An Interior Designer's UPDATED Guide to Home Designer Pro vs. Chief Architect

It’s crazy to think it’s been almost three years since I wrote my ever-popular blog post, An Interior Designer’s Guide to Home Designer Pro vs. Chief Architect Interiors, on my original home to all things Chief Architect and Home Designer, www.kellyfridlinedesign.com. As of today, the blog has been read or viewed by thousands of Interior Designers, Residential Designers, Architects, and even Homeowners. The topic is still widely discussed, reviewed, and consistently questioned within the various Facebook groups, forums, and emailed to me. In addition to the popularity of the blog, I’ve also released several very successful online courses full of detailed instructions for all three versions and equate to over 45 hours of recordings.

Which version is right for you?

Since my last post, the software has now been upgraded twice and those promotions have really added some amazing features to all three versions. Oh, and yes, the three options we will be discussing are Home Designer Pro 2022, Chief Architect Interiors X13, and Chief Architect Premier X13. To start, I’m going to give you a very basic understanding of what the differences are between the three versions, I will then go a little more in-depth as to what each option includes. I will mention that of the three Home Designer options I will only be discussing Home Designer Pro, due to the extreme limitations, from a professional viewpoint, I do not recommend Architectural nor Suite.

Brunch and Banter | Planning for the Future of Interior Design

Sometimes you have those moments, you know, those discussions and light bulb sort of ideas that lead to more than you could have anticipated. Well, that’s where Brunch & Banter was, a fun, light hearted conversation between myself and my two ‘work wives’, Jenna Gaidusek and Sarah Durnez. Conceived in the very early days of the COVID-19 Stay at Home orders, we realized the need many Interior Designers had (and still do) for a little guidance with converting their Brick-n-Mortar business to the virtual realm, which the three of us have been working in for years. What was going to originally be a single morning distraction and support pow-wow has now turned into a bi-weekly Sunday morning/afternoon chat fest revolving around lady bosses, brunch, eDesign, renderings, and the crazy world on Interior Design.

So far we’ve covered a few subjects that come up as business owners, Facebook Group Administrators, rendering artists, and Interior Designers. This industry is always changing and evolving, but over the last month or so we’ve seen a serious jump toward eDesign. Check out the full episodes below whereI’ve made sure its all located in one place (other than youtube). Oh, and be sure to check back for updates and additional Banters!

Home Designer for Interior Designers

An Introduction to a Learn-As-You-Go Online Course

So here’s the thing, I’ve built a course specifically tailored to Interior Designers using Home Designer Professional (HD Pro). This is (as noted in the title of this blog) a pre-recorded Learn As You Go Online course that will cover everything you need to be efficient in HD Pro as an Interior Designer. Keep in mind, that Home Designer is still considered a DIY software, so you don’t have the same bells and whistles available that you’ll find in the Chief Architect Interiors (with NKBA dimensioning standards built in) or Premier, but there are work arounds and a specific level of mind set that you need to move forward using this more basic option, primarily being organization and some patience. To learn a little more about the differences between the two software versions I suggest you check out the blog post I wrote, An Interior Designer's Guide to Home Designer Pro vs. Chief Architect Interiors.

How Outsourcing Design Can Save You Time and Money

As small business owners, it’s all too easy for us to believe we have to handle everything themselves. Invoicing. Web Design. Public Relations.

“Self-employed interior designer” often includes a job description that, on any given day, could resemble administrative assistant, CAD expert, accountant, marketing team, web content director, human resource manager...and it doesn’t stop there.

Weighing the Pros and Cons of Chief Architect v. SketchUp

One of my favorite things about working virtually is building a community of designers across the country who are eager to lift one another up as we navigate design and business challenges. That’s why I created my Facebook group, Presentation by Design. It’s a resource and sounding board for us to come together for inspiration, troubleshooting, and support.

A few months ago, my co-administrator, Sarah Durnez, and I went live on Facebook to discuss one of the biggest questions facing designers and rendering artists: What application should I use for rendering? What are the pros and cons of Chief Architect v. SketchUp?

If you haven’t joined Presentation by Design on Facebook, you’ll definitely want to do so to stay on top of future trainings and Q&A sessions. In the meantime, however, I’m going to break down our Facebook Live for you here.

The Benefits of Hiring an Architecturally Trained Virtual Design Assistant & Rendering Artist

Recently, the market for Virtual Design Assistants (VDA) and Rendering Artists has become more available than ever before. As the world of design is becoming a close knit community, via social media and collaborative dashboards like IVY.co and MyDoma, it can be difficult to weed through all the professional resources. Instagram feeds, Facebook groups, and Google search results all add that extra layer of stress when looking for right the team member.

So, with all these opportunities, testimonials, and connections how do you know you’re making the right choice?

Composition: How it Affects Our Interpretation of Design and Space

Today we have our phones, and their cameras ready, for any memory to be recorded and added to our virtual arsenal in an instant. If you’re anything like me just walking down the street and seeing something I deem beautiful turns me into an aspiring photographer (I actually walked into a street sign in NYC once while admiring the architecture), but the truth is no level of equipment, space, or lighting has as much of an effect on an image as its composition. This also applies to renderings and other forms of art, architecture, and interior design.

How Chief Architect Will Help You Design and Sell Kitchens...

Are you an Interior Designer or Architect trying to decide if adding renderings, or even making the full transition to a Building Information Modeling (BIM) software is right for you? Today, there are many software options that can provide you all sorts of integrated services and rendering techniques, but which one will work best for you?

The truth is, it depends on what you want to get out of it.

An Introduction to a Learn-As-You-Go Online Course

As small business owners, it’s all too easy for us to believe we have to handle everything themselves. Invoicing. Web Design. Public Relations.

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