The setting might be a sparkling lakefront, a cool clearing in the woods, a breathtaking mountaintop, or an expansive beach, but the dream of a modest retreat from everyday life often includes a simple little cabin. In cabin getaways of the imagination, the cares of the world recede, time slows down, and the day’s pace is set by leisure and quiet activities.

Compact Cabins presents 62 design interpretations of the getaway dream, with something to please every taste. Best of all, these small footprint designs are affordable and energy efficient without skimping on comfort and style. The cabins range in size from a cozy 100 square feet to a more spacious but still economical 1,000 square feet, and all include sleeping accommodations, kitchen and bath facilities, and a heat source. Complete chapters on low-maintenance building materials, utilities and appliances, and alternative energy sources supply readers with the options for living efficiently in small spaces.

For every design, readers will find floor plans with detailed suggestions for designing the space for optimal use. These plans are flexible; many feature modular elements that can be mixed and matched to accommodate a particular owner’s needs or hobbies. Features such as an outdoor fireplace, covered porch, or external storage locker might work nicely in several cabin designs. It’s all about enhancing and maximizing small spaces to suit individual needs and preferences.

Build small. In this time of uncertain energy costs, global warming, and tighter budgets, building small is a theme that resonates with second-home owners. Gerald Rowan shows readers how to achieve their cabin dreams on a small footprint.

Book - Gerald Rowan

Quickly visualize home improvement projects. Whether you are redecorating a room remodeling your house or designing your dream home everything is included. No architectural experience is needed.TOTAL 3D Home Design is designed for you the homeowner rather than an architect or contractor. Whether you are designing your dream home remodeling a kitchen or bathroom or creating the ideal outdoor living space you ll have all the tools and inspiration you need. Features: Easiest to Use! Simply drag and drop to create plete floor plans! Import Your Digital Photos! Visualize your home improvement projects before you start. 2500 Professional Room Designs! Inspirational gallery of showrooms designed by professional Interior Decorators and Architects. Award-Winning Sample Home Plans! A collection of beautiful plans from Cottages to Colonials. Over 400 Textures! Bring your design to life with bricks concrete wood ceramics and more. Professional Color Board! A palette of paint colors fabrics textures and trims to help you create the perfect balance of design elements for your home. 100+ Home Furnishings and Accessories! Choose from hundreds of choices from contemporary to traditional to pliment your style.System Requirements: Pentium   III PC or faster. Windows 7 Vista XP or 2000. 128MB RAM; 256MB remended. 1.8 GB free hard-disk space (Min.  Install). DVD-ROM drive. SVGA 800x600 and higher display High Color (16-bit) required; True Color (24 or 32-bit) supported. DirectX 8 patible video and sound cards. Printer support: Works with most black and white and color printers supported by Windows . Optional: Modem and Inter Service Provider for product downloads. Scanner or digital camera needed to import photos into the product. Format: WIN 2000XPVISTAWIN 7 Genre: PRODUCTIVITY Age: 018527109137 UPC: 018527109137 Manufacturer No: PMM-H11

Software

Home Designer 9.0 is the latest release from Chief Architect, the professional software design company and the software of choice by more builders, architects and designers. Home Designer leverages the same professional quality from Chief Architect making it the most powerful and easy to use home design, remodeling and landscaping software. Design your dream home today!

Helps you with the basics to design, remodel or add landscaping to your home. Click to enlarge.

Advanced 3D camera tools: Glass House, Doll House and Final View for truly photo-realistic 3D images. Click to enlarge.

Home Designer makes it easy to see and visualize your design ideas on your next remodeling project. Click to enlarge.

Design in 2D and 3D. Click to enlarge.

Use the Deck Designer tools to quickly design the layout of your deck. Click to enlarge.

Use House Wizard to choose your rooms and then drag them to your design layout configuration to generate a floor plan. Click to enlarge.

Fun & Easy Home Design Software
Chief Architect Home Designer is Chief Architect's entry level title that can help you with the basics to design, remodel or add landscaping to your home. With over 4,000 items you can create your perfect design. There are 500 sample plans all of which allow you to create a virtual walk-through of your home. The program enables you to easily visualize your project in 3D.

Home Design Software

• Floor and space planning--use to size and visualize rooms for remodeling or redecorating
• Quickly place and arrange walls, windows, doors, furniture, create decks and landscaping
• Easy to use automated building tools for roofs, stairs, framing, cabinets and more
• Generate various styles of Automatic roofs for your home
• Automatically generate a complete spreadsheet for your project costs, broken down by category. Calculate the amount of lumber for your deck or concrete required for your new patio.
• Use House Wizard to choose your rooms and then drag them to your design layout configuration to generate a floor plan
• Choose from over 500 sample floor plans to help generate ideas

Remodeling Software

• Move a wall, change a color, add a room, redesign a kitchen and estimate the costs--all before you build. Home Designer makes it easy to see and visualize your design ideas on your next remodeling project.
• Material Painter--point-and-click colors for walls, floors, countertops and more
• Use the Color Chooser to create the perfect color for your walls, floors and more
• Insert doors, windows and skylights with One-Click
• Create the Virtual Look and Feel Before You Remodel!
• Automatically generate a cost estimation and material list for your project
• Assign costs for materials: descriptions, quantities, unit costs and more
• Materials automatically update as you design

Interior Design Software

• Material Eyedropper--choose your own or manufacturer colors and textures
• Material Painter lets you apply colors and materials quickly and easily
• Choose from thousands of colors and textures or create your own materials using a digital photograph
• Generate new floors automatically based on your current floor plan design
• Drag and drop thousands of items from the Library Browser. Choose great looking furnishings including tables, chairs, sofas and more. Easily change the size, color or material.
• Visualize your new Kitchen or Bath
• Create and take a Virtual Tour of your design
• Cabinet Designer Tools--choose from over 1,000 cabinets--customize using unlimited styles and colors

Deck and Landscaping Software

• Create custom landscaping plans in 2D and 3D
• Over 500 realistic landscaping plants in the library to choose from
• Use the Deck Designer tools to quickly design the layout of your deck
• Design single or multi-level decks including free-standing, tiered and post-and-beam
• Create driveways, sidewalks and pathways
• Use the automatic tools for adding stairs, deck railings and roofs
• Define decking materials, place and arrange outdoor furniture to correctly size your deck or patio

Get Started Quickly and Easily

• The Quick Startup Options Guide will help you begin with "How-To" tutorials based on the type of your project
• Select from the pre-designed Home Design and Interior templates complete with colors, cabinets, decks and more
• The online help system provides detail information on all types of building projects
• Includes over 25 easy "step-by-step" tutorial training videos that will quickly get you started on your next home design project

Design Tools

• Advanced 3D camera tools: Glass House, Doll House and Final View for truly photo-realistic 3D images
• Choose from several home style templates--Colonial, Arts & Crafts, Traditional and more to start your next home project
• Design in 2D and 3D. 3D Views are automatic--just point-and-click with the camera tool--you can even use Glass House view to see through surfaces.
• Create a Virtual Tour--by recording your camera movements
• Visualize designs with day and night views
• Generate shadows from the sun for realistic 3D views

Software