I love Google SketchUp. It's free. I read about many here on GW seem to have a tough time learning it. My experience has been the opposite. I found it fairly easy to learn and very powerful for a free tool. The tutorial was a good place to start.

Here is a link that might be useful: SketchUp

Thanks so much jscout! I just downloaded it and now I have to figure out how to use it!

I'd highly recommend the tutorials. (just do a google search for sketchup tutorials)

Your welcome sayde. Don't forget to get the Bonus Packs too. When I started using it three months ago, I just did my kitchen. It was very useful and allowed me to visualize my new kitchen. But then I realized that I needed to see more of the house because I was knocking down a wall and I was curious about the sightlines. So I went back to the drawing board. After a few weeks of measuring almost everything, I now have my entire first floor sketched. I can now do a complete walkthrough. I have to say, it's pretty accurate too. It's almost like being in my house.

I'm not sure about the Mac version, but at least for the PC version there is a really good rendering plugin, SUPodium, that's also free. It allowed me to see the lighting effects. I put in some cans, pendants and undercabinets. All I can say is wow.