# Recommend me some home design software **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 20, 2004, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-home-design-software/251321 "2004-06-20T17:48:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bad\_Samaritan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bad\_Samaritan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_Samaritan)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2004, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-home-design-software/251321/1 "2004-06-20T17:48:26Z")
Mrs. AC & I just bought our dream home and being the wannabe architect (ala George Costanza), I want to make a semi-professional looking set of floor plans and elevations for future planning. I’ve looked at several of the readily available software products at retails stores like Broderbund 3D Home Architect and Punch Home Design and all the claims they make on the packaging but I’ve also read some reviews online that suggest they are not all that they claim to be either. Any dopers have personal experience or recommendations for these or any other software under $100? We don’t plan on doing any extensive remodeling or need all the gadgets like materials lists, deck planning, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Chairman\_Pow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Chairman\_Pow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chairman_Pow)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2004, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-home-design-software/251321/2 "2004-06-20T17:58:56Z")
Check out [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=259817&highlight=design). ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2004, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-home-design-software/251321/3 "2004-06-20T18:23:22Z")
This might sound strange, but hear me out. If you can wait until mid-September, don’t buy an architect program, buy [The Sims 2](http://www.thesims2.com) . Yes, a computer game. The thing is, though, I’ve used architect programs before (for my amusement) and they don’t look nearly as good as the houses you can design with The orginal Sims. With the new game you’re going to have even more architect options (more floors, windows/doors on angled walls etc) than with the orginal. Although it isn’t designed to make floor plans, there is a “wall-down” mode, the view of which can be gridded, that you could take screenshots of. The best part is after you’ve designed the home and furnished it, you can send your characters through daily tasks and see if there are foot traffic issues. Oh, if you go to the site, be sure to check the screen shots, there are a lot of interior and exterior home shots so you can see what can be done with it. ---
**Author:** ![Hyperelastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Hyperelastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hyperelastic)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2004, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-home-design-software/251321/4 "2004-06-21T00:34:50Z")
I’ve used Punch! Pro. It is quite cheap and reasonably good. And I used to be a CAD designer.