Being able to clearly and accurately visualize architectural design in 3D is an acquired skill of architects. Few others are able to do so, or at least do so with more than a simple box shape.

Google "free 3D modeling software" for a list. Sketchup is a popular free application.

Good luck!

Contact a local architect. There is more to visualizing design than tools.

For interior areas like a kitchen layout, full scale cardboard modelling is very valuable. You can use free space like in a basement or garage.

Chief Architect software-

https://www.chiefarchitect.com/products/samples.html

DH and I used Sweet Home 3D when we designed our house and floor plan. Of course, our house is a simple L-shaped ranch/barn house but the s/w certainly has helped us in ensuring our furniture would fit in every room. And you can see the 3D image of it, and rotate it, walk through it virtually. Colors are simplistic but I think many of those who use it are just more adept at the nuances.

I use a PC, it also runs on Mac, Linux and Solaris. And it's free. And I found it pretty easy to learn quickly. I downloaded Sketchup a few weeks later and found it too confusing.

For sure an architect is best. That said , I found that using Home Designer by Chief Architect let me try a number of options without having to use my architect.

It’s not cheap - I think it’s $500. But well worth it to learn to use. There are less expensive versions, but over the years I have upgraded. If you avoid one mistake, the program pays for itself.

I am also a big fan of sketch up, but sketch up is really only useful for doing one room at a time. To do a house or a floor I wouldn’t recommend sketchup.

Thanks for the ideas! I'll have a look at Sweet Home 3d this week. I gave home.by.me a go over the weekend and it was pretty straightforward and an easy enough way to work through different ideas.

We're looking at builders like GJ Gardner and Stroud so we don't have an architect. We have brochures with a few pics and the floorplan at the moment. So just using something to work out ideas for changing different elements of the design like room size.

Home Designer Suite by Chief Architect is $100. I've really enjoyed it. They have a higher-end version that is $500 but the added features at that level don't seem like they would be worth it to me.

The basic advice you get on these forums is:

1. Hire a professional, and

2. Hire a professional.

When in doubt, go back to step one.

I personally found playing with the software fun and I think it helps you visualize what you want. However, I've recognized that I don't have the skills necessary to do this by myself. So, I hired a professional. Even then, the software has also helped me provide feedback.

"...We're looking at builders like GJ Gardner and Stroud so we don't have an architect..."

Have you checked with these production builders to see if they will even consider customizing or rearranging their standard plans?

I also purchased Home Designer Suite by Chief Architect for < $100. Agree with Dave B. above - but I was able to do it myself so didn't need to hire anybody. Helps that I have a technical background and time to learn. I was able to import/trace the floor plan provided by our architect - so it can be very close to scale. Nice to see different finishes, possible furniture arrangement and overall feel of the space. It's one thing to have a 2D plan and quite another to "see" in 3D color software - really helps! FYI: Roof lines can be difficult in the software; thankfully ours wasn't too bad but keep this in mind.

Another fan of Home Designer by Chief Architect for the purpose of visualizing a design in 3D. It allows you to see the design from many angles, place furniture, play with different materials and colors (it even imports many manufacturer objects/color palettes).

Another vote for sketchup. We put our entire house in the program and were able to simulate furniture placement and walking around. It was very helpful.

There is so much more to good design than the ability to operate a CAD program.

Well...is it time to suggest a 2B pencil and a roll of bumwad?

It is always time to suggest a 2B pencil and a roll of bumwad.

I have a 2B pencil, but alas, no bumwad. I do have a T-square though. ;-)

T-squares are not needed for sketching and visualizing, unless one is a civil engineer. :-)

But they're handy for drafting. One of the things I had to learn in college to get my degree in mechanical engineering.

Just making a little joke...:-)

Oh I know. I should have put in a little emoticon.

I agree, Home Designer Suite by Chief Architect. I did work with an architect but he did not do any 3D designs. I took the plans and input them myself. It was a HUGE help to work out some things. Really helped visualize the spaces and let to some small changes. Also really helped my wife who has a much harder time visualizing spaces from blueprints.

I got SketchUp when it was introduced in 2000. It was a simple program then but it has gotten much more powerful. Nothing can match it for exterior modeling. Interiors get a little more difficult but you can cut sections through the model to see the spaces and slide the position of the cut back and forth vertically and horizontally. You can see more projects if you click my name.

SketchUp free with a free renderer and you can do some amazing things

SketchUp Free is an online, low-resolution, reduced feature version of SketchUp Pro with a logo on the drawings. SketchUp Shop is a subscription version with all but a few of the Pro features.

Other than the annoying nested tool palette, scattered menus and company logo, the most serious limitation of SketchUp Free is that it can only export a 2D floor plan in .png format (a bitmap format like .gif) so the file doesn't retain the scale of the original drawing. In other words, if you send it to a designer/draftsman, a print of it will not be to scale and only the written dimensions will be known. That forces the designer/draftsman to waste time redrawing the plan to scale which is expensive unless they work for free.

This should not be surprising. SketchUp makes it clear from the beginning that the Free app is for personal visualization rather than professional communication.

In Shop or Pro a plan can be exported in .pdf, .dwg & .dxf formats that retain the scale of the original drawing. Those files can also be imported and used as the base of a 3D model. When you select one of those export file options in Free, you are asked if you want to upgrade. It would be great if the designer could open a Free file in Pro but it cannot.

So, if you intend to communicate with design professionals, $119 is a bargain for Shop since you are unlikely to need it for more than a year.

It might be possible to export a Free model and open it in Pro and then work on the plan in scale but it apparently requires the 2017 or 2018 version of SketchUp Pro so I haven't tried it, but if it works, it reduces the number of designers you could use.