Home design software can handle everything from a floor plan up to planning color schemes to moving the furniture around virtually with no sweat or backache!
Dividing the software into categories can help sort out the different features on which a particular home design program focuses. Many software packages offer features that cross over categories, but this is a helpful way to understand the potential of these home design packages.
Floor Plan Home Design Software
Many home design sites offer complete house plans and sample floor plans, many of them free. A good example is ePlans, which allows users to
- Filter plans by square footage, number of bedrooms, and other criteria
- Save or print selected plans
- Design original floor plans and get custom work, cost estimating, and more (at cost)
Home plan design programs are great to look at and dream about and a good way to get ideas.
Interior Design Programs
This type of renovation software, often found at paint manufacturer's sites, allows the user to
- Change colors and textures on walls
More complete versions, such as HomeWorks by Home Hardware, allow users to
- Add wood or tile to floors
- Change window and door shapes, roof lines, etc.
- View rooms in 3D
This software for home design is usually simple and fun to use.
Home Design Programs for Furniture Arrangement
Furniture arrangers have a room focus – kitchens, dining rooms, bedroom, and home offices being the most popular. Generally these are on furniture manufacturer or appliance dealer sites, and are brand specific. The Brick has a good room planner that is quick, simple, and easy to use – but it won't do bathrooms!
Recommendations include
- FloorPlanner.com
- SmartDraw
Avoid the temptation to resize the virtual furniture to make it fit! Can't do that in real life.
Home Design Program Suites
Suites are super. They combine changers, arrangers, 3D viewers, and more.
- Plan3D is an online subscription package with a lot of features and a huge library of drop-ins
- DesignWorkshop has a Lite package fro free, and a variety of configurations up to semi-professional packages
- Better Homes & Gardens has a range of suites; no free trial versions but the demos look good.
Suites may also include deck design and landscaping in both plan and 3D view.
Home Design Programs with Material Estimating
Will the home design software or renovation software tell how much lumber, drywall, paint the project needs?
Bob Villa's Home Sense site has some handy estimators, though some users may be put off by the detailed worksheets the site requires to be printed off, completed, and entered.
Otherwise, only the higher-end home design suites can handle materials estimates and take-offs (purchase lists).
Home renovation software is no substitute for knowledge; don't count on free or even purchased software to handle construction details or building codes. Most home design programs will let the user dream up a floor plan or room design and take it to a contractor for discussion, revision, and costing.
Portions of this article were previously published in RENOVATIONS: Home Improvement and Design Magazine, Sept.-Oct. 2008
Thomas Alan Gray - Tom has been writing for over 30 years; curiosity leads him to dig into a wide variety of topics.
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