Product Description: For a fun and advanced, yet easy-to-use set of tools for Home Design, Better Homes And Gardens Home Designer Suite 8 is the perfect solution. Use it for remodeling, interior design, kitchens, baths, decks, landscaping and cost estimation. Powerful, Fun and Easy Home Design Software
Custom cabinets, sinks, showers and garden tubs in 3D Inspirational photos by room or type Thousands of colors and textures or create your own materials with a digital picture Deck and patio tools Design single or multi-level decks with automatic deck framing Deck foundations automatically generate to match sloped lots Plant Encyclopedia - Over 1,500 plants Pathway tool - design curb-appealing landscaping using stone, pavers or sidewalks Design in 2D & 3D Glass House View - a translucent view of your design Doll House View - a 3D overview without the roof Create a Virtual Tour Day and night views Assemble a scale model of your design Generate shadows from the sun for realistic 3D Automatic Build Terrain and Terrain Perimeter tools - create flat, irregular shaped or sloped lots - use a GPS to import or enter elevation data Create plot and perimeter plans; automatically generate a 3D model of your actual terrain Easy-to-use terrain and landscaping tools - Add a pool or pond and visualize in 3D Fencing tools - a variety of fencing styles, custom gates, driveways, sidewalks and curbing tools Hill and Valley tools - add gardens, beds and slopes that automatically appear in 3D Cost Estimating
Minimum System Requirements Windows XP/Vista 1.2 GHz processor 2 GB of available disk space 512 MB of Memory on XP 1 GB of Memory on Vista DVD drive
Amazon.com: Design or Remodel Your Home Today--Better Homes and Gardens Home Designer Suite provides a fun and an advanced yet easy to use set of tools for Home Design, Remodeling, Interior Design, Kitchens, Baths, Decks, Landscaping and Cost Estimation.
The all-in-one home design software solution.
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Design for your lifestyle and personality--change colors, add lighting and choose furniture to accent your new room.
Design in 2D and 3D. 3D Views are automatic with a point-and-click of the camera tool.
Powerful, Fun and Easy Home Design Software
Exclusive Better Homes and Gardens Design Planning Center for expert design advice
Choose from over 1,500 Sample Plans
Design Inspiration Galley contains photos by type for design and inspiration design ideas
Choose from built-in home style templates or create your own custom home design, or use the House Wizard
Powerful building tools like automatic roof generation, dormers, stairs, framing and foundations
House Wizard and Tutorial Videos Make it Easy!
The Quick Startup Options Guide will help you begin with "How-To" tutorials based on the type of your project
Use the House Wizard for quick and easy layout of your rooms
Select from the pre-designed Home Design, Interior and Landscaping Style Templates complete with colors, cabinets, decks and more
Exclusive Design Planning Center for up-to-date How-To and Design Tips from the experts to help in your design process
Includes Step-by-Step Tutorial DVD Packed with over 30 easy "step-by-step" tutorial training videos that will quickly get you started on your next home design project
Choose from over 1,500 plants with the Plant Chooser.
Design the Kitchen of your dreams--move walls, create new cabinets, add appliances--Design your perfect workspace!
Doll House View, a 3D overview without the roof, is an effective tool for space planning of furniture placement and traffic flow.
Kitchens, Baths and Custom Cabinets
Design the Kitchen of your dreams--move walls, create new cabinets, add appliances--Design your perfect workspace!
Plan the new layout of your bathroom with custom cabinets, sinks, showers and garden tubs. It's easy to visualize your ideas in 3D.
Create custom cabinets in minutes by choosing your own colors, countertops, door styles and more
Design your new kitchen or bath using the Cabinet Designer Tools
Use the Cabinet Designer tools to create unlimited cabinet styles. Choose your own colors, countertops and door styles.
Interiors and Exteriors
Use the Better Homes and Gardens Design Planning Center to help guide your designs with guidelines, tips and expert advice
Design Inspiration Gallery--Our gallery of photos will help you to jump start your design and decorating style ideas with inspirational photos by rooms
Material Painter¨ lets you apply colors and materials quickly and easily
Choose from thousands of colors and textures or create your own materials using a digital photograph
Design for your lifestyle and personality--change colors, add lighting and choose furniture to accent your new room
Decks and Landscaping
Powerful deck and patio tools allow you to design and visualize your new deck with 3D models and can help you estimate the costs
Design single or multi-level decks complete with automatic deck framing
Quickly lay out your deck with stairs and arrange furniture
Deck foundations automatically generate to match sloped lots
Exclusive Better Homes and Gardens Plant Encyclopedia
Choose from over 1,500 plants with the Plant Chooser
Pathways--Use the Pathway tool to design curb-appealing landscaping using stone, pavers or sidewalks--line with trees, shrubs, flowers and more
3D Models and Virtual Tours
Design in 2D and 3D. 3D Views are automatic with a point-and-click of the camera tool.
Glass House View provides a full translucent view of your design
Doll House View, a 3D overview without the roof, is an effective tool for space planning of furniture placement and traffic flow
Create a Virtual Tour--draw your record line to Automatically Generate; or record your camera movements
Visualize your home with day and night views
Assemble a scale model of your design with Model Maker
Generate shadows from the sun for realistic 3D views
Point-and-click to remove wall surfaces, or use 3D Cross-Section Elevation Slider to quickly create a 3D slice of your desired view
Site Planning & Estimating
Use Automatic Build Terrain and Terrain Perimeter tools to create flat, irregular shaped or sloped lots--use a GPS to import or enter elevation data
Create plot and perimeter plans; automatically generate a 3D model of your actual terrain
Make your backyard design come alive using several easy-to-use terrain and landscaping tools. Add a pool or pond and visualize in 3D.
Fences and Driveways--With the Fencing tools you can choose a variety of fencing styles and custom gates. You will also find driveway, sidewalk and curbing tools
Hill and Valley tools make it easy to add gardens, beds and slopes that automatically appear in 3D views. Choose from landscaping style templates or create your own.
Cost Estimating--Don't be surprised by the cost of your project. Automatically generate a complete spreadsheet for your project costs, broken down by category. Calculate the amount of lumber for your deck or concrete required for that new patio.
Excellent Tool This software tool is so much more efficient than pencil and paper. While someehat difficult to learn, it seems to have have all the features for basic design work.
very poorly organized I spent 2 or 3 nights on this product, and watched a few of the tutorial videos and will probably throw this away. I don't have the attention span or the time to dive in and learn how to use it - and I'm a computer professional. They should have had a checklist - step 1, step 2, etc. but instead there are these videos to watch and programs in 2 different installs. I thought the "wizard" would be a good place to start (how about telling us where to start?) designing a basic floorplan but got stuck in that and didn't ever figure out how to move on. Several of the options I tried (for instance, to convert my 2-d to a 3-d plan) did nothing so must have required something but didn't give me a clue what it needed. If I kept playing with this product I might accidentally learn how to get something useful out of it but it is much more time than I care to spend.
Better Home Indeed! This item was hard at first to figure out but after watching the video it made it a lot easier. Of course im still playing with it trying to build my dream house! But nontheless its a very good item.
Better Homes Designer Suite is Sweet!! Easy to use and handy as all get-out. If you're planning on building or adding-on, this is a must have for the beginning phases of your project.
Pretty sweet package for the money I have not actually done a final design with this product yet, but have done some preliminary layouts. For the money I doubt that you will find a product that has close the usability and functionality. Like most design programs, it takes a bit of getting used to, I spent a couple of hours trying to get the grade for a driveway and surrounding ground correct. However I'm sure with more familiarity it would have taken no more than a few minutes.
The program does have some CAD capabilities, but that is certainly not its strength, I have used freeware more powerful for CAD work. But for interior and exterior architecting, being able to see what the finished design will look like (or at least some approximation) is invaluable.
This package is worth buying even if you are not sure if it is exactly what you want. You can always just use it for landscaping layouts (does a pretty good job at that).
Anything Goes Trivia
Trevor
Megaton Man
