Customer Reviews

Better Homes and Gardens Interior Designer [OLD VERSION]

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I bought this and the Punch interiors software. This software is easy to use compared to Punch, but I suspect thats partly because H&G is very limited in options. For instance in Punch you can design your doors exactly as they are. In H&G you choose a style and have a few options. Punch also has a large library of trees, shrubs and plants to use to landscape your design. H&G only has potted plants. With H&G there are few backgrounds to use, and most look like they were taken from the west coast; mountains, sand dunes and million dollar homes on the beach. Nothing for the average person living in a suburb. Punch allows you to import your own digital photos as background, or just use their sky background. Either works well. I imported several panoramic photos of my backyard and side, and you can then put them at any angle to completely surround your design. BUT, you better read the manual (342 pages), it's not an intuitve program, H&G is. With H&G you can basically start after just a little homework. H&G; easier to use with less options. Punch; harder to learn but more flexibility.

I was a little skeptical about this program - until I tried it last evening for the first time. I am really impressed..... I did not even use the tutorial before I dove in and tried to play a bit. I created a single room in less than 3 minutes, using simple walls, doors, windows, and a fireplace. Adding flooring and coloured walls was so easy it was almost sinful! LOL

I am most anxious to do more with the program and learn about all its capabilities. Today I watched the tutorial and was really surprised at how much this program can do!

I was really happy and impressed with the simplicity of the Better Homes and Gardens version as the idea of CAD seemed intimidating. Not any more....

I whole-heartedly recommend this program to everyone who is considering designing their interiors or for students of interior design who have not yet attempted any CAD programs.

I'm an interior designer and have Interior Designer 7.0. It's easy to learn, but I already had used similar programs and I know CAD, but you don't need any cad experience to use this program. Materials render well, but the library of furniture and accessories is fairly limited. For example I was creating a game room for a client and only had one style of pool table to choose from and no accessory items such as pool sticks, balls or wall racks. I've figured out some workarounds such as using round millwork items and sinking them into the pool table to look like balls. Bed styles are also very limited. I've downloaded all their bonus furniture, but it's still lacking. The fabric options are also fairly limited, but be sure to scroll down past "fabric" to find the category "BH&G Fabric". For colors, scroll down past "colors" to Benjamin Moore or download the bonus Sherwin Williams colors. Also the best plants are in the "Xfrog" category. To save time set your render quality to low for fast renderings, then change it back to high to place your accessories. The program does a good job allowing you to import your own images and textures. To show an image on a TV screen, define it as a new texture in your custom library with width set to 0 (so it doesn't repeat the image). Overall I like the program I just need to figure out how to get more furniture and accessories.

As another reviewer said, the furniture selections are very limited and fairly lame in appearance. That includes lamps, rugs, accessories etc, too. You will not be able to duplicate a space that you see in the design magazines, but you will be able to get a general idea of what your space will look like in terms of color combinations and furniture arrangement. The object selections are just not comprehensive enough. The software is fairly stable, but slow ( I am using a 1.7ghz computer with almost 1 gb of memory). The camera controls are awkward, but usable. For painting, there are many colors to choose from and its easy to show different combinations. Floor plan layout is good. I did not need to get precise, so I do not know how it would hold up in a more serious application.

This could be 5 star software if the object library was made more comprehensive and the camera controls were more user friendly.

I used this application to design an addition to our house. It was very easy to use;it has an extensive library of furniture, window styles, flooring, etc. You can change the dimensions of whats in the library as well as colors, finishes, materials. It made it possible to view what the room would look like with our existing furniture and helped determine what size the room would have to be. I took my laptop and printouts to the architect and builder, and the room looks great!

In three weeks we will move back to Europe (where we just recently bought a new home). The kitchen is not yet placed and because of circumstances we have only a few days to decide how we want it. As such, we bought this software (and to help decorate the rest of the house).

The software was actually very easy to use, and within a few hours I had drawn the entire two story house exactly according plan (with correct measurements). I was surprised by how easy this was! I spent the next day playing around placing all the doors and windows and before I knew I had the entire kitchen decorated - appliances, lighting, table and chairs, even plants. It looked so real (better than the software that was used by the kitchen store).

I have shown the (digital) house to my friends that have only seen pictures and they are really amazed about how great the software presents it - they now really have an idea about how the place looks.

I must agree with some of the other reviewers though about the furniture options - I wish there would be a library to download more styles cause it's not really what I would buy - but overall, I would highly recommend it.

We are remodeling our kitchen and bathroom and we bought this so we could make better decisions before we drop big bucks and start knocking down walls. Our architect put together schematics and a cardboard model but Interior Designer brought it to a new level by giving us a full color 3D view of the end result.

Interior Designer makes it incredibly easy to layout the walls, add doors, windows, and fixtures. It's super easy to click and drag cabinets, refrigerators, and other appliances into the design.

The product is not perfect - there are some constraints that make it difficult to place appliances where they barely fit or add custom geometry that's outside the bounds of normal designs - but for $50 I think this is an incredible product.

Using interior designer, we got a MUCH better feel for our finished remodel. Well worth the price.

I designed a bathroom and a kitchen remodel using this software. The bathroom is completely done and the images from this software really helped. There were no surprises. We did change around the plan many times before construction, but after looking at the images we were very sure of what we were getting. The kitchen will be started soon. I have been trying to imagine the kitchen layout (not a big change) for about 8 years. This software allowed me to move things around easy, then see a picture of it from any angle. One big help is the web site has a forum. If you need to find out how to... show a 5' square skylight, with a beam in the middle, and a ceiling fan hanging from that beam... some one on the forum has already done it. Just search for what you need and a step buy step description is right there.

I have not spent tons of time working with the program yet, but have done enough to know that the learning curve is reasonable if you are somewhat publishing program literate. It has lots of potential for aiding in visualizing what your project will look like finished. If you are willing to invest some time to learn the program features, it performs as promised.

this program is not bad, it's relatively easy to use and to build the basic shell and interior of your home. It really needs a larger library of furniture, etc to really give you a good view of what your renovation/remodeling will ultimately look like. For example, you end up having to use their "bookcase" since there's no baker's rack at all, built in shelves are impossible, so you have to use their "corner cabinet". Besides a few frustrating details, the program is fun to use and is flexible