Simple floor plan design

[Dirtymike]

My wife and I have been drawing stuff out on graph paper and fussing and fighting about size. What is big enough, what will fit, what wont......

I have found a huge number of floor plan design programs online. I know not all software is created equal. The final floor plan will be done by architect. I would like to use a simple basic design program to help us. This graph paper is taking tons of time and not getting to the 3d scale she needs. She needs to "visualize it" and not able to do it with out seeing it.

So if any one has a easy to use program you can point us towards please help.

[Wampuscat]

This site has a lot of easy floorplans to look at. I was gonna buils a barnd using their floorplan, but wound up building a Tilson home instead.

http://wdmb.com/Texas_Barndominiums.aspx?showlink=yyes

[Dirtymike]

This site has a lot of easy floorplans to look at. I was gonna buils a barnd using their floorplan, but wound up building a Tilson home instead.

http://wdmb.com/Texas_Barndominiums.aspx?showlink=yyes

Yes sir. I did get the inspiration from the site. I like the bedrooms on one side and the living area from kitchen, island, to dinner table, to living room plan. it is just missing the 2nd bathroom.

Thank you for the link. I appreciate any help i can get. I am thinking a longer building, all bed rooms to the side and one long kitchen to dinner table to living room all in one. I want it compact because easy to clean, when we have guest they did not drive out to the country to sit inside. I sure the heck did not move to the woods to look at the inside of a building.

[TexasBob]

My mind is always in the gutter so your first paragraph...


We spent hours on google. Had good luck with image search leading to helpful sites. We just looked at pre done though, not design your own. Might try cabin floor plans, just add rooms and make it larger scale


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[denimdeerslayer]

I actually use design tech home plan then modified it with ms paint into what we wanted. Then took that to drafter. We had went and walked through their models on 45 n and liked a lot of the one we picked.

[sendit]

When my wife and I first started planning for a ranch barndo we did like most and looked online for floor plans. Ultimately we wound up drawing out our own to scale and tweaked it several time over months and months.

We are simple people and the barndo is a large rectangle so basically came up with the square footage we wanted and arranged the rooms the way we wanted. We then took it do a guy that draws up floor plans and worked with him and again made a few tweaks before he came up with the final plans.

In our case I am doing 95% of the build so I can change things if needed. I have made quite a few of them too to a point that my wife tells me just do it and doesn't even want to know. I tell her the only thing that cant be moved/modified is the plumbing.

I would suggest using Sketchup if you want basic 3D type imagery. One of my daughters plays a game called Simms and she was able to come up with some good 3D stuff.

[Randallc]

Google Sketch Up. There's a small learning curve but once you figure it out it's awesome.

[Texastaxi]

We started with a floor plan that Tina found on she-devil-pinterest. It was a 20x30 base, which is where we started. I'm a designer, so I have access to AutoCAD everyday. First I drew up all our furniture and let Tina cut out "paper dolls". Then I drew up the floor plan that she found, with a 1 food grid, on the background. She put the furniture where she wanted it, then could look to see how much space was left by looking at the grid.

The barndo living area ended up being 24x40 on the bottom, and another 600 sq ft upstairs.

The only way to really get it "right" is to draw the floor plan and draw YOUR furniture inside that. Otherwise there's no way to know how everything will fit. I designed my mom's house around her furniture as well. She had everything she wanted, so I drew it all up, then adjusted the walls around the furniture, then shuffled the rooms until it all fit.

As for software, I'm partial to AutoCAD. I've been using it since 1992, but it's a bit expensive for home use.

[planomustang]

I am in the same boat as you. About a year ago, I went through several free, on-line drawing programs, but never found anything useful. I did bookmark the following site, and I opened it up again. They have completely upgraded their program, and it is pretty good, after you get over the learning curve.

https://www.homestyler.com/

Here is what I am currently working on for my barndo.

[Dirtymike]

We started with a floor plan that Tina found on she-devil-pinterest. It was a 20x30 base, which is where we started. I'm a designer, so I have access to AutoCAD everyday. First I drew up all our furniture and let Tina cut out "paper dolls". Then I drew up the floor plan that she found, with a 1 food grid, on the background. She put the furniture where she wanted it, then could look to see how much space was left by looking at the grid.

The barndo living area ended up being 24x40 on the bottom, and another 600 sq ft upstairs.

The only way to really get it "right" is to draw the floor plan and draw YOUR furniture inside that. Otherwise there's no way to know how everything will fit. I designed my mom's house around her furniture as well. She had everything she wanted, so I drew it all up, then adjusted the walls around the furniture, then shuffled the rooms until it all fit.

As for software, I'm partial to AutoCAD. I've been using it since 1992, but it's a bit expensive for home use.

AutoCAD does way more than what i am wanting to do and too complex i would imagine. Just trying to do the basics

[Dirtymike]

So checking out SketchUp. I looks like a winner. Going to give it a try. Has how to videos that make it appear to be easy to use.

[Bearkat]

I design houses on the side. Full time pipe and mechanical designer. I usually do my plans in Autocad. I have been using it every day since 1988 so it comes natural to me. Last couple years I have been using sketchup a lot. If doing 3d it is better than "out of the box" autocad, but 2d is much better in Autocad. I am always asked this question. There several house design software on the market. Some under $100. They all have a learning curve and you still need to know building concepts and how to draw them. There is a lot of thought that has to be put into the design. When drawing houses for other people I ask them to find prints from websites and bring them to me. It could be the master bedroom from one plan, kitchen of another and living room from another. I can then design around those plans and then fit them in a elevation that they prefer. Of course there has to be tweaks to make it all fit and may not look exactly like the examples, but by doing it this way I can usually get what the owners are wanting the first draft. If you come in with good ideas a designer can have it drawn before you can even learn the basics of a cad program. One good thing about sketchup is that there is a lot of blocks like furniture and fixtures. Also it has a lot of extensions that help in the process. Good luck with you build.

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[Dirtymike]

I design houses on the side. Full time pipe and mechanical designer. I usually do my plans in Autocad. I have been using it every day since 1988 so it comes natural to me. Last couple years I have been using sketchup a lot. If doing 3d it is better than "out of the box" autocad, but 2d is much better in Autocad. I am always asked this question. There several house design software on the market. Some under $100. They all have a learning curve and you still need to know building concepts and how to draw them. There is a lot of thought that has to be put into the design. When drawing houses for other people I ask them to find prints from websites and bring them to me. It could be the master bedroom from one plan, kitchen of another and living room from another. I can then design around those plans and then fit them in a elevation that they prefer. Of course there has to be tweaks to make it all fit and may not look exactly like the examples, but by doing it this way I can usually get what the owners are wanting the first draft. If you come in with good ideas a designer can have it drawn before you can even learn the basics of a cad program. One good thing about sketchup is that there is a lot of blocks like furniture and fixtures. Also it has a lot of extensions that help in the process. Good luck with you build.

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Yea for sure I am not trying to do the design as much as basic floor plan. Then we need to get the basic floor plan to the barndo builder to get mueller to engineer the building. Then take that building and our basic plan to the real architect.

Are you for hire?


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