Home design software recommendation?

Hello fellow forum members, not sure if this is a great place to ask this question but I will start here anyway. I will be planning a remodel of my house in about 3-4 months or so ( As long as my chemo is done ) and I'm searching for a decent home design software. I don't need anything crazy but I don't want to buy a piece of crap that won't work for me either. I'm really just looking for interior design and maybe a little exterior design, I don't need it to do landscaping or anything like that. As far as the exterior I might just add a small mud room and change the decks a bit. I would like to keep it to $100. max if at all possible. I was looking at this one http://home-design-software-review.t...te-review.html It was rated number one this year but I was hoping someone here maybe has some experience with it and can give me a real world review. I'm pretty good with software, I've been using Cad/Cam software for 10+ years so I can learn pretty quickly. Thank you for any help, very much appreciated!

 

Since you're familiar with CAD software, you ought to at least look at Google Sketchup Make, the free version of Sketchup. It's a general purpose 3D modeling package, so it's more manual than some of the dedicated home design packages, but it's also much more flexible. When I have tried using some of the inexpensive home design packages I have quickly run into their limitations.

 

Punch makes some user friendly home design software. May stretch your budget a tad, but in the scheme of things and the cost of building a house, it is a drop in the bucket.