If you’re designing your next home, you may want to take a look at these design problems others have had in designing theirs. Sometimes these types of problems are expensive to correct or too difficult once they’ve been done.

This can come to your realization after everything has been built and you are just now enjoying your new home. Here are a few mistakes that could be hidden in your new home plan that you need to know about before it’s too late.

Light Fixtures

If you place your light fixtures up to the ceiling, it might look nice and out of the way but how are you going to change the bulbs? You may only have a couple of inches between the light and the ceiling which is not going to be enough room to change burnt bulbs. This is also going to be a fire concern.

Make sure light fixtures aren’t too close to the ceiling to avoid a fire and to enable you to change the light bulbs. If you have a fixture that allows the globes to face down, you might be in luck since you could turn it over.

Refrigerator Door

Did you think to leave enough room to open your refrigerator door? If the fridge is right next to a wall, you won’t be able to open the door all of the way. You won’t have adequate access to the inside of your refrigerator if you’re not careful.

This happens regularly in custom homes or high end homes because it looks functional on paper but isn’t in real life. Usually a professional would catch this so those working without a professional’s help should beware of this. Put your fridge against a side wall instead.

Iron Boards Built-In to the Wall

Some people choose to build the iron board into the wall. It’s easy to hide in the wall when not in use and just pull down when it’s time to iron. Did you think about the fact that if the door can’t swing wide open then your iron board will be blocked on one side by the door?

Mount the board away from cabinets to allow room to iron and for the door to swing all the way open when in use. You need 48 inches of space to fold down the board.

These are a few common mistakes people make when building their homes.