Space Planning Tools

Harmon Builders built our fabulous addition about seven years ago, and every day we love how it has made our home more beautiful and livable. Since then we have shuffled around pieces of furniture that we already owned, and we are only now buying most of the furniture that we specifically want for the space. To my amazement, there are many free room layout programs available online that are great fun to play around with and give a high quality image of your interior floor plan.

I have spent the most time trying out one by Autodesk. The same company makes professional software for architects and interior designers, but their free web based tool is quite user friendly and enjoyable to use. You can toggle between 2D and 3D, drag and drop shapes, alter dimensions, and experiment with an actual catalog of real products.

This feature might also be useful for a homeowner during the early planning stages of a project, to get a better feel for what the end result will be as you make decisions. Freshome has a list of ten free online room layout tools to check out for these purposes. I have not experimented with any of the available tablet apps, but one that is highly rated for the iPad is Home Design 3D, which is also free.

Whether you are imagining a new project, you would like to start furnishing one years after completion, or anywhere in between, these planning programs are not only practical tools but exciting ways to get the creative juices flowing.