The days of drawing up plans using pen and paper are, for the most part, over. Design projects – everything from cars and consumer products to houses and apartments – are now large carried out in CAD (computer-aided design) apps. While CAD software has helped to make design and project management much easier and efficient, there are usually two obstacles to more widespread adoption – cost and learning curve.

Coming from Ashampoo, it should come as little surprise that Home Design tackles both of these issues head on and makes the whole idea of computer-based home design accessible to everyone. Whether you are looking to build an entire house, or you want to indulge in a little internal remodelling, the app includes everything you need to do just that.

There are various building and room templates available to get your started, and you just need to provide various details such as dimensions and materials. You have the option of working in 2D or 3D mode, or even a combination of the two – whatever works best for you.

As you design your project, the program will calculate length and other sizes for you, and provide you with an impressive 3D rendering of whatever you come up with. This is a helpful way to see if the image you have in your head will work in the real world, and the same is true of the ability to walk through and fly around any buildings you creating using Home Design – it's a great way to see if something will work.

The library of 3D objects is extensive and impressively stocked, helping you to furnish your home and plans your garden with ease. There's also support for SketchUp or Collada models which open up further options if you can't find what you're looking for in the app.

Whether you're going to use Ashampoo Home Design for the planning of a serious project, or you just like the idea of playing around with some user-friendly CAD software, this is a great tool to get you started. You never know, what starts out as some idle tinkering could turn into your next big project.