When it comes to designing a new room or redesigning an existing one, it pays to take the time to draw out the dimensions, place appliances, furniture and fittings and make sure you have the space, the right look and the right layout. The reason for this is that it will save you both time and money later when you come to actually make the changes.
It used to be that you - or your interior designer - had to use a sheet of graph paper to draw the dimensions of the room, add the locations of doors and windows and which way they opened, then sketch the location of items that would go into the room. This, of course, led to tens if not hundreds of redraws, a huge waste of time and paper!
The smart interior designer would draw the plan of the room and then use cut outs of items to scale to place onto the plan, thus saving the redrawing effort, but again this took time.
Thankfully, with the rapid development of computers and software, all this has been done away with. It is still important to take the time to plan a room design so that you don't waste money down the road, but that time has been drastically cut with the creation and evolution of interior design software.
Using sophisticated 3D CAD drawings it is now possible to plan out the room in all its dimensions, including height, place windows and doors more realistically and then begin placing furniture, fixtures and fittings. You can even use it to choose colour schemes by altering the colour of the walls, ceiling, carpet, even the furniture you plan to put in it.
You can then use the software to view the layout and design from any angle, including as if you were in the room itself. This has the added benefit of allowing you to see what a room would look like as you enter through a door, look through a window or even sit on a chair or sofa! Powerful stuff!
Such is the power of interior design software that it has been adopted as a selling tool by kitchen designers and fitters, bathroom designers and fitters, as well as interior designers themselves. When they can show a customer how a room will look and alter things by request, in real time, the chances of getting a sale are hugely increased.
It's good for the customer too, as they are far more likely to get the final product - be it a kitchen, bathroom, bedroom or any other room - that they wanted.
Software companies have seen this and there are now specially developed packages like kitchen design software and bathroom design software, all containing the power of 3D computer aided design.
The development of this market has not only seen the capabilities of this type of software improve massively, but it has also seen the cost of purchasing the software fall, allowing interior design companies of all sizes, large and small, to provide the same level of service to customers.
As 3D CAD software continues to evolve the possibilities for companies and consumers alike to save time and money by creating as realistic representations of final finished rooms only gets better.