A perfect floor plan is the starting point of a successful house design. Whether you are designing your own house or want to draw floor plans for your clients, there are a list of tools and resources available at your disposal that can make the process a lot faster and easier.
Here I have compiled the best floor plan software, layout design software free download, room layout planner free, 3d home design software free, design your own house online free, free plan drawing software, 2d floor plan software free download, free room design app.
SketchUp
SketchUp is the most comprehensive free 3D design software you’ll find on the web, says Cory. This powerful home design tool is immersive enough to make it seem like you are moving through your future home, while being flexible enough to make it feel as if you’re working with pen and paper.
The free version is perfect for hobbyists, while the pro version is more suited to professionals in architecture, construction, engineering and commercial interior design.
Whether you’re building an extension for your home, a treehouse, or conceptualising your debut on Grand Designs, the thoroughness of this software will help you bring every aspect of your design to life.
Floorplanner
Floorplanner lets you design and decorate your space in 2D and 3D, which can be done online and without having to download any software. While its interior decorating function is an excellent feature, the strength of this tool lies in its functionality as a floor planner. Then, once the floor plan is completed, you can switch view and decorate the space in 3D mode.
It’s simple to use and easy to get the hang of, so if you’re after something that doesn’t require a steep learning curve, Floorplanner is a good choice.
START DESIGNING WITH FLOORPLANNER
SmartDraw
SmartDraw is another powerful tool in the world of floor planning. It’s easy enough to learn so no one is excluded from using it, while being advanced enough to facilitate intricate designs for more advanced designers.
With a seemingly endless selection of furniture, cars, building materials and thousands of templates and floor plan examples, you’ll be able to explore an infinite amount of possible designs and layouts for your new space. The only downside to this tool is that it’s only free for the first seven days, so if you plan on using it for longer or for multiple projects, it may be worth the upgrade.
START DESIGNING WITH SMARTDRAW
Planner 5D
Planner 5D is the best-looking home design tool. Like the free version of Sketch Up, this tool is immersive, which means you are able to explore your design with your feet virtually on the ground.
With Planner 5D you’ll be able to start from scratch or use a template which is perfect for throwing together a quick floor plan if you don’t have the time or don’t want to make a complex design. What’s especially great about this software is that it works on iOS, which means you can create plans on your phone or iPad while you’re on the move.
Getting started couldn’t be easier. Start by adjusting the floor shape, size, materials and colours. Then add furniture and accessories, switch to 3D and add windows and doors. Add a second floor if you want to, and then the roof. The only downside is that if you want to use the in-app furniture, it can get expensive for anything other than the most basic beds, chairs or sofas.
All aspects of the design can be changed in terms of colour and texture and, when you’re ready to share your plans, it can be printed in a photorealistic format.
START DESIGNING WITH PLANNER 5D
HomeByMe
HomeByMe is one of Cory’s favourite home design tools. As far as we can tell, it’s genuinely free throughout and so are all its features. The way it works, is brands add their products to its catalogue, which means you’ll be using actual products to furnish and decorate your home. The perks of this is that you’ll be able to plan your design through to the very end and have access to the actual furniture and decorations you used to create your space imaginatively.
Like with Planner 5D, you’re able to switch from 2D to 3D after you’ve finished your floor plan and designed the look and feel of each room. Or, you can start with the décor and hit ‘summary’ and the software will produce a floor plan with all your furniture and appliances in the right places.ADVERTISEMENT – CONTINUE READING BELOWhttps://0241b124da806a4467114033d8ecf11a.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html
Roomstyler 3D Home Planner
There’s a lot to like about Roomstyler. Like HomeByMe, it’s very easy to use. In fact, it’s so intuitive that there’s almost no need for the tutorial video’s available. Which is another plus for this software. Of all the home design tools, this one has a tutorial video available for every question you might have about the tool.
The greatest perk about this software is that you can create a custom room in a matter of minutes. This app also allows you to furnish your space using products from real brands, meaning you’ll be decorating your plans with items you can purchase when you’re ready for your design to materialise.
START DESIGNING WITH ROOMSTYLER
You’ll often find that some of your favourite brands and retailers have their own room 3D room planners online, which offers even more scope to visualise your space, and enables you to ‘try before you buy’. Take a look at our top picks below…ADVERTISEMENT – CONTINUE READING BELOW
DFS room planner
A sofa is one of the most important investments you’ll make for your home, so while browsing for your new sofa at DFS, you can also redesign your room – it’s ideal if you’re redecorating or moving into a new home. You can use a 2D view or 3D view and from there, choose a room shape, input measurements, and decide on a wall colour and floor covering. You can even add accessories to enhance the space, plus play around with decor to complement your chosen sofa.
START DESIGNING WITH DFS ROOM PLANNER
Carpetright visualiser
If you’re thinking about investing in new flooring, Carpetright’s flooring visualiser will help you envision what your room will look like with carpet, vinyl, wood or laminate flooring. Simply take a photo of your chosen room (or select a sample room) and upload it onto the visualiser. You’ll be able to customise the wall colour and flooring type. From there you can save your rooms and order swatches, bringing you one step closer to your dream room.
START DESIGNING WITH CARPETRIGHT VISUALISER
Canva
At first, I thought this was a typo: shouldn’t it be Canvas? Nope, it is something all its own: Canva. Canva is a great little program released in 2012 that allows users to easily create more complex art projects in a manner of minutes.
It was created by Melanie Perkins, an Australian-based designer. Creating a website has never been so easy going into 2020. This program allows for wide accessibility for both veterans of graphic design as well as greenhorns.
You could even use it on a tablet! I really dig the ease of which Canva can be used. It can primarily be used, like other programs, for any size business to create the best-looking websites for visitors to see.
That is so important: there is nothing worse than accessing a company’s website and seeing it looking like a blind mouse designed it back in 1998 on GeoCities. It is perfect for creating advertisements as well.
Pros:
- Drag and Drop:
This is so crucial, especially for newer designers. Powerful drag and drop features are what fuels Canva into what it does best. Users can seamlessly drag and drop and edit layers with ease that users may even prefer over Adobe products.
- Good Features:
Canva has a host of great features that it shares with some of the premier best graphic designing software. It has a great set of templates to ease the use, getting you started on projects where you may come upon a creative block in your designing process.
There is a great support system for Canva as well, so if you are ever stuck in a tricky design, or if something goes wrong with the program itself, there is someone just a call away. This priority for customers is reassuring.
Cons:
- The versions:
The difference between the bare-bones program for free and that of the subscription really makes the user need to use the $12.95 subscription to actually accomplish your projects with ease.
Pricing:
- This is a good ‘in-between’ for users who don’t want to drop a fortune on software like the Adobe Suite but want to kick up their experiences more so than what GIMP may have to offer.
- It has a free trial so you can go for a test run.
- The base program, simply Canva, is free as well. It includes a lot of features, however, not all of them are included in the full version. A certain feature, namely folders for your designs, is limited to 2 in this version.
- Canva for Work is a reasonable $12.95 a month.
This version allows you to have unlimited folders for anything your heart desires. It gives you unfettered access to many other features, like over 8,000 templates for the great beginning design.
Inkscape
I love Inkscape. It was released back in 2003. This is a great option for those with a handy stylus and a keen sense of what they want to draw and create.
Not only that, but it also prides itself on its ease of access for many platforms. With its strong vector creation, it clears the way for any designer to make a number of things with ease.
It uses the GNU Public License, (GPLv3+), which allows for every derivative work within the program to be released under the terms of the license. GIMP also utilizes this license.
Pros:
- Vector Creation:
This is the crux of the program. It is so easy to create vectors, which in turn opens the way for creating stunning visuals with ease and style.
- Open Source:
This software is free and open-source. Like GIMP, it allows users of any experience level to create, share, and edit anything for free. This is essential for those designers who are hesitant to jump into the deep end of high-end graphic design software.
Cons:
- Possibly Buggy:
for a con, this is small potatoes. Some users have complained that earlier versions were a little buggy: possible crashing, a laggy interface. With the current releases, problems like have eased up a lot.
Pricing:
- FREE!
That’s right, folks, it is free. As I said, it is open source and free to use by everyone. With its license, the only stipulation is that works under it also are licensed by it.
Conclusion
Hopefully, we’ve managed to help you find some software that will suit your needs. Remember, as we’ve mentioned, that you don’t necessarily need to look for a top notch floor plan software package. Many small designers will still find large packages to be overkill. A free layout design software option might actually be perfectly suitable for their needs. But if you do have the budget, FreeCAD and SketchUp are great tools with a wide variety of features that make them worth a closer look.