How Interior Designers Create a 3D Home Exterior

You’re juggling between multiple design tools, one for each step in your design process, and wishing for a stellar outcome without draining your time and energy. You have projects lined up, and you want to impress every one of your clients with your best designs. But, clients have evolved as much as you have. They don’t want just designs, or sketches that are hard to read. They want photorealistic previews of their future homes, with accurate details of the decor, design, textures they will feel at different places, overall mood, how the design makes them feel and so many more. 

The proven way to give your clients their wish list and more is through 3D design and modeling, done with unmatchable quality and fast-to-render tools. Especially when it comes to creating 3D home exteriors, interior designers need all the help they can get, to make sure the ambiance of the interior is translated seamlessly to the exterior, in form, shape, mood, color, context, and decor. Injecting personality into mundane design is a key trait of a creative designer like you, and to be able to do that for a home exterior without burning a hole in your client’s pockets, and winning hearts from onlookers, you need to choose the right materials, design, layout, visualize, create, experiment, design, model and render. 

Sounds like too much work for a home exterior? That’s how you create magic in the mundane. And we’re here to see things through. Hop on, we’ve got a bunch of tips to make your 3D home exterior design mission easier.

Assessing Exterior Elements and Client Goals

Be it flashy colored front doors, a Victorian-themed light post, or a colorful garden, your clients may have very specific or more often, a bunch of unrelated ideas bookmarked on Pinterest. 

Here’s how you can tie them up together and assess what they really want.

• To choose an exterior paint color, follow this simple technique. Envision green on top of the color on your mind for the home exterior, and if it suits the home well, it has a better chance of working out. With gardens and other greenery present in the background, you can assess how the exterior color would work out in 3D before buying samples.
• What climate does the region have? Does it rain or shine often? If it does, you need non-photo-reactive materials and colors that don’t give in after a rainy season.
• Can your client expend time, effort, and money on maintaining the exteriors?
• How would you transition the interior design room ideas to the exterior?
• What’s their budget?
• Will they entertain frequently? 
• How many members of the family are expected to reside in the house at any given point in time?
• Are they outdoorsy people? Do they like to socialize often?
• How do other houses in their locality look?
• What’s the age of their home?
• Let your client play with colors and lights in the dark, and in light, and watch the exteriors from their own rooms.

The above are a few pointers to get you started with. 

The more questions you ask, curate their mood board from their social media saves and show them precisely how they will look in their home, the easier your client can pick out their favorite home decor ideas.

Embracing 3D Technology in Exterior Design

We’re in the era of making the loftiest dreams come true with the best technology the world has ever seen. Take augmented reality for example. You can control what you want to see, curate lifelike objects in the current reality, and contexts, and present a clearer-than-life view to your customers without them having to part with money or roll the dice with a particular design or fixture.

That’s every client’s goal, and also why interior designs create a 3D home exterior to give a fitting finish to the design masterpiece. Virtual reality, on the other hand, is another trend in 3D design, that you can use to create a reality of your own, bring elements to life, and immerse your clients in a zone where they see themselves living their future. While these options lay a hefty sum on your pocket and may work out for big players or corporations, independent designers like you have another tool that competes closely with AR and VR for quality – 3D design and modeling tools.

It can show you photorealistic images and videos of home interior and exterior design with high-resolution 3D elements intact, adjust lighting, textures, and materials, and show your client how their home exterior would look at different times of the day, night, and during various seasons. A simple manual sketch or a half-baked design can’t give you this quality. It takes a high-end tool to generate surreal designs, like Foyr Neo. 

Read also – What is 3D drawing and how is it transforming interior design?

3D Design Process for Exterior Spaces

Blending 100+ elements in a cohesive theme, and comparing one with another, ensuring no price tag is too heavy, and that they evoke the desired result is a huge task, especially if you’re working with a client who’s about to invest their life savings into this home, and about to become a new homeowner or if they’re doing a remodel.

You can’t afford to mess with their budget, nor can you compromise their preferences. Best solution? Visualise every element with unmatchable precision, so your clients rule out probability and make an informed decision.

Foyr Neo helps you do this flawlessly. How? Stick with us, and we’ll show you.

Walls 

Your home exterior walls are one of the most overlooked when it comes to maintenance, but they get the most views and create impressions on onlookers in the street. Maintaining them well is a symbol of sophistication, and character so it needs to be easy for the client to do.

Suggest hardie boards or a brick exterior that requires minimal maintenance. If you’re going to use stone, or bricks in particular, refrain from painting them and let their natural self and texture shine. If you still want to paint them, use conventional latex paint that goes with the neighborhood’s color palette. You may want to show samples from IKEA to your client.

If you’re one of those designers who think the whiter the exterior the better, then we recommend going with an off-white, or a softer, more organic white that isn’t too bright to look at or dinges with changing seasons.

If your client needs a historic look to their home exterior, experiment with secondary colors for the exterior wall. For a fun, feisty look, go for pink, or orange. For a subtle, or calming look, go for blue-grey. For vacation homes that beam with cheer and fun, go for flashy colors.

Read also – 10 Best Gallery Wall Ideas To Design Your Blank Walls

Front doors and door knockers

Now that your wall is sorted, let’s move on to another eye-catching element that can make your client’s new home exterior look more tantalizing – front doors leading to their large, or rather small living room and door knockers!

Glass doors may exude luxury, but be mindful of privacy concerns. Try art glass or colored glass with steel grids to ensure privacy and an aesthetic look. Black, grided doors work well for a light-colored exterior. Try out the bronze color, if you will.

Conventionally, dark front doors make a bold and perky statement and never go out of style. Navy blue works like a charm every time. Pick a color that vibes with your exterior wall color. 

As an icing on the cake, install vintage knockers that crank up your style several notches. They go well with any color and capture interest even before anyone enters your client’s haven.

Garage doors

If your client has a sufficiently wide garage, it’s best to get a garage door with windows, to allow natural light. Classic windows and simple grids would do. If you have the budget, go for insulated garage doors so you don’t face the ugly side of accumulated moisture, heat, etc. 

Insulated doors are on the expensive side, but they’re a sure thing if you invest once. They keep the inside cooler and warmer depending on the temperature outside, so your car isn’t scorching hot when you touch it on a hot summer afternoon.

Gutters

A subtle way to add shine, a splash of color, and brighten your home, without going overboard. If you have a brick exterior, go for a copper gutter (copper pipes), with a side of brass chimney pots, and your client’s will be a head-turner every time a person passes by. Copper truly highlights the architectural beauty of your home exterior, and it’s a nice addition to your home exterior plan. 

Porch

Get a wraparound porch for a vintage and palatial look, giving off a classic ranch design subtly. The wraparound porch makes the home exterior look versatile, is comfortable for residents, and wins your client’s heart. Since it offers more space than other porch ideas, this model could improve the resale value of their home.

If your clients want more privacy, they can prefer footprints style with c-shaped coverings. To increase privacy, you can consider decorative screens, or a fireplace tucked away from the public eye. 

Windows

The best way to transition from an aesthetic interior to an astounding exterior is through alluring windows. If you want a budget-friendly option, go for vinyl, for a durable, more aesthetic, and strong material, prefer fiberglass, and for a bit expensive, and popular material, choose wood-clad. Black windows are all the rage now, but be careful when you use black, as it can dominate the palette pretty easily.

How can Foyr Neo help you make a 3D model of a house?

As you read above, there are so many considerations you need to take into account before you can show your client your exterior design ideas. To be spot-on, not miss any minute details, and get the right fit for your client’s needs and budget, you need exemplary 3D design, room decor, visualization, and modeling software.

That’s exactly what Foyr Neo does. 

Here’s how you can create jaw-dropping 3D designs and 4K walkthrough videos that bring your client closer to their dream:

• Head over to www.foyr.com, and sign up for a free 14-day trial. 
• Once you sign in, Neo will take you through a tour of the product, which you will master instantly.
• Open up floor plans of your home exterior, import your own, or create afresh.
• Choose from 10,000+ preset templates for room design or drag and drop from 50,000+ 3D elements of exteriors, materials, and colors of walls, doors, guttering, window frames, roofing driveways, fences, etc, you need for your design.
• If you don’t see any super-specific elements, create your own custom element in a jiffy and add it to your design.
• Adjust lighting with the help of AI, spot errors, and correct on the spot.
• Once the 3D design is ready, switch to 2D to check overall efficacy.
• Proceed to 3D modeling, witness your design in all its glory, and switch back to make changes if needed.
• Once satisfied, hit ‘render’ and get the completed makeover design in a few minutes.
• Share the home design link with your client, and get feedback. 

That’s all! No extra equipment, hour-long tutorials, or forever rendering times like other room design apps. You can now create your own 3D model in minutes, with Foyr Neo, a home exterior design software created by and for interior designers.

Realism and Visualization

Now that you know you can use Foyr Neo to convert your house designs to 3D, let us show you Neo’s features that can make your designs come alive.

• Choose paints to suit the location of the house and its age. Painting the entire exterior the same color is still okay, but ensure you highlight the garden and give it a soft, calmer look.
• From the collection, pick materials that match the nature of the house.
• When experimenting with an all-white wall exterior, create the sunlight effect and check if it becomes too bright.
• Add a dollop of vibrant colors like vibrant aqua or pretty pink to create a focal point in your home exterior walls. Neo shows the visual impact of each color clearly.
• Try out combinations from complementary color families with infinite colors. 
• Experiment with dark colors in the backyard where you can get a deeper and brighter look.
• Set the color palette to go within the same tonal family, and apply colors only from the chosen palette.
• If your client wants dark colors, pop in dark, rich, moody earthen tones. If they’re still unsatisfied, enable bright lighting in Foyr Neo, and show them how deep, dark colors block light.
• Play with different textures on the Neo tool, and show your client how natural textures feel close to heart and palpable. 
• To make your design look more photorealistic, add wooden elements – wood headers over windows, wood posts over the front porch, wood shutters, etc. You can find vast oceans of wood-related elements on Foyr Neo.
• Roofing can be tricky, and your client may not fully understand how each material plays out. Use Neo to show them the reflection, weight, look, maintenance, etc of each roofing material.

Impressive lighting for an impeccable 3D home exterior design

Lighting on your home exterior is extremely important, not only the obvious safety reasons but also to create an inviting and warm atmosphere. For you, the designer, knowing exterior lighting can boost your portfolio, earn you blue-chip clients, and put you on the map. 

As lucrative as it is, it’s tough to get lighting right. A lot of nitty-gritty is involved, and a slight miss could dampen the design.

Did you know that 95% of home exterior projects succeed when the client sees the impact of different types of lighting? That’s why you need an expert interior design software like Foyr Neo by your side.

 

Grab a bunch of tips expert interior designers recommend for stellar exterior lighting:

• Focus on where the pathways and elevated spaces (steps) will be.
• Visit the exterior and determine the sight lines from the outdoors and your living room or home office. Capture viewing angles from different points.
• Ascertain the use of the exteriors. Is the family going to sit down and sip wine in the evenings, or have kids running around, or cook together? 
• Ensure to have 3 key elements of lighting – tree lighting in the yard and garden, practical lighting for the steps, pathways, and seating area, and artistic and sectional lighting, for focal points, pieces of furniture, gardens, and sconces for walls.
• Precise shadows in Foyr Neo show movement and add dynamicity to the exterior design. Show how light plays on the texture of the tree bark by using photorealistic elements on Foyr Neo.
• Run extra wire depending on furniture placement when planning the house exterior, so you can add lighting whenever required.

Read also – The Importance of Lighting in Interior Design

Integrate Landscaping and Outdoor Elements

Your client’s home exterior can be a great way to spend time, socialize, cook, barbeque, and simply hang out with family and friends. You need a welcoming, soothing, and refreshing landscape in your home exterior to be able to have a good time outdoors. Planning the landscape and outdoor elements without leaving anything to chance is important. 

Outdoor elements for a beautiful 3D home exterior design

• A daybed swing in your lawn or backyard is soothing beyond description. Hop onto Foyr Neo, and put on a daybed swing, and a fluffy mattress, and watch your client swoon. Swings are truly relaxing and have health-boosting benefits. 
• Based on budget, add luxury seating, a bistro table or coffee table, and patio furniture to create a mini dining room effect.
• Add string lights to your design – they elevate the architectural design and give off a cozy and intimate vibe.
• If your client has the budget and the need, deftly insert a fireplace in the design for socializing and weekend storytelling with the family. You can even add a weather-proof TV above the fireplace with bright backlighting, and arrange a few couches to make for a movie night in the outdoors. The audio and video quality would be amazing in the dark.
• Bring up a fairy garden, or a free library on the curb, to socialize with the neighbors.
• If your client prefers more water elements, install a swimming pool in the backyard for a quick dip.
• A firepit, well planned with the location in mind is also a great addition. Determine the right material, finish, construction, and type of firepit using Foyr Neo.
• Add small bar carts to help you serve drinks or hold potted plants. 

Foyr Neo’s capabilities in landscaping

Especially when it comes to landscaping, clients need to see different elements and lighting in the day and night effects, to make the right choices. Having design software that turns into night mode to show the impact of lighting can make a tremendous impact in showing the aesthetics and practicality of your landscaping. 

3D renders like Foyr Neo, which include lighting, auto-adjust improper lighting with the help of AI, and handholding your design process get you a sure-fire way to a fool-proof design. No other room design apps can give you the quality Foyr Neo gives. The super-fast and flexible design helps your clients play with lights in the dark, and determine what works best for them. With Neo, each variation takes only a few seconds, and you can surpass your client’s home decor needs. 

The earthen textures, varying shades of green, plants, and color combinations that go well with them can be easily identified, vetted, and used in superior 3D modeling and visualization software like Foyr Neo. 

Collaboration and Client Engagement

Interior designers and landscape architects make or break a home exterior design. It’s important to have photogenic houses and happy clients, and a fine trio of builders, designers, and landscaping architects can achieve it. The landscaping architects understand how best the topography can be used without disturbing the balance, and the interior designers understand how to make home exteriors more satisfying and refreshing, and also incorporate client feedback aptly into the design.

Builders and contractors need to know every single detail about every fixture and setting in and around the house, so precision is everything in landscaping and interior design. Foyr Neo not only helps you bring the aesthetics, but it also generates ready-to-build construction-ready measurements for each element in the design and helps you get super-organized and get superb results. You need strong internal processes and systems in place to be able to coordinate with landscaping architects, builders, and the client, to retrieve any data, access past versions, adapt, and manage on the go.

Try our Foyr Neo’s 14-day free trial today, and see it yourself. Witness the smooth flow of designs, construction-ready homes, immersive designs, and easy learning curve using the only tool you’ll need for everything interior design and to get your home exterior design project delivered right – Foyr Neo.