…tool for amateurs to play around with design and layouts for extensions? Architect has done the difficult bit and done actual drawings, I just want to play around with combinations of furniture, moving fireplaces and getting a feel for the right use of the space.

I am not a designers or techie person. Is SketchUp the place to go or are there better options?

It is although the free version is / is becoming a web-based app with the desktop app being subscription based

Apart from being pretty intuitive to use (Although people who are cad-savvy find the intuitiveness counterintuitive) there’s a huge free library of importable models do if you want to play at feng shui you can just pick and mix pre-made elements rather that have to draw them all

Thanks. Is web based a problem?

Only if you don’t have an internet connection when you want to use it. For something one-off it’ll be fine. For me it’s a problem.

For more involved users there has been a growing user-created range of extentions and plug ins – those’ll cease to be available to non-pro users. Users are going to have to pay a sub to get access to resources that were created by and offered to the user base for free

I’m building a potential house with it right now. It’ll probably never happen but I’m learning more by doing it. I use it a lot for doing floor plans at work and its good for that. When we did a lot of work on the house though I used graph paper and cut out bits of furniture kitchen appliances etc. For me it’s the best way to try different options as it’s so quick and immediate. If you do use Sketch Up a Space Navigator mouse is fantastic once you are used to it. no way I’d use it without one now. Sweet Home is a free and pretty good alternative for what you want to do.

Sweet home 3d might do what you need and you might find it easier to use Ryan sketch up

I am playing with freecad BIM as an alternative

I tried to use a later web based version and gave up when I realised I couldn’t add dimensions.

I designed the outline of my extension on the old one and gave it to my architect to refer to.