Category

Featured Customers

Bathroom Design, Contest Winners, Design Contest, Featured Customers, Interior Design, Professional

Amanda Mattson Wins 3rd Place with Her Spacious Beach Inspired Bathroom

October 10, 2018

By Jake Murray

Amanda placed 3rd in the Chief Architect Kitchen/Bath & Interiors Design Contest! Her ability to learn from different design perspectives has contributed to her success as a young designer.

“My interest in design all started in high school when I decided to focus on art and design classes. I grew up in Massachusetts where I attended college in Boston at Wentworth Institute of Technology and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Interior Design. As a young designer, I am always curious about “what’s the new thing.” I am always wanting to learn from a different design perspective. For example, my last co-op I worked with architects and got to understand more about the structure. These advantages help me understand what I am designing and what I need to improve on as a young designer.

“I was introduced to Chief Architect during my stay at one of my co-ops. Chief Architect has been the easiest program to work with. I am using Chief Architect at my current job and the program works well to create designs that the clients can see before it comes to reality. It also makes the material selections easier for the clients to see how they come together.”

 

The program works well to create designs that the clients can see before it comes to reality.

Winning Design

 

Thank you, Amanda, for continuing to use Chief Architect Software throughout your work experience. We hope to see more of your great design work in our future contests!

 

If you are using Chief Architect Software to help make material selections easier for you or your clients like Amanda, check out the additional content available in the 3D Library.

 

Leave a comment
Featured Customers, Interior Design, Kitchen Design, Professional

Zak Rathgeber Wins 1st Place with His Modern Inner-City Kitchen Design!

September 19, 2018

By Jake Murray

 

Zak placed 1st in the Chief Architect Kitchen/Bath & Interiors Design Contest! A start with Lego houses has led to a long career and successful company of his own, Livara Design Inc.

 

Zak, his wife, and two children. With a passion for design that began at an early age, his work is the product of an experienced and talented designer. Congratulations on winning 1st place!

“I was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta, Canada with a small stint in British Columbia.  I always knew I wanted to design homes.  I can remember sitting on the floor as a kid building Lego houses and hotels, and I always gravitated to drawing sprawling dream homes over all the other topics little kids usually draw! I was gifted my first drafting table when I was 13 or 14, and I was off to the races.  I had a great Drafting & Design program in my high school and it definitely solidified my want to do this for a living.

“I worked for a couple of small architects once I finished College but was lucky enough to get hired when I was 20 with a top builder in Calgary.  I spent 15 years there, 8 of those as the Drafting & Design manager.  The company built all over Canada and the US, so I had the opportunity to work on a lot of different kinds of projects and visit a lot of cool cities.  Three years back I moved to an award-winning renovation company, where I was introduced to Chief Architect!  I was worried that I would have issues learning a new program as I’d used the same one for 15+ years, but it literally only took around 2-3 weeks before I was proficient enough to start taking on new clients.  What an amazing program, I loved it from day one!  The ease of use and online tutorials are awesome, any issue I’ve ever had could be solved in a matter of minutes.

“After almost 2 years, I left that company to start my own, Livara Design Inc. (named after my daughters Olivia (Livvy) and Clara) and have been working hard to grow it for the last year with my extremely supportive wife Laura and my diligent project manager Sulley (the dog).  It was a no brainer for me to purchase Chief for myself, as I’ve found it is hands down the best program to be able to present a vision to a client and have them actually be able to walk through and see the potential of their project, not just a 2D floorplan.  I don’t remember ever getting a crying hug from a client saying, “I can’t believe this is what my home is going to look like!” when I showed them a 2D floorplan!”

I brag about Chief Architect all the time and can’t wait to see what they will come up with next!

Thank you Zak for showcasing your work in our Design Contest and using Chief Architect to present your vision to your clients! To see more work from Zak, check out the design gallery at the bottom of the page.

 

Winning Design

Connect with Zak

(403) 863-5618

zak@livaradesign.com

Facebook

Leave a comment
Contest Winners, Design Contest, Featured Customers, Professional, Residential Home Design

Jennifer Lazarus Places 2nd with Her Stone Tudor Home Design

August 28, 2018
Dream Home that has evolved over many years,

By Emily Black

Jennifer placed 2nd in the Chief Architect Residential Design Contest! Her passion for design began when she was 10 years old and has flourished in her career as a home designer.

Jennifer Lazarus

I chose Chief Architect because of its realistic appearance, reasonable price, and user-friendliness.

“Unofficially, I started drawing house plans on graph paper when I was 10 years old, and I knew that designing was something I wanted to pursue as a profession.  Officially, I started designing in 2005, when I began working for and training with a local designer in my hometown of Memphis, TN.  In 2010, I began doing freelance residential design while also pursuing a career in another field.  I founded Ideal House Plans, LLC in 2017 and am currently working on growing the business.

“I’ve been a Chief Architect customer since May 2018.  Earlier in the year, I knew that I would need quality 3D renderings to post on the new website, so I began my search for the right software to use.  I downloaded several trial versions of various software to determine what would work best for me. In the end, I chose Chief Architect because of its realistic appearance, reasonable price, and user-friendliness.”

 

We really enjoyed seeing Jennifer’s work. To see more examples of her designs, visit idealhouseplansllc.com/shop. We wish Jennifer the very best with the launch of her new website.

Continue reading…

Leave a comment
Design Contest, Featured Customers, Professional, Remodel-Addition

Glenn M. Travis Places 2nd with His Georgian Colonial Remodel

July 18, 2018
Second story addition to a ranch rambler home design.

By Emily Black

 

Glenn placed 2nd in the Chief Architect Remodel/Addition Design Contest! His winning design is a beautiful transformation of the original home design.

Glenn M. Travis, the principal designer and owner of GMT Home Designs, focused on adding a second story and redesigning the first floor to give the clients a large kitchen and open family room. Glenn utilizes Chief Architect to bring his clients into the design with him and open communication for changes.

“Glenn and his team turned our idea into a reality using their incredible 3D design system. For the first time, we could actually see our dream home come to life. Visualizing the space in the 3D Viewer not only showed us what our home would look like but allowed us to make changes to something “we thought we liked” before ever breaking ground.” – GMT Home Design Client Continue reading…

Leave a comment