Whether or not you have the vision of Frank Lloyd Wright, or don't know a casement window from a double-hung, you can now create window and wall designs from thousands of possible combinations that reflect your own personal style.

Bayport, Minn.-based Andersen Windows has developed WindowCentrics Wall Planner, a new online tool that allows users to visualize how walls will look with windows and doors. Four walls and only one floor means that a wall plan design is just as important as a floor plan, according to Cameron Snyder, the company's brand public relations manager.

The idea for an online design tool, customarily used by builders and contractors to design with clients, was designed with consumers in mind -- people who often perform design services with pencil and paper.

The program takes users through the process of computer-aided design, allowing them to choose a wall shape from 16 available templates that include six families of Andersen windows and patio doors. Pre-designed window and door combinations or individual units are then “dropped” into the virtual wall space.

In addition to the design and layout, the tool allows users to personalize their design by selecting window trim stain and color options and adding color and texture to the wall. You can even enhance it with images of furniture, people, pets, and plants also can be used to demonstrate scale. The results can be saved as a PDF file for sharing.

To get you started, the Andersen Wall Planner offers a photo library that automatically generates window combinations inspired by real homes and automatically adjusts the design options to account for the limits of product manufacturing and construction parameters.

For more about WindowCentrics, go to andersenwindows.com/design.

Published: April 1, 2008

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

A veteran of the real estate and homebuilding industries since 1986, Dena Kouremetis first joined Realty Times as a new homes writer in 1998. Since then, she has authored four books, written consumer columns on new homes issues for websites and newspapers all across the country, contributed to builder trade magazines, appeared as a guest expert on several radio shows and even created a ten-chapter podcast for LendingTree.com’s homebuilder website, iNest.com, now available on iTunes, entitled Uncharted Waters; Navigating the Purchase of a New Production Home. Kouremetis recently joined her local Folsom, CA Coldwell Banker office as a broker associate while continuing to write for the real estate industry. For the past three years, she has been training real estate agents for both the resale and new homes industries, putting her experience, research expertise and gift of expression to work to help others entering the business.