A good question sent in by Sara: "We are redecorating our loft (true loft) and a floor plan would be helpful for layout purposes. We do not, however, want to spend weeks learning how to use complicated CAD software. Are you aware of any easy to use floor plan software? We would like something sufficiently sophisticated so that we can input the measurements of our existing furniture."
Sara, good luck with your project. Here are a few, free online options to get you started:
Point.Click.Design. at PointClickHome: A nice, straightforward floor plan program (My Room Planner Pro) that allows you to customize the measurements for existing furniture somewhat. Because it is a simple size up and size down function, it doesn't allow you to input measurements, but a fairly close approximation is possible. While it is somewhat limited in options, we like that it creates a line-drawing type of plan without any pre-set textures or color to interfere with the look.
Arrange-a-Room at Better Homes and Gardens: This program allows you to input the exact dimensions of your existing furniture, which you indicated as important, but we have a hard time with the very detailed look of the pieces - we find the pre-set illustrations of the pieces distracting to the final plan. But for quick, free, exact sizing, this one works.
And finally, a powerful online 3-D program that we have heard many good things about...
Google Sketch-Up: A simplified 3-D program, this (recently free to use) software is completely customizable and will allow you to create a model of your loft. The learning curve will be higher, but the results much more accurate and rich.
Virtual room designers...please add your recommendations for software to the comments below.
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There is also the exciting Furnish Pro... you get it somewhere, I forget. Google it? It takes a minute to download but it is quite fun and 3-D.
view ErieIndiana's profile
I have a friend who used http://www.bestfloorplans.com when she moved into her new condo and was very happy with their service... but that's a bit different than the DIY software ones.
view friesemk's profile
It depends on whether you've got Windows or Mac.
The easiest program is AppleWorks which you could probably pick up on ebay. Very intuitive. I am still using it (v.6 on Mac Mini G4 under Tiger) for scale floorplans with simple shapes like rectangles, squares & circles representing furniture; and 'wall plans' - a non-perspective line up of stuff against a wall including planning picture hanging, wall cabinets etc. I even do accessories!!
Another is OmniGraffle. You can download a demo & a manual for free. I think it comes with house objects.
Intaglio & LineForm are US$90 Illustrator substitutes, but the manuals suck.
HOWEVER that said, before computers there was graph paper. I have used large sheets to make scaled rooms, with other bits of graph paper (lebelled & coloured) representing furniture, kitchen appliances etc. Did an entire renovation like that.
No learning curve. Just make sure 1/10th of an inch represents 2 inches (or whatever - I used metric) for both the room & your stuff. Do a final check by blutacking the right sized newspaper on the floor of the empty loft.
view Deb of Oz's profile
This
http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/pac_ctnt/text/0,2019,DIY_14161_14281,00.html
Is free. It's a little slow to load, so give it a sec. Allows you to change furniture sizes (select, then right-click), add doors/windows/walls, zoom in/out, etc. I found it very handy.
view Jetmore's profile
It might be more fun to get a scissors, a ruler and some graph paper. Remember how to do things by hand? This way you can actually touch things. I also find that smoking something helps me rearrange furniture and artwork.
view Kurt's profile
there is also floorplanner.com ;)
cheers,
cindy
view cindy@staged4more's profile
There is also icovia.com. They have a free version you can use, but you have to subscribe in order to save or print the plans you create.
view LittleNico77's profile