A comment posted by Lisa about my apartment diagrams reminded me about something I've been meaning to post about. First off, I did my diagrams in Illustrator. But once I have real dimensions to work with, I really want to map it all out in SketchUp.

SketchUp is a 3d drawing program, recently acquired by Google, and you can get a remarkably full-featured version for free. It allows you to make 3d models of your space and then walk in, around, over, and through the space you've designed. Add colors and textures and experiment with color schemes. Enter in your building's location, and you can see how sunlight will fall in your living room at any given time of the year.

I learned about it from my brother, who recently finished up the grueling first year of his architecture graduate program (yay, Jeff!). He's been using it to render really amazing and complex structures, but its also simple for a novice (that would be me) to get a basic floorplan to work.

There is also a strong Sketchup community, endlessly churning out components you might want to put in your 3d apartment, like chairs and houseplants and televisions. And, yes, you can find literally anything from IKEA, even models of each store!

Download SketchUp here.

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