknessDrawing: Line weight is the thickness of a line on a technical drawing, used to show how important an element is or how close it is to the viewer. On a floor plan, walls that are cut through are drawn with heavy lines, while furniture, floor patterns and dimensions are drawn with lighter ones.Poché Dimension line Legend
Listing photoalso: Listing photograph, Property photoReal estate: A listing photo is a photograph of a property published with its advertisement for sale or rent. Listing photos are usually the first thing a buyer sees, so they are typically taken with a wide-angle lens in good light, and they may be edited or virtually staged, which many markets require to be disclosed.MLS Virtual staging Home staging Virtual staging guide →
Load-bearing wallalso: Bearing wall, Structural wallBuilding: A load-bearing wall is a wall that supports weight from the structure above it, such as a floor, a roof or another wall, and passes that weight down to the foundation. It cannot be removed or cut into without adding a beam or other support, which normally calls for a structural engineer and a permit.Partition wall Header Joist
Lotalso: Plot, ParcelBuilding: A lot is a defined piece of land with legal boundaries, owned as a single unit, on which a building may stand. Its size and shape, together with local zoning rules, determine how large a building can be and where on the land it may be placed. In British usage it is called a plot.Setback Site plan Footprint

M

MEPalso: Mechanical, electrical and plumbingBuilding: MEP, short for mechanical, electrical and plumbing, is the collective name for the building systems that make a structure habitable: heating, cooling and ventilation; power, lighting and data; and water supply and drainage. MEP engineers design these systems and coordinate their routes with the architecture and the structure.HVAC Rough-in Wet wall
MezzanineBuilding: A mezzanine is an intermediate floor built partway up a tall room, open to the space below and covering only part of its area. Model codes such as the International Building Code generally limit a mezzanine to one-third of the floor area of the room it sits in; beyond that it counts as a full story.Ceiling height Section Gross floor area
Mid-century modernalso: MCM, Mid-centuryInteriors: Mid-century modern is a design style that developed from roughly the mid-1940s to the late 1960s, chiefly in the United States and Scandinavia. It is marked by clean lines, gentle organic curves, tapered legs, warm woods such as teak and walnut, little ornament and a strong link between indoor and outdoor space.Scandinavian style Japandi Open plan Interior design styles →
Millworkalso: Joinery, Architectural woodworkInteriors: Millwork is the wooden or wood-based interior elements of a building that are made in a workshop and then installed on site, such as doors, trim, moldings, paneling, built-in cabinets and shelving. In British and Australian usage the same work is called joinery.Wainscoting FF&E Elevation
MLSalso: Multiple listing serviceReal estate: An MLS, short for multiple listing service, is a private database run by real estate brokers in a region, in which they share details of the properties they have for sale so that other brokers can bring buyers. In the United States and Canada, most public property websites draw their listings from a local MLS.Listing photo Square footage Virtual tour
Mood boardalso: Moodboard, Concept boardInteriors: A mood board is a collage of images, material samples, colors and textures assembled to convey the intended look and feel of a design before any detailed work is done. Interior designers use mood boards to agree a direction with a client and to check that the chosen pieces work together.Color palette FF&E Focal point
Mudroomalso: Boot roomBuilding: A mudroom is a small room or entry area, usually at a side or back door, where coats, shoes, bags and wet or dirty outdoor gear are taken off and stored before entering the rest of the house. It typically has a bench, hooks, cubbies and a hard-wearing floor.Circulation Millwork

N

Net floor areaalso: Usable floor area, Net internal area, NFABuilding: Net floor area is the floor area inside a building that can actually be occupied and used, measured to the inside face of the walls. Depending on the measurement standard, it leaves out some or all of the wall thicknesses, structural columns, shafts, stairs and shared corridors, so it is always smaller than the gross floor area.Gross floor area Square footage Circulation
North arrowalso: North point, Compass arrowDrawing: A north arrow is a symbol on a plan that points toward north, showing how the building or site is oriented. It lets a reader work out which rooms receive morning or afternoon sun and relate the drawing to maps and to the surrounding streets.Site plan Legend Title block

O

Open planalso: Open floor plan, Open conceptBuilding: An open plan is a layout in which two or more living functions, typically the kitchen, dining area and living room, share one large space with no full-height walls between them. It brings in more daylight and makes a home feel larger, at the cost of less privacy and more noise and cooking smells travelling between areas.Partition wall Circulation Load-bearing wall Furniture layout rules →

P

Partition wallalso: Non-load-bearing wall, Non-structural wallBuilding: A partition wall is an interior wall that divides one space from another but carries no weight other than its own. Because it is not part of the structure, a partition can usually be moved or removed during a renovation, although it may still contain wiring, pipes or ducts that have to be rerouted.Load-bearing wall Stud Open plan
Photorealistic renderingalso: Photoreal rendering, Photorealistic visualizationRendering: Photorealistic rendering is the production of a computer-generated image that is meant to be indistinguishable from a photograph. It depends on physically accurate simulation of light, shadow, reflection and material texture, and in architecture it is used to show a space before it is built or furnished.Render Upscaling Text-to-image Interior AI →
Pochéalso: Poche, Wall fillDrawing: Poché is the solid fill or hatching applied to the parts of a building that are cut through in a plan or section drawing, chiefly walls, columns and floors. From the French for pocket, it makes solid structure stand out from open space, so the rooms read clearly as voids.Line weight Section Floor plan

R

Reflected ceiling planalso: RCPDrawing: A reflected ceiling plan is a drawing of a ceiling as it would appear reflected in a mirror laid on the floor, so that it lines up with the floor plan beneath it. It shows light fixtures, ceiling heights and changes in level, beams, air vents, sprinklers and smoke detectors.Floor plan Ceiling height HVAC
Renderalso: Rendering, Architectural visualization, CGIRendering: A render is an image produced by a computer from a 3D model or a text or image prompt, showing what a design would look like with materials, lighting and shadows applied. In architecture and interior design, renders are used to present a building or room that does not yet exist.Photorealistic rendering 3D floor plan Image-to-image Interior AI →
RiserBuilding: A riser is the vertical part of a stair step, between one tread and the next; the word also means the height of that step. Many US codes, following the International Residential Code, limit riser height in homes to 7 3/4 inches and require all risers in a flight to be nearly identical.Tread Landing Section
Rough-inalso: First fixBuilding: Rough-in is the stage of construction at which pipes, electrical cables, boxes and ducts are installed inside the open framing of walls, floors and ceilings, before insulation and drywall cover them. The work is normally inspected at this stage, and fixtures, outlets and switches are fitted later. In British usage it is called first fix.MEP Wet wall Stud

S

Scalealso: Drawing scaleDrawing: Scale is the fixed ratio between a distance on a drawing and the same distance in the real building. US residential floor plans are commonly drawn at 1/4 inch to 1 foot, which is 1:48, while metric plans typically use 1:50 or 1:100.Dimension line Floor plan Title block How to draw a floor plan →
Scandinavian stylealso: Scandi, Nordic styleInteriors: Scandinavian style is an interior design style from the Nordic countries built on simplicity, function and light. Its hallmarks are white or pale walls, light woods such as birch, ash and pine, plain well-made furniture, wool and linen textiles, and uncluttered rooms arranged to make the most of scarce winter daylight.Japandi Mid-century modern Biophilic design Interior design styles →
Sectionalso: Section drawing, Cross-sectionDrawing: A section is a drawing of a building as if it had been cut vertically along a line and one part removed, showing what lies on the cut plane and beyond it. It reveals what a floor plan cannot: floor-to-floor and ceiling heights, floor and roof construction, stairs and how the levels relate.Elevation Poché Ceiling height
Setbackalso: Building line, Building setbackBuilding: A setback is the minimum distance that local zoning rules require between a building and a property line, street or other feature. Front, side and rear setbacks together define the part of a lot on which building is allowed, and the distances vary from one jurisdiction and zone to another.Lot Site plan Footprint
Site planalso: Plot planDrawing: A site plan is a scaled drawing of an entire property seen from above, showing the boundaries of the lot and where the building sits within them. It also shows driveways, paths, landscaping, utility connections, setbacks and neighboring streets, and it is normally required with a building permit application.Lot Setback North arrow
Square footagealso: Floor area, Square feet, Square meterageBuilding: Square footage is the floor area of a room or building expressed in square feet. For a rectangular room it is the length multiplied by the width; for a home, the room areas are added together. Figures quoted for the same home can differ, because standards disagree on whether garages, basements and wall thicknesses count.Gross floor area Net floor area MLS Standard room sizes →
Studalso: Wall studBuilding: A stud is one of the upright framing members, of wood or light-gauge steel, that form the skeleton of a framed wall. Studs run from a bottom plate to a top plate, are most often spaced 16 inches apart on center in US houses, and give drywall and sheathing something to fasten to.Partition wall Header Joist

T

Text-to-imagealso: txt2img, Text-to-image generationRendering: Text-to-image is a kind of AI image generation in which a model produces a picture from a written description, called a prompt, with no starting image. The model has learned from very large numbers of captioned images how words relate to visual content, and it composes a new image to match the description.Image-to-image Inpainting Render
Title blockDrawing: A title block is the framed panel, usually along the bottom or right-hand edge of a drawing sheet, that identifies the drawing. It gives the project name and address, the sheet title and number, the scale, the date, the revision history and the name of the person or firm that produced it.Scale Legend North arrow
Treadalso: GoingBuilding: A tread is the horizontal part of a stair step, the surface on which the foot is placed. Many US codes, following the International Residential Code, require treads in homes to be at least 10 inches deep, measured from the front edge of one step to the front edge of the next.Riser Landing Clearance

U

Upscalingalso: Image upscaling, Super-resolutionRendering: Upscaling is the process of increasing the pixel dimensions of an image so that it can be shown or printed larger. Simple methods interpolate between existing pixels and look soft, whereas AI upscalers predict plausible fine detail, giving a sharper result that is nonetheless partly invented rather than recovered.Render Photorealistic rendering Inpainting

V

Virtual stagingalso: Digital stagingReal estate: Virtual staging is the practice of digitally adding furniture, rugs, art and other decor to photographs of an empty or sparsely furnished property, so that buyers can see how the rooms might be used. It costs far less than staging with real furniture, and many listing services require that virtually staged photos be labeled.Home staging Listing photo Inpainting Virtual staging →
Virtual touralso: Walkthrough, 3D tour, Virtual walkthroughReal estate: A virtual tour is an interactive or recorded way of moving through a property on a screen instead of visiting it in person. It may be assembled from 360-degree photographs of a real home, or generated from a 3D model of one that is still being designed, and it is also called a walkthrough.Dollhouse view Listing photo 3D floor plan

W

Wainscotingalso: Wainscot, Dado panelingInteriors: Wainscoting is decorative paneling applied to the lower part of an interior wall, typically to about a third of its height, and finished at the top with a cap or chair rail. Originally a way to protect walls from damp and knocks, it is now used mainly for its appearance, in wood, MDF or beadboard.Millwork Accent wall Elevation
Wet wallalso: Plumbing wallBuilding: A wet wall is a wall that contains water supply pipes, drain lines and vent pipes for the plumbing fixtures placed against it. Grouping kitchens, bathrooms and laundry rooms along shared or stacked wet walls shortens pipe runs and reduces cost, which is why moving a sink or toilet is expensive.Rough-in MEP En suite