The Thinkroom: a Room for Reflection and Production

Everyone, from artists to hobbyists, needs a place to think and to work. In my room design, I decided to incorporate both of these ideas, creating a space that serves as both a workshop and a quiet refuge for thinking and planning. 

The image is a rough plan that I drew. It is not to scale, but has a simple view of how furniture will be laid out in the room.

I knew that if this room was going to fulfill its two main functions, it would need a space for thinking, and a space for working. 

I further fleshed out the concept by making two lists: 

Thinking Space
-An area for reading
-Relaxing lighting 
-Comfortable furniture
-Shelves for books, inspirational things, etc. 
-Desks for drawing, writing, etc. 
-More aesthetic than functional

Working Space
-Workbench
-Storage for tools, components, etc.
-Outlets for soldering iron, lights
-Sturdy lighting that can fully illuminate work area 
-Any safety supplies (fire extinguisher, gloves) 
-More functional than aesthetic

P.S. I figured my handwriting might be a little illegible, so I added picture captions.

The next step after brainstorming and mentally planning out the room was to make a dimensionally accurate floor plan. My floor plan incorporates much of the same design as the brainstorming drawing, but it is to scale and shows a little more detail.

Note: 
You may have noticed that a large space in the center of the room is empty. I did this so that I have room to pace, put things down, etc. 

Materials: 
I did a little thinking about materials for the room. The thinking side of the room is more aesthetic and comfort oriented, so the furniture will be comfortable and relaxing. I was thinking a blue color scheme, as well as carpet and wood furniture.  
For the workshop section, the furniture is much more functional. The table surfaces will be resistant to heat and chemicals, and the flooring will be a tough workshop flooring, made of a strong plastic. There will be a lot more metal in this side of the room's design, to add strength and to reduce the risk of fires.

Floor Plan Data: 
Scale: 1 inch to 2 feet
Dimensions: 15 ft. by 14 ft.
Square footage: 210 sq. feet

The last step is to complete a full-color 3D model. This model was done in Sketchup, which can be downloaded for free. The dimensions are the same as in the floor plan. The textures were chosen to reflect the materials choices made in the previous step.
The model was completely designed from scratch by me. I did my best to provide an accurate representation of the concept that I had in mid since the beginning. The model's .skp file is attached below. If you have any questions regarding the model's design, dimensions, or otherwise, please ask them in the comments section below. 

Well, I hope you enjoyed my first Instructable! This project was really fun for me, and I hope this Instructable helped you to learn as much as I did from the designing of this room.


Note on Sketchup:
Sketchup can be downloaded here:
There are many tutorials on the Internet about using Sketchup. While it is a tad limited in ability, it serves as a simple way to make 3D models.