Better Homes and Gardens Home Designer Suite 8.0

Platform: Windows Vista, Windows XP

Chief Architect, 2008, DVD-ROM

Main Features

Home Design, Remodeling, Decks, Landscaping, Kitchens & Baths, Interior Design, Cost Estimating
Automatic Building Tools--Roofs, Stairs, Doors, Windows, Framing, Foundations and more
Design Planning Center
Material Painter--point-and-click colors for walls, floors, countertops and more
Create Your Custom Kitchen with 1,000's of Cabinet Combinations

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

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.
View a Product Demo.

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.

Product Details

Title: Better Homes and Gardens Home Designer Suite 8.0
Sales Rank: 28 in Software
Publisher: Chief Architect
Platform: Windows Vista, Windows XP, DVD-ROM
Item Dimensions: 1.1 pounds
Package Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches, 0.4 pounds

Customer Reviews

Frustrating, Poorly Written, and Very Buggy: I can't believe they would ship a product with this many bugs in it. Don't they have any kind of QA department?
I worked with it for several hours and had it crash on me at least a dozen times. The object browser preview is is extremely slow. The 3D camera controls are ridiculous and unintuitive. The wall/object placement and manipulation controls are… More reviews

Awesome, and worth the Money!!: I am a girl who is very interested in architectural things, when I once played "The Sims"TM I realized I just had to get a cad software for designing. It is very good to design your dream home, or simply design a room or a kitchen. It has pretty good graphics, even though I think that the could have done their foliage better. I was so excited when my dad bought it for… More reviews

Better Homes and Gardens Home Designer Suite 8.0: Have just tried one structure - an outdoor pavilion. This product is definitely geared toward traditional applications. Try to do anything "outside the box" and you are in for a long session trying to find creative ways around standard commands and insertable, pre-developed architectural elements. If you have any CAD experience at all, it is frustrating to not be able to just create your plan… More reviews

Excellent: Love the program! Well worth the money and the time! Seller was fantastic! Item arrived in record time!… More reviews

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.… More reviews