Guides

Room planning, done properly

Practical guides on measuring, furniture fit, IKEA planning and design tools, written by the people building The Good Room Planner. No filler, no invented statistics, comparisons dated and honest.

• For e-designersThe best e-design software in 2026, compared honestlyDesignFiles, Mydoma, Programa, RoomSketcher, Spoak and The Good Room Planner compared on price and focus — and how to pick the right e-design tool for how you actually work.
• For e-designersDesignFiles alternatives, sorted by what you actually needLooking for a DesignFiles alternative? The honest answer depends on which half you use — the business suite or the design boards. Options compared, including a $9 one-time planner.
• Client workHow to present a design concept a client can say yes toA practical structure for presenting interior design concepts: lead with their room, show real products at true scale, price it transparently, and make approving easy.
• Product storyAn IKEA planner alternative that plans the room you actually haveThe Good Room Planner was born from IKEA planner frustration: fixed walls, no ceiling height, catalog-only furniture. Draw your real room and place official IKEA 3D models from a pasted URL.
• How it worksWhy a room planner needs real furniture, at real scaleGeneric furniture blocks answer nothing. How pasting a product URL puts the retailer’s official 3D model in your plan at true size — and why that changes every "will it fit?" decision.
• Feature guideWalk your room in VR before you buy a single pieceOpen your plan (or a shared proposal) in a VR headset’s browser, tap Enter VR, and stand in the room at real scale — your eye height, your furniture. How it works, step by step.
• How-toHow to measure a room for a floor plan — right the first timeA step-by-step method for measuring a room for a floor plan: what to measure, in what order, the mistakes that ruin plans, and why interior clear distances are the numbers that matter.
• For e-designersPricing e-design services: the package is the productA practical framework for pricing e-design: package by room with defined deliverables and revision limits, and keep tool costs from quietly eating a flat-fee margin.
• Getting startedFree floor plan software that does real 3D — what free gets youWhat genuinely free floor plan software looks like: The Good Room Planner’s free tier is the whole editor — 2D plan, 3D room, URL furniture import, measure tools, PDF export.
• How-to"Will it fit?" — answer it before the checkout, not the deliveryThe clearances that decide whether furniture actually works in a room — walkways, door swings, ceiling gaps, delivery paths — and how to check every one in a true-scale plan.