Home Software Widget

I'm remodeling my basement this year, sort of gutting it, to bare block. Get it the way I like it, and take care of some other things that bother me. (No, not a man-cave, hate that bloody stupid term, it will become our primary relaxing area, and although I have a lot of free rein in the rough work, she will be quite involved in the finish.) Showering and such will be a bit more visible than I'd like for a while, but I'm usually the only person down there, and the cats good and truly don't give a shit unless I'm carrying cat hash. I'm a construction guy, confident in my ability to build almost anything*. But, not an artist or an architect, and I work much better with prints than pulling stuff out of thin air. And I was given a recommendation that I want to pass on.

There's a program called Punch! Home and Landscape to help with the design, estimates, and stuff. It's not exactly a barrel of monkeys to learn how to use (of course, typical construction guy, I chose to learn it by mucking about with it as opposed to, you know, something clever like reading the online manual, so your mileage may vary). Once that was done, though, this sucker is very elegant, makes great 11x17 prints and estimates quantities, which I can then take to Menards (midwestern home improvement chain) so that I can start crossing stuff off after seeing prices and ciphering costs. Regardless of crushed dreams and never-installed jacuzzis, its a great little program.

*actually, have to narrow that a bit. I can build, but show me a car and I start looking for someone to give money to. Blinker fluid at $19 a pint? Maybe I should buy a second pint then, keep it in the garage, for winter driving emergencies.