White summary Magazine
Designing a home is no small task. Whether you’re looking to revitalize your interior, revamp your landscape, or ready to plot out your dream house, you’re going to need some quality software that can help make that happen. With the generous app market today, software is a dime a dozen — that’s why it’s especially important to take the time to do your research. Check out this list of the best home design software, ranked by overall popularity, quality, and ease of use.
5 Best Home Design Software Options to Consider
1. Home Designer Suite 2017
Some of the best home designer software out there is the Home Designer Suite. It is a professional-quality program that allows even the most basic user to quickly adapt to its advanced capabilities. By answering a few simple questions via the House Builder Wizard, you can have a custom 2D floor plan ready within minutes. The 3D house model is an entirely different beast, bringing to life a complete rendering of your ideal home. Customize every detail down to the most rigid specifications, whether that is a particular type of furnishing, window, door, paint color, and so much more.
Limited not to just the interior of a home, users can also landscape the entire yard in great detail. Filled with various tools and resources to assist in creating your 3D house model, this program makes things simple, thanks to its built-in House Builder Wizard, although it does lack a designated kitchen wizard. Until you fully grasp the ins and outs, there are sample templates and video tutorials easily accessible.
Home Designer Suite is priced at $99.99 for both Windows and Mac.
2. Punch! Home & Landscape Design Premium v19
Design effortlessly with some of the best home design software available — Punch! Design Premium churns out high-quality, ultra-realistic 2D and 3D renderings, and offers incredible design and constructions tools, making total customization a breeze. With QuickStart Preview, quickly begin a custom floor plan, drag-and-drop rooms onto the plan, arrange them however you’d like, and adjust the dimensions of each room. View the finished plan in dollhouse or aerial mode, or even do a walk-through.
The object library makes customization easy, with more than 4,700 objects at your disposal. Several helpful tools are included as well, such as roofing wizards, framing editors, and window and door designers — but lacks a kitchen design wizard. Although this program is overall easy to use, it may be a better option for more advanced users and offers multiple support resources. Find FAQs and how-to resources via the manufacturer’s website, and a user manual within the application.
Punch! Home & Landscape Design Premium v19 is priced at $99.99 for Windows only.
3. TurboFloor Plan Home & Landscape Pro 2017
One of the more intuitive programs, TurboFloorPlan Pro is packed with features that allow both beginning and advanced home designers to create effortless mockups. Pre-made templates make creating a 2D floor plan quick and easy, or you can start from scratch. A major highlight is this program’s ability to import a scanned floor plan of your current home if remodeling is the goal. As adjustments are made to the plan, a 3D house model generates.
A less common feature available in even some of the best home design software is the ability to insert curved walls. Nonetheless, this program lets you do that. While the 2D rendering is stunning, the 3D rendering lacks slightly in quality and overall realism, compared to its competition. As is often the case, there is also no kitchen design wizard. The object library includes thousands of pieces, each allowing for optimal customization. A cost estimator is available to help you establish a budget. Getting a handle on this user-friendly program is simple, but to get started, check out the built-in manual and online video tutorials.
TurboFloorPlan Home & Landscape Pro is priced at $99.99 for Windows and $149.99 for Mac.
4. HGTV Home & Landscape Platinum Suite 3.0
Despite costing less than the options above, HGTV Platinum Suite is quite useful. The usual features are included, like an extensive object library of over 3,200 pieces, and 2D and 3D rendering. A major highlight is the inclusion of kitchen, bathroom, and deck wizards, which many programs lack. The 2D floor plans are simplistic. While the 3D rendering produces a quality image, it can be difficult to navigate. Equipped with only nine sample floor plans, thousands of importable floor plans are available online. With the option of importing photos of your home’s interior or exterior, you can then customize each detail, from the flooring and countertops, down to the paint color.
This program is perhaps best suited to beginners, as the capabilities, while intuitive at times, can be limiting. The built-in cost estimator keeps you on budget and tracks the materials required. Not too much support is available, just a FAQs section on the manufacturer’s website. However, because of its low price, it might be the perfect solution for budget users.
HGTV Home & Landscape Platinum Suite 3.0 is priced at 38.50 for Windows only.
5. TurboFloorPlan Home & Landscape Deluxe 2017
A second less expensive option and another of the best home design software is the TurboFloorPlan Deluxe. With few changes over the Pro version above, Deluxe’s high-quality 2D floor plans and overall realistic 3D renderings do not disappoint. Viewing your plans in both 2D and 3D at the same time is possible, allowing you to ensure that all is where it should be.
Unlike the Pro version, Deluxe lacks the ability to insert curved walls, has a less extensive plant library. Unfortunately, it is missing design wizards. If you’d like some help getting started, easily access the built-in tutorial videos and user manual. Despite lacking a few features that the Pro version offers, Deluxe is an overall comprehensive program. Considering the small price tag for a more than decent quality, it is worth the investment.
TurboFloorPlan Home & Landscape Deluxe 2017 is priced at $49.99 for Windows and $99.99 for Mac.
Now that you’ve got an idea of the type of criteria that make up the best home design software available, the choice is yours. Your imagination can only take you so far when it comes to managing the logistics of whether that piece of furniture would work in a particular room, or how that paint color would look in that particular space. Share your thoughts on our list of the best home design software. If you have experience in working with any of them, let us know what you think.
