Home Design Software -- Like This Idea? Here Are Reviews Of Some Of The Programs Available

Whether you're hoping to design a real kitchen or house, or just dreaming a bit, the latest home-design computer programs can be a lot of fun and they're filling a growing demand for software that is more than game-playing, says Ann Stevens at PC Data, a software research firm in Virginia.

Floorplan Plus and Expert Home Design were among the top 10 "personal productivity programs," an industry category for self-help programs, in the country last year, Stevens said. Newer "Windows-technology" versions of those and other home-design programs could top the charts this year.

Here are some mini-reviews of some of the newer programs available at local computer/software stores.

All of the programs have drawing capabilities. Some have sample floor plans that can be manipulated.

If you're not familiar with CAD (computer-assisted design) or computer drawing programs, allow yourself several hours to get comfortable with any home design program, the experts caution.

"You can sit down and get drawing right away, probably without reading the manuals," says Bruno Santos of Bruno's Computer Superstore in Tukwila. "The better programs have good help programs built in. But it takes a little time before you'll be designing homes using all the fancy features."

The programs listed below vary in price, but what you get may have no relation to price. If at all possible, try the software before you buy it. Some software stores have demo programs loaded on their computers.

Design programs work best on a 486-based PC, although most do reasonably well - but take longer - on a 386 computer with Windows and at least four megabytes of RAM, the experts say. Some programs also are available in Macintosh versions. Expanded (and more expensive) versions of most programs have been, or soon will be, released on CD-ROM disks.

-- 3D Home Architect ($60, Broderbund). Uses "smart technology" to do such things as make walls fit together or align windows. Lets you know when pieces of furniture are too big to fit where you're trying to place them. Its overview perspective lets you look down on a three-dimensional space as you would a floor plan. You can build a room, add windows and furniture, pop it into 3D and use virtual reality to walk through. When you're satisfied, use PlanCheck to go through the plan and fix obvious errors, then use Materials List to figure out what it will all cost. The program contains 50 sample plans.

-- FloorPlan Plus/3D for Windows ($50, ComputerEasy). Easy to get up and running, offers clear instructions and bottom-of-the-screen commands for what to do next each step of the way. Furniture and appliance libraries are easy to use, though a bit limited. The program has no sample plans. ComputerEasy also makes 3D Design ($50), which lets the user "build" anything from a fancy chair to an elegant masonry chimney or a space station. There are 2-D versions of FloorPlan Plus for Macs and DOS-based computers. You have to buy a separate Estimator Plus ($59) program to do costs.

-- Expert 3D Home Design for Windows (Expert Software, $14.95). One of several versions of Expert Home Design on the market. There are also DOS ($12) and CD-ROM versions ($36). This is a colorful program that contains 25 sample plans but lacks the helpful prompts of others, making it harder to use. We gave up trying to do 3D when for the third time our 396 computer appeared to "lock-up" for 15 minutes. Later we learned it took almost a half-hour on a faster 486 computer to turn a simple plan into 3D. It has 25 sample plans. Expert 3D Furniture for Windows ($14.95) expands the program with 400 pieces of everything from pool tables to credenzas. Expert Gold Advanced Home Design ($49.95) is billed as the grandest version, but it doesn't have 3D.

-- Home Series: 3D Plan, Kitchen and Bath, Deck, Landscape (Autodesk, $50 each) These updated versions of the former Generic CAD programs were among the first home-design programs for nonprofessionals. Some professionals like these because they are closer to professional programs. There are sample plans with each module. These programs are more complicated to use than some of the others.

-- Design & Build Your Deck (Books That Work, $49.95) helps you do just that either by modifying predrawn plans or starting from scratch. This program estimates the materials you'll need and shows you how to build your deck. It includes forms and contracts to use if you hire a builder.

Home design isn't the only category of software of interest to home owners. There are programs to do everything from home-inventories (particularly useful in case of fire, theft or other disaster) to calculating mortgages and taxes, planning a garden or providing home security.

The Books That Work series offers animated, useful programs on home maintenance, repair and improvement. Two of the programs:

-- Home Survival Toolkit: How-to Software for Home Repair ($29.95) has clear instructions on how to choose paint, fix shingles, stop water leaks and all sorts of other home problems, from the folks who publish Sunset books and magazine.

-- Get Wired: Multimedia Software for Home Wiring ($19.95) takes you step-by-step through everything from wiring a circuit to preparing your home for the "data highway." The Circuit Simulator is a computerized workshop where you lay out your whole system and practice wiring on-screen before you do it in real life. If you think you might blow your computer playing with your circuits, print it out first.

Some other new programs:

-- SPROUT! ($45, Abracadata) is a vegetable garden planning program with graphic, scalable garden plans, ideas for plants and spacings.

-- Design Your Own Home Landscape ($49.95), also from Abracadata, allows you to design your own yard, or modify a sample, then choose from an extensive library of trees and shrubs to fill it. Particularly fun is the "aging" feature that shows how your plants will grow.

-- Expert Landscape ($14.95, Expert Software) has a 200-piece library of shrubs, trees, garden furniture, pools and fences, plus a plant encyclopedia and a design guide.

-- Value Vision ($9.95, Fusion Software, mail-order only, 1-800-856-8566) is a new household inventory software that walks you through typical rooms and asks you to point (with your mouse) to items you have such as a stereo, etc. You type in information about the item (serial number, cost) to use for insurance claims or other purposes.

-- Shareware is another type of computer software that has many home-use programs. Available for under $5 a disk at some software stores (and from some on-line computer services), the idea is that you try the program, then if you like it you send the author a registration fee ($10 to $100 or more). Sometimes you'll be sent an expanded version or program manuals. Some are quite usable; others are very rudimentary.

Postscript

Last Sunday's story on real-estate computer on-line services mentioned that some out-of-state real estate listings were on-line through Prodigy and other computer services. Homes & Land Magazine, which includes Puget Sound-area homes for sale, recently joined the Prodigy National Real Estate Center. Prodigy subscribers can tap into the database for 12 cents a minute.