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Being able to bring your design concepts to life is such a key element in the success of your final outcome.
In our post on How To Start Decorating Your Home, creating a mock-up is one of the major steps required for a successful renovation, and it should never be bypassed.
It’s easy to create a mock-up using any of the design programs that are available these days.
But, I know a lot of people are intimidated about using software or don’t want to have to invest a lot of time in learning complicated design skills. And, if you aren’t sure if you’ll be able to use the software, you definitely don’t want to spend a fortune for the software.
That makes perfect sense, but I’m here to tell you, it’s no longer an issue.
While mock-up home design programs used to be reserved for those with specialized mock-up skills who also owned expensive software, technology has advanced so much that anyone with even basic drag-n-drop skills can put together a fairly impressive design sketch in very little time and at little to no cost.
Here is a list of some of the easiest and most popular home design programs that are either free or have a free trial.
There are no risks to signing up for any of them and if one doesn’t work for your specific needs, pick another.
You should at least try one of these if you’re about to embark on any redecorating or renovation project for your home:
PLANNER5D
This program has virtually zero learning curve, making it one of the best 3d program out there for beginners and also looks the best. In my opinion this company takes the cake on ingenuity of software as well as customer engagement. Geared towards the amateur designer, they showcase what other amateurs have done and they hold design contests where you can judge or participate in creating a unique style to win reward points. Very COOL.
Planner5D Bathroom Created By User
HOMEBYME
This program is maybe my favorite one out of these listings, because it is easy to use but also free throughout the entirety of the program. They use real products to furnish your design so there is an easy way to actually acquire the things you fall in love with in your design – and this is how they earn the revenue to keep you from having to pay for the software.
Home.By.Me default design you can start with
FLOORPLANNER
This is a great option and they have kept the free version pretty feature-rich – so you should be able to build exactly what you need for free to at least get started. The priced versions will allow better exporting, branding (if you want to add your company logo to the images) – and allows you to do a little more in the sense of building a two story house. However, you can build out individual rooms and save each one as a project, which circumvents the second story limitation, you just won’t be able to build the entire house in one image.
Check out their demo room here
Floorplanner Demo
This link shows you everything you will get in the basic free package.
SKETCHUP
This is the leading product for Interior Designers to visualize (you can even do augmented reality in their Pro version), but there is a steep learning curve. I would actually not recommend this for anyone who is just trying to get basic ideas for their rooms, unless you want to invest a lot of time in learning the program.
Sketchup Bedroom Design
SMARTDRAW
This program is nice because it comes with many pre-designed templates that might work for either your house layout or landscape designing. They offer a free 7-day trial to test it out, which might be long enough for you to get your designs done. Home renderings is only a small fraction of what this software has available. SmartDraw can replace many of your other visualization tools as well like Visio, so it’s probably best for someone looking for an all-in-one design tool.
SmartDraw Landscape Templates
WAYFAIR
This popular supplier of reasonably priced furniture also provides a 3D planner so that you can put the basics for your room design together. Their software is not horrible and will give you a decent idea of how things might look in your room – obviously, using their furniture. The nice thing here is that you are placing items you would actually be able to purchase if desired.
It’s fairly limited in design capabilities, but great for someone who just wants a very simple, quick-and-dirty mock up of their room design.
Wayfair Room Planner
Now – Time to Try One
This list should give you a good starting place to be inspired to try one of these programs. Most of these include tutorials and a free trial account, so you should be able to easily get started making a room design.
It may take a little bit of time to learn and create your room(s), but changing items in a mock-up will make your life monumentally easier, as it would be a LOT harder and more time-consuming (as well as costly) to repaint a room or retile or put new carpet in rather than just click a button on your computer to see different looks.
This is something you really will want to learn – in order to save time, money and frustration.
If you have other great programs you love, please recommend them in the comments – and help your fellow renovators learn about things that can benefit them.
Until then, Happy Modeling!
