Tag

Residential Design

How to Present Home Design Concepts That Close Deals with 3D Software


Modern two-story home with an attached garage, expansive windows, covered entry, balcony, and landscaped front yard at sunset.

Danielle Profile image By Danielle Taylor

A great home design is only part of winning a project. How you present that design to a prospective client can be just as important. Floor plans and construction drawings provide essential information, but many homeowners have difficulty visualizing how a finished space will look and feel from 2D drawings alone.

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Designing Homes for a Lifetime: How Aging in Place Is Shaping the Future of Residential Design


Accessible bathroom featuring a wheelchair-accessible double vanity, wall-mounted toilet, grab bars, roll-under sinks, and modern neutral finishes.

Danielle Profile image By Danielle Taylor

As more homeowners choose to remain in their homes well into retirement, the demand for aging-in-place design continues to grow. Rather than relocating to assisted living communities or downsizing, many people are choosing to modify their existing homes or build with long-term accessibility in mind.

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2026 Design Contest Winners


3D rendering of a two-story green Victorian-style home with a wraparound porch, white railings, and surrounding landscaping.

Danielle Profile image By Danielle Taylor

Chief Architect has monthly contests for customers to show off their work. People with various backgrounds and styles compete in the following categories: Kitchen/Bath and Interior, Residential, and Remodel/Addition. Please help us congratulate the winners!

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Winners of the 2025 Design of the Year Contest


A three-panel rendering shows a bright, elegant kitchen interior, a charming cottage-style home exterior with a covered porch, and a modern kitchen with warm wood cabinetry and a large island under pendant lights.

2024 Design Contest Winners


Outdoor living space with covered deck and floor to ceiling windows.

Profile image of Danielle Schroeder By Danielle Schroeder

Chief Architect has monthly contests for customers to show off their work. People with various backgrounds and styles compete in the following categories: Kitchen/Bath and Interior, Residential, and Remodel/Addition. Please help us congratulate the winners!

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Winning Designs – March/April Residential Design Contest


Rendering of Mediterranean style home with three car garage

Best Practices for Entering to Win a Home Design Contest


Grandview watercolor rendering with line drawing

Author's Portrait by Kendra Dorosh

Each month we receive a great selection of renderings created by our users for the Chief Architect Design Contests. We’d like to share some ideas and suggestions for how you can craft a great design contest entry that Facebook voters respond positively to. These techniques can be applied when entering a Chief Architect Design Contest, or any other home design contest you might be considering. Let’s get started!

One of the best, and most obvious, aspects of a great design contest entry is a nice rendering. However, it’s also important to supplement the rendering with a well-written description along with your contact information; this is a perfect chance to show off your skills and share your story! We then recommend sharing the post on your own social media channels for the best exposure, we’ll get to this part in a bit.

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Comparing Chief Architect Premier and Chief Architect Interiors


Phillip Gibney Profile Image By Phillip Gibney

Update January 10th, 2023: Chief Architect Interiors has been discontinued. All of the features in Chief Architect Interiors are available in Chief Architect Premier. The main differences between the two programs were that the Interiors version didn’t include features for framing, decks, outdoor living, terrain, and landscaping. If you have a legacy license of Chief Architect Interiors and are interested in upgrading to Chief Architect Premier, this blog article covers the features gained in Chief Architect Premier.

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Winners of the 2021 Design of the Year Contest


Collage of the winner's designs

An Interior Designer and World Traveler


Living space with nanawall

Profile image of Danielle Schroeder By Danielle Taylor

Well-traveled designer, Judi Lee-Carr, settles in the United States and launches her business. She shares her journey becoming an Interior Designer and how Chief Architect helps her business thrive.

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