I have to say I'm lazy and just give square 5x3 rooms to everyone, with bed, three cabinents, two boxes, armour and weapon stands, some chains, a cage of their favorite material with their favorite animal, a bed for every other family member... engravings shared between neighbors though.
but my favorite was when I did some fractal halways, with stairs leading up and down to the center tile of a 3x3 room. Not the lower ones so much, but the upper ones. Especially when I hit dead center in three glob patterns. My latest designs had a short halway to the stair so there could be room for a door. I haven't done this for a while, but I think it was pretty good.
Also, rather than my normal rooms, nobles tend to get chaoticly arranged interlocking suites, as well as any functionarries that need an office, like mayors and continually rotating record keepers, that tend to be left and forgotten in them.
Once residence is done, tombs get arranged around a feature for everyone (chasms are nice, planing to use a short cave river with the next fort) and then it's one grander public dining cathedral after the next, last years model becoming a private room for the next highest rating dwarf on down the line.