How to Design Your Own Dream Home for Free

Designing your dream home is an exciting process for the eager homeowner. You must decide on number of rooms, size of rooms and placement of rooms. You have to choose flooring, lighting fixtures and wall colors. The process of designing your dream home could be overwhelmingly time-consuming and costly if done with high-end computer software or through a professional planner. There are simple ways for the do-it-yourselfer to design a dream home for free and with ease.

Things You'll Need

• Pencil
• Colored pencils
• Drawing pad
• Homes magazines

Instructions

1. Browse through homes magazines. Collect ideas to use in your own home design, and cut out pictures to use for reference when drawing.

2. Sketch the general idea of your home. Begin with the exterior on the first sheet of your drawing pad. Label the sides of your paper with north, south, east and west. Press gently with your pencil so that if you make a mistake, your markings can be erased easily.

3. Add detail to your sketch. Press a bit harder with your pencil to implement the look of siding, logs, stucco or brick for the exterior covering. Include windows, doors and roofing. Pencil in a sidewalk and landscaping for a complete effect.

4. Sketch a few different angles of your dream home. Changing the view will give a three-dimensional feel to your drawing.

5. Begin drawing the interior, or floor plan, of your home on a separate sheet in your drawing pad. Be creative when considering room dimensions, number of floors, stairways, hallways and doorways. Include bedrooms, bathrooms, a kitchen, a living area, a dining room, a basement and an attic as desired.

6. Sketch a detailed version of each room in the interior of your home. Use separate sheets of your drawing pad for each individual room. Include furniture placement, wall hangings, flooring, walls, rugs and lighting. Include crown molding and baseboards if desired.

7. Add color to your drawings using colored pencils.

Tips & Warnings

• Do not worry if you aren't the best artist. It does not have to be perfect. If you would rather use a home design software program, browse the Internet for free design software. Google SketchUp is one option.

References

• The New York Times Great Homes and Destinations: Draw Your Own House Plans
• Benfield ATT: How to Design Your Self-Build Green Dream Home
• Drawing Now: How to Draw 3D

Resources

• Google SketchUp