Better Homes and Gardens Home Designer Suite 8.0 [OLD VERSION]

Other products by Chief Architect

Product 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 Details

• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0013MCZRK
• Item model number: HS80-DN-0AZ1
• Date first available at Amazon.com: February 27, 2008
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #652 in Software (See Bestsellers in Software)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #1 in	Software > Home & Hobbies > Gardening & Landscape
  #6 in	Software > Graphics > CAD
  #11 in	Software > Home & Hobbies > Home Design

• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

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. 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 Description

Better Homes and Gardens Home Designer Suite 8.0 is powerful software for any home design project. With over 5,000 integrated tools it is perfect for home design, remodeling, interior design, landscaping, decks, cost estimation, and site planning. Design in 2D and 3D simultaneously; even do a virtual walk-through. Choose from over 6,000 library items or download free bonus items. Create base, wall, full height, curved, corner cabinets and more for your new kitchen or bath. Choose from over 1,500 popular plants and get detailed information including Hardiness Zone Maps. Import custom colors or materials. Track costs for materials, quantities, unit costs and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

69 of 78 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars outstanding, April 7, 2008

By	Robert W. Smith "Robert Smith, Ph.D." (Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

i've owned this program for one week. i was initially concerned, as it did not come with a manual. well, after a week, i've found that a paper manual is not necessary to fully operate this program. i can not claim that i'm an expert after one week, but, i do re-assure you that this program is quite simple to operate, it offers possibilities that i never before imagined in my previous architecture program. this program is challenging, in that it offers so many options that i can spend hours looking through all of them. while $99 isn't cheap, especially compared to some of the other programs, i assure you that it is leaps ahead of my 3 year old 3D program. i haven't purchased other programs to know how it compares to other more recent products. i can say that it is phenomenal in comparison to three year old programs. i am very glad that i made this purchase and i would do it again, knowing what i know now, i might even pay more for it. it is likely to become one of my favorite toys. [after i've owned this program for a month or two, i'll submit an addendum so that you can read more of my findings.]

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Perfect tool for "What if!", September 8, 2008

By	D. Potter (Austin, Texas) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have been an avid user/teacher of Chief Architect Inc software since 1995 (I mainly use Chief Architect X1 in my /drafting and design business) but the line of consumer software like Home Designer Suite 8 is a steal for anyone wanting to quickly play with Architectural ideas and scenarios. This program will not produce construction documents (blue prints) but is perfect for communicating ones creative ideas to building professionals.

David J. Potter

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great software!, April 4, 2009

By	D FixIt (Upstate, New York United States) - See all my reviews

I've bought & tried other home design programs, but none of them came close to matching the functionality & usefulness of this one! I tried this before I bought it & can tell you that it's worth every penny!

The first thing I did was to measure our current house & enter it into the program. It took a while because we have a lot of walls with different thicknesses, but everything matches! Then I designed how we would change the house if we were to stay in it. I could really make this place shine! I have all of the furniture we want to keep & others we want to buy in my design. Some pieces I had to "make", but other than substituting a walker for a Gazelle in the exercise room, it all looks pretty darn close to the real thing! I even included my husband's automotive repair garage & landscaped the entire yard!

But in the end, our current house doesn't include enough land for our liking, & hubby wants to retire from the automotive business, so we've decided to build. We haven't purchased land yet, so we can't finalize any house plans until we know more specifics (like differences in land elevations throughout the property). In the meantime, I've already created 20 unique house plans & a few kick-offs from these.

I love how I can put different furniture & color schemes into a room, then look at it all in "dollhouse" mode! I've done some walk-thrus to make recordings of walking through the entire house & around the yard, too. (Note that the recording can take a long time, so I usually design the path, press record, & go to bed!) You can set a camera to a certain point in your design, aim it, then see what the house would look like from that point. I've even been able to copy certain architectural elements from houses I lived in as a child & felt like I was there again!

There's a ton of customizing you can do as well. In addition to making your own furniture to form an "architectural block" (which I wish I could "group together" to save, but this isn't an option), you can put a photo on a wall using a picture already on your computer, scan the fabric of your furniture & use that, & export your dollhouse view, then crop it & use it as your wallpaper!

On the negative side, there are some things with a pretty good learning curve. I haven't gotten into the different land elevations, roofs can be tricky, cellars & multiple floors take a while to figure out, & all of the little tutorials should be grouped to allow you to run each as a lesson -- in the order best suited to learning the program, rather than have them listed alphabetically! I still haven't done all of them because of this. I'm really confused about the best way to learn the program because of this, & I'm sure there are things I should "know" at this point that I don't because I've done so much by trial & error! It would also be nice to be able to share custom work with other users -- making customized furniture in the form of architectural blocks, then uploading it to the BH&G's website for others to be abel to download. Maybe then I'd have a real Gazelle in my house design!

Overall, I love this program! I would highly recommend it to anyone wanting to remodel or build. Even if you're buying house plans, I'd still get this program & enter the entire plans into the program. Then any time you wish to make a change to the house, whether it's changing your color scheme, buying new furniture, landscaping the yard (make sure you have the "suite" version that includes landscaping!), knocking out a wall, or putting on an addition, you can try it all out on the computer first!