I’ve got lots of home improvement projects that I’m working on lately:

* rear deck
* additional kitchen cabinetry
* (someday) wooden playground set

Since I’m seriously left-brained, I often have trouble coming up with creative solutions to problems, or even getting started when the plan is somewhat clear. To really “get it”, I need a detailed plan. I’m not much of a sketch artist either, so of course, I look to the computer to solve my problems.

I’ve written about Google Sketchup before. It’s a 3D CAD program but…how to say this…you don’t need to know what a spline or a bump map is. It’s really easy to get into and be productive right away.

My first drawing was a fantasy castle. It wasn’t to scale and I had to really experiment to figure out how line up the objects and workaround some quirks of the program. Next, I wanted to redesign the office. I took measurements and made a room. Then needed to think about the desk. One of the cool features of Sketchup is the portal where Google hosts contributed 3D models. I searched there for a particular Ikea desk and didn’t find it, although there was other Ikea furniture there.

So, I went to Ikea and took measurements of the desk. It has a funky shape that I really wanted to take into account, so I had to measure several points. Then I set to work making a scale model of the desk. I was pretty happy with the end result:

Here it is laid out in my office:

There’s a ton of benefits to taking the time to make these 3D models. For me the biggest thing was the ability to see very clearly with no confusion exactly how a given piece of furniture would fit in a room. Would I have enough space to walk around the desk and pull out the chair? What if I wanted to have someone standing or sitting next to me looking at my monitor? Having the option to play out these scenarios was extremely valuable.

Next post I’ll show how my wife and I worked on a kitchen remodeling plan and start getting into techniques you can use. Then later I’ll get into the deck and cabinet projects. Let me know if you find this useful to you.