Program for rearranging house?

WiseManTobes

Is there any sort of simplified type drafting or similar program, where I can like, put in my house measurements, then measurements of various furniture pieces, and just sorta doll house around various furniture configurations and see what fits where?

Paladin

Google sketchup?

defreak

This isn't exactly what you're looking for, but If no one can suggest a program, what I have always done is use Excel, change the margins so each box is 1x1 sq ft, or whatever you want it to be, and use the border function to draw the furniture.

Steev

A few years ago I was rearranging my bedroom and came across Bob's Room Planner which was surprisingly helpful for me. Not sure if it works for entire houses, though.

Darkewolfe

There are some programs like that for interior designers, but they're stupidly expensive and not available to the public that I know of.

DevoutlyApathetic

MagicPlan does something like this though it's "thing" is using the phone's camera/gyro to let you "measure" rooms via taking a series of photos. It does generate a plan but takes a little getting used to.

Any CAD program would be able to do this. SketchUp is free. It should also be noted that most CAD programs have a learning curve akin to EVE and they damn well like it that way.

Ultimately this is the sort of thing that might be easiest to do as a one time thing with a scale, some scissors and some construction paper.

Enc

MS paint has always worked for me, but sketchup make can work if you want to go super technical.

Skeith

SketchUp would probably be the best for this. The learning curve isn't as bad as other CAD programs, but it depends on how detailed you feel like getting with the furniture.

NightDragon

I used Room Sketcher when I was moving to my current place. You can punch in measurements, and even color things and change materials! It's completely free and online. I really liked it!

http://planner.roomsketcher.com/#/?pid=3028842

You can also take 3D snapshots from different angles to get a better idea of the space.

MichaelLC

Paladin wrote: »

Google sketchup?

We're looking to do this for our house, so just a heads-up, Google sold SketchUp a few years ago. Now there's a trial version of their pro program, "SketchUp 2017" and a free program, SketchUp Make"

CelestialBadger

Pottery barn has a free room planner online

http://www.potterybarn.com/tips-and-ideas/room-planner-tool/

Inquisitor77

If all else fails you can literally use PowerPoint. Just make boxes to scale, label them, and move stuff around. It's actually really straightforward, albeit you have to use your imagination. :P

djmitchella

http://www.sweethome3d.com/ is free and looks reasonable from their web site, at least.

Figgy

defreak wrote: »

This isn't exactly what you're looking for, but If no one can suggest a program, what I have always done is use Excel, change the margins so each box is 1x1 sq ft, or whatever you want it to be, and use the border function to draw the furniture.

This is the easiest and most "accurate" method, outside of actual design software. But I used shapes for furniture pieces--that way you can rotate and move any way you like. I would use a scale finer than 1' x 1' though, since sometimes you need to be more precise with positioning/fit.

There are also ready-made excel templates for this exact purpose, like this one: http://renovatedlearning.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Spring-2016-Layout.xlsx

And I definitely would not call Sketchup "easy" by any means. If you're not savvy with similar software, you're going to have a hard time. You'd wrestle with it for an afternoon before being able to do much of anything.

tastydonuts

djmitchella wrote: »

http://www.sweethome3d.com/ is free and looks reasonable from their web site, at least.

I actually purchased a version of this software from Amazon back when I was doing planning for my home last year. I thought it was pretty useful, I think the paid version just has more objects and stuff? I don't know. There is a little learning curve to it, but you can drag and drop your way to a good approximation of your home's dimensions, including stairs and all, and then fill it in with dummy furniture and such. I liked it.


edit: it's $15 USD on Amazon.

WiseManTobes

Loving the suggestions, slowly learning a couple of these, seeing which one clicks, keep the suggs coming too if anyone has any,

@ceres can I leave this open in case I have a technical question about an aforementioned program? or should I new thread if that happens?

ceres

You can leave it open for that, yeah.

OremLK

Autodesk Homestyler works well and is easier to learn / faster workflow than a full 3D package like SketchUp. It's entirely web-based and free. You pretty much just make floor plans and stick furniture in them.