Better Homes and Gardens Home Designer Suite Reviewer's Comments

Earning a well-deserved “TopTenREVIEWS Silver Award” this year is Better Homes and Gardens Home Designer Suite 8.0, by Chief Architect. If we ranked home design software based on eye candy alone, this would far outrank its competitors. Everything you create with this software just looks great, and with a fair set of easy-to-use features and strong help support, this product is perfect for the home design novice looking for a simple way to design a home, or just change the look of a few rooms!

Home Designer Suite 8.0 is also a great all-in-one solution if you want to design decks and landscapes, and validate your designs against standard building principles in addition to home design. If you need a professional, high end home design solution, Better Homes and Gardens has more professional-level functionality in store with Home Designer Pro 8.0, also by Chief Architect.

Better Homes and Gardens Home Designer Suite Screenshots. Click for more
       


Aesthetic Appeal:  

This is where Home Designer Suite 8.0 really shines. The interface is just as simple as it can be: not cluttered, and the most common tools are at your fingertips. The editable home plans are just beautiful, as are the fixtures, furniture, and appliances in their object libraries. You can even download new object libraries from the web, from home theater accessories to water sports equipment, Home Designer Suite 8.0 has you covered. It’s almost like you’re in your own little dream world when using Home Designer Suite 8.0 in 3D mode.

Features & Tools:  

Home Designer Suite 8.0 has many of the tools that Punch’s Professional Home Design Suite does, and some nice extra bells and whistles that it doesn’t. One example is the curved wall tool, which is great if you want to design a parapet, or curved walls for your yard or porch.  

Most home design software has walkthrough and aerial views, but Home Designer Suite 8.0 lets you record both views to a video file (AVI format), which is great for demonstrations.  

The house building wizard lets you choose from a variety of pre-defined décor styles, ranging from what they call American Casual to Urban Chic/Contemporary, and it’s a good way to choose an overall design concept for your home. If you need further inspiration, the Design Planning Center has numerous articles and hundreds of pictures of professionally designed and decorated rooms, kitchens and house styles.

Support & Documentation:  

An extremely helpful Quick Start Guide greets you when you open Home Designer Suite 8.0 for the first time, and points you to the home design wizard. You can also watch the video tutorials and even search the home plan database. The printed manual is also informative, and perfect for either beginners, or experienced designers using it for reference.

Summary:  

Better Homes and Gardens Home Designer Suite 8.0 is a fairly easy to use home design program. As with all home design software, there is a learning curve, but with its fully editable home plans and design styles, it’s easy to get up and running. The main thing that kept it out of the number one spot was we had some trouble with the roof builder on split-level homes.  

If you need a high end home design solution, Better Homes and Gardens has more professional level functionality in store with Home Designer Pro 8.0.