Home Design CAD (Free Download)

As one of the few crazy idealistic people trying to buy a house at the moment; mainly due to the current economic climate it seems other potential buyers are taking cover in their mum's attic until this all blows over. To make the situation even more exciting I foolhardily made my bid before the building even came on to the market so could not comment on the apparent 'recession' push the price in my favour. My reckless approach to the side, I am now confronted with the task with the duty of teaching myself interior design and true to form wanted to get a computer in the mix somewhere.

Last year I reviewed Google SketchUp for Click and thought that I'd give it another spin before decided it was possibly a little bit too complicated for the relatively simple room designs that I wanted to create. I was looking for something more along the line of the basic CAD (Computer Aided Design) applications that members of the public are allowed to use in stores such as IKEA. After a little searching I stumbled across a free of charge, open source application called 'Sweet Home 3D' which seemed to fit the bill perfectly.

There are a couple of different versions of this application offered, including compatibility with Linux and Mac OS's realistically the majority of users will go for the 25mb Windows version which can be downloaded for free from http://sweethome3d.sourceforge.net . Interestingly a Java version is also available which runs straight from any Java compatible web-browser consequently removing the essential download and installation.

As the name suggests, this program is primarily aimed towards those looking to do an element of interior home design; it isn't a fully blown CAD package. What makes it so easy to use is that you simply give it the dimensions of your room(s) so you can get the walls in the right places, then it is just a case of dropping in objects such as bathtubs, beds and kitchen units. All your furniture is separated in to different categories such as 'kitchen', 'bathroom' and 'bedroom' which makes selecting the correct item incredibly easy. Over fifty pieces of furniture come in the initial installation but there are literally hundreds of additional 3D models can be downloaded free of charge which range from a telephone point to a spiral staircase.

The colour and size of the objects can be easily changed, so while you might not be able to locate the exact match for the sofa on page 5 of the IKEA catalogue you should get a fairly good match. Once content with your 2D design you can then able to switch to a full 3D view so you can get more of an idea as to how it will look in the flesh.

Whilst Sweet Home 3D isn't at all comprehensive when compared to other CAD packages, this is also what makes it special. Unlike an application such as AutoCAD, it should take literally minutes to get to grips with rather than taking you three months to learn and costing you hundreds. Those looking for something advanced will probably be disappointed but those looking to quickly knock up a room design or a floor plan should find this application ideal.