If you know AutoCAD, then creating a room or a floor plan is a piece of cake. But for most people (myself included) this is not the case. Not everything is lost though. In fact, if you know how to use a web browser, there’s a good chance that you will be able to create your own room or floor plan, thanks to some very clever and useful online tools to do so. Here’s a list of the best of these websites.
1. Home Styler
Of the three sites that we’ll check out today, Home Styler is perhaps the most intuitive and accessible. You can start using their floor planning tool right away without any registration. Once you start using it, you’ll have access to a main grid where you can drag and drop elements from the leftmost panel. And once on the grid, you can tweak sizes, length and even customize other details like wall thickness, floor color and such. One of the main strengths of Home Styler is definitely the extensive array of elements that you can choose from, allowing you to fully customize your floor plan to get a better idea of how it will look when finished. Additionally, the site provides plenty of tools to get better control of your work, including a 3D viewer and even a snapshot tool.
2. RoomSketcher
While perhaps not as thorough in its options as our previous website, RoomSketcher is also a very capable online floor planning tool. What it does have going for it is its more elegant design and a more streamlined interface for designing floor plans. On the other hand, RoomSketcher offers more variety in the ‘accessories’ department, which makes it ideal for those who want to focus on that area. Its 3D viewer is also far more powerful, allowing you to see more detail from virtually any angle.
3. Planning Wiz
Of the three sites mentioned here, Planning Wiz is in my opinion the most fully-featured of the bunch. However, it is also the one that has the steepest learning curve. As you can see from the pictures below, there’s no lack of options on Planning Wiz’s interface, and the level of customization of each of the elements goes above what other online floor planning sites provide. On the downside, Planning Wiz is the only website in this group that requires you to sign up before you use it. But it is definitely worth it if you need the otherwise free features that it provides which, as you can see below, are extremely varied. And there you have them. If you are thinking about designing your own room or to create a basic draft of a floor of your new home, make sure to give these sites a try. They are way easier to use than any piece of dedicated software and you’ll most likely enjoy the almost instant results you’ll get.
