Let Your Fingers Do The Building

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Bob Vila's Home Design, on the other hand, requires that you draw the entire roof yourself. Once into the roof editor, you must draw roof panels, raise the roof peak, raise the roof to the top of your walls, and, in the case of a gable roof, edit your walls to fill in the holes on either end of the roof. It sounds more complicated than it is, but still it requires a good piece of your time, especially if you have a particularly complicated roof plan. The placement of dormers, chimneys, and skylights works much as it does in CompleteHome.

Planix Home Designer does not have a roof editor.

FINISHING TOUCHES

Once all the major components of your house have been designed, you'll probably want to do a little decorating. Fortunately, these programs give you the options of choosing carpet and paint colors, wallpaper patterns, and light fixtures. And, as an added bonus, Sierra's product also includes a clever electrical wiring program that'll help you get the lights turned on. The program provides tips and helpful hints to assist you in all of your electrical wiring needs. It will even figure out watts, amps, volts, wire sizes, and other crucial circuit information based on the appliances and fixtures you plan to use. The most impressive feature of this electrical package is the Circuit Simulator— a little program that will actually test a circuit diagram that you lay out to ensure it is properly wired.

Now that the interior of the house is finished, it's time to step outside and do a little exterior design work. Wouldn't it be nice to have a deck? Well, it just so happens that some of these home-design packages, especially the deluxe versions, actually provide their own deck-design software. Planix includes Deck 3D in its package, a fairly comprehensive design tool that allows you to pick a basic deck configuration and edit it to your personal liking or, for the more advanced user, design your deck from scratch. Throughout the entire process, you can access a help menu and watch informative video demonstrations of construction and design techniques. With the help of the "Deck Wizard," you can lay out your design relatively quickly, choosing everything from joist sizes, stairs, handrails, and pier spacing and depths.

Sierra's 3D Deck is not much different and, in fact, is somewhat easier to use. You start in much the same way as in Planix by picking an existing deck layout and revising it to fit your needs. When adding multiple levels, 3D Deck automatically chooses the correct stair size and length and warns you if the location you have chosen to place your stair has inadequate space. You can then complete your design by adding outdoor furniture and plants.

HOW MUCH IS THIS DREAM HOUSE GOING TO COST?

One of the unavoidable traps you inevitably fall into while using any of these home-design programs is getting carried away with your design. You end up having so much fun experimenting with different ideas and letting your imagination go wild that by the time you're finished, your house looks something akin to an English castle.

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