Designing My Dream Garden

This afternoon we were hit with a pretty big snowstorm.  As I watched my backyard disappear beneath several inches of snow, it began to look like a blank canvas.  With that, I began dreaming about my landscape plans for next summer.

This past summer, I had to contend with a mess of a yard as my husband fitted us for sprinklers.  It was just horrible.  However, I was promised that as soon as Spring arrives, it would be my turn to have my landscape crew of three (hubby and sons) make me the backyard I've always dreamed of.

So, today I began cruising on the net for places to start sketching up some plans.  I found a website called: Autodesk Homestyler.  This 3D home design tool has a lot of promise as a free web-based application for designing both dream homes and secret gardens.  Utilizing drag & drop "drafting" I think that it's so easy a child could use it.  Which got me to thinking, hey, maybe some budding young architects might want to check this out.

You don't just have to stop with the basic design, the progam allows you to add furniture too.  It's kind of like having an online doll house!  And once you’ve got your design complete, you can have a walk-thru using the  3D visualization tools.  Sweet. 

It's too bad I didn't know about this website when my son was working on his Landscape Architecture Merit Badge for Boy Scouts.  It sure would have come in handy.