I use AUTO CADD Light, and another type would be Micro Station. With some practice its not too hard to get the hang of.
SoftPlan is also a good one.
If you are talking about a one-off project and don’t want to spend a lot of money or time learning, then check out 3D Home Designer by Chief Architect. If you will be doing multiple projects (say if you have a small remodeling business), then consider Softplan. I’ve been using it for close to 8 yrs and really like it. It’s pricey but very powerful. Also remember that some of the lower priced programs won’t cut it for getting permits and plan review in larger municipalities.
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I have tried a number of software design packages including 3D Home Designer by Chief Architect, and Auto cad lite. I find them very difficult and time consuming. I have tried using them for days only to fall back to the safty of pencil and paper. I opt for basic drafting for projects simple pencil and paper on a drafting table or desk top. Easy to empliment and very simple to begin no need for online training or web classes. Put it to paper and move on to what makes you money.
Autocad is the industry standard
We use SoftPlan. Though our designer has a background in AutoCAD, SoftPlan is optimized for residential design and working drawing production.
We have found it to be a great balance between ease of use (simplicity) and flexibility. We routinely generate full sets of residential and light commercial working drawings for permitting and construction.
For conceptual planning and visualization we use SketchUp which is available in its basic version for free: http://www.sketchup.com/
If you do not do this for a living just, maybe just for some weekend one project, faster and much cheaper, also less frustrating would be when you use sheet of paper and pencil.
Soft Plan is an excellent program for the residential Design + Build firm. I recommend the ungraded service plan called Soft Plan Plus. Small monthly fee for terrific customer support. Good Luck.
SketchUp is a great and user friendly program. The Pro version comes with a program called LayOut that allows you to easily dimension and annotate the models you create in SketchUp, but the free version is great for hobbyists and DIYers. It also has a free “warehouse” of models created by other users, with things already modeled like furniture, doors, etc., that you can import and use in your own model.
3D Home Designer by Chief Architect; its what you should take a look at.
SketchUp is free and quite intuitive to use. They also make a pro version with layout tools but for a simple project, the free version should suffice. https://www.sketchup.com/
Enjoy