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How to Plan Office Space, Store Space and Home Renovation Online Part Four (Autodesk Homestyler)

autodesk homestyler logo

In the first three parts of this “How To” series we’ve presented three free online tools (HomeByMe.com, Space Designer 3D and Planner 5D) that business and home owners can use while planning office space, store space and home renovation.

This post will present Autodesk Homestyler; the fourth free online tool that business and home owners can use while planning office space, store space and home renovation. First, we shall discuss what anyone needs (if any) in order to start using Autodesk Homestyler then we shall present a small tutorial on how to build an office space using the application, that would familiarize you with the interface as well as give you a glimpse of how the application works. A full list of the pros and cons of this application will be presented at the end of the post,  without further ado let’s dive into Autodesk Homestyler.

Planning Office, Store and Room Space Using Autodesk Homestyler

Preparations

  1. When you first visit the Autodesk Homestyler website, you can either Sign Up using your email if you want to save your designs or you might just start using the application but you won’t be able to save your designs. To Sign Up just click on the “Join Now” tab at the top of the screen.

1 - Join Homestyler

Getting Started with Autodesk Homestyler

Plan an Office Space

  1. We’ll be planning an office space using Autodesk Homesrtyler; this will give you a general idea about the application interface and capabilities.
  2. First click on the “Create New Design” tab at the top of the screen.

2 - Starting Homestyler

  1. It’ll take a while for Homestyler to load, after loading and you first launch the application a welcome window will appear, click on the “Get Started Now” tab.

3 - Homestyler welcome window

  1. You’ll then be prompted by a selection window; for the sake of this tutorial the “start From Scratch” tab will be chosen. As it can be clearly seen that you can import your own room/house design to Homestyler and work on it.

4 - Homestyler choose design

  1. You’ll then be directed to the Homestyler’s main window as seen below.

5 - Homestyler interface

  1. To create your first room, just drag the square room and drop it on the canvas.

6 - Homestyler creating a room

  1. To change the dimension of the room or even the room shape and design, just drag the walls up/down/left/right to the exact design and dimensions you want.

7 - Homestyler changing room dimensions

  1. Now we need to add a door to the office, to do so go to catalog >> build >> doors >> entry doors and drag the door you’re interested in and drop it to the wall you want.

8 - Homestyler adding a door

  1. To edit the specifications (size, material, color, etc.) of the door (or any other asset) just click on it and a menu will appear, just select what you want from the drop down window. 9 - Homestyler editing asset features
  2. Now, we shall add the window, to do so go to catalog >> build >> window and drag the window you’re interested in and drop it to the wall you want. 10 - Homestyler adding a window
  3. To add the desk, just as in the previous steps, go to catalog >> office >> desks and drag the desk you want and drop it where you want in the office.11 - Homestyler adding a desk
  4. To add a computer to the desk, go to catalog >> decorate >> electronics >> computer and drag the computer you want and drop it on the desk. 12 - Homestyler adding a computer
  5. Now, we need to add some office chairs, to do so go to catalog >> furnish >> office >> office chairs. 13 - Homestyler adding a chair
  6. Finally, we want to add some indoors plants, to do so go to catalog >> decorate >> art and decor >> indoor plants and drag the plants you want and drop them where you want in the office.14 - Homestyler adding a plant
  7. Now to see the office in 3D and navigate through it, simple click the 3D icon at the top of the screen.

15 - Homestyler office 3D

You can use the same above steps to add more assets and change the design of the room. Now, we shall discuss the pros and cons of Autodesk Homestyler.

Pros

  1. Free.
  2. It’s easy to use.
  3. You don’t need to download any client on your computer unlike HomeByMe.com.
  4. It has a wide variety of assets that you can choose from.
  5. It’s available for mobile devices.

Cons

  1. You can’t add your own designed assets.
  2. For some designs the assets collection might appear to be limited.

Verdict: This is a good tool that you can use to plan store/office space as well as planning home renovation. Compared to the three other applications we’ve discussed in the last three posts HomeByMe.com, Space Designer 3D and planner 5D, it comes in second after HomeByMe.com.