Even though this is obviously not going to be our future home (although boy do I wish!), I used it as a practice session for how to actually complete a space and incorporate a variety of home design ideas from paint to furniture and other accents.

The best home design software that I have come across has the ability to design both residential and commercial. You might wonder why somebody who is building a home would even care if you can create commercial buildings in a home design app. The reason is because programs with commercial applications oftentimes have far more material and design options than your typical software created for amateur homeowners to fiddle around with. I created this gorgeous home with courtyard and large backyard entertaining area with one of these programs. I have played around with home design software free downloads before and was just never satisfied with what they produced. From now on this is all I will use.

Don't ask me what the best home design software is because I will be one hundred percent honest in saying that I have no idea. However, I do know what the one free interior design software program that I downloaded was such an amazing resource not only for my decorating classes, but also to use for my own home as well. I have used it in order to finish some of my school assignments and I designed my personal kitchen with it as well. For my latest assignment I created this really cool contemporary living room design for loft-style home in the Hollywood hills (my dream location). It was so easy (and fun) to add furniture, architectural detailing, colors, and everything in between. Not only that, but the resulting design was outstanding.

Even with the best home design software I don't think that I could have come up with a room anywhere near this cool. I have so much respect for interior designers because they just dream up these things in their head and then somehow translate them to paper and then to reality. I played around with kitchen design software once in an attempt to plan out our upcoming remodel, but quickly realized that you need a lot more knowledge than a computer program provides to actually renovate a room. Now if you are a little bit more decor savvy or even artistic, you may have more success with house design software, but the average user will have trouble I think. But, again, that is just my personal opinion based on my experience.

I went through a lot of programs before I finally think that I figured out the best home design software out there (for regular old homeowners that is). I began by playing around with those free apps or computer programs that you can download that will supposedly make your home design process way easier. Those are nice and all, but I was looking for something more advanced and that would give me the freedom to really come up with some advanced and high end looks. Then I decided to pay for a program in hopes that it would give me the things that I was lacking before. After researching room design software at all price points I decided to try out the Virtual Architect brand -- boy was I impressed! I used it to redesign our master (I made the view a little bit nicer though), and could not be happier with the ease of use and the finished product.

If I had to pinpoint the common features of the best home design software out there, I think that I would narrow it down to like three elements. First of all I want room and design flexibility. By that I mean that I want to be able to plan out just about any type of room that you may find in modern home design from a large master bathroom with all of the trimmings to a home theatre room with stadium seating and a big screen. Second, I think that variety of materials, finishes, patterns, decor elements, and color palettes is hugely important. Finally, it is key that the program can produce home design 3d renderings that allow you to virtually walk through your new space. This ensures that you truly love each and every detail before you embark on the process of turning your images into a reality.