Step 1: Create a floor plan.

• Inside walls should be 4.5 inches thick.

• Outside walls and walls with plumbing should be 6 inches thick.

• Windows and doors should be marked in some way. 

  • Typical inside doors are 24", 28" and 30" wide.

  • Typical outside doors have 32" or 36" widths.

  • All rooms with an outside wall should have a window, except bathrooms, closets, and the garage.

• Use the Text tool to label all your rooms and spaces.

• Create a Tag called "1 Labels" in SketchUp to put room labels and dimensions.

• Dimension the overall width and length.

Step 2: Furnish your floor plan.

• Place your furnishings. 

  • May come from 3D Warehouse or build your own.

  • Each piece of furniture should be a separate Component. 

• Create a Tag called "2 Furniture" in SketchUp to put furnishings.

• Draw in the tops of your cabinets and counter-tops.

• Modify your floor plan as needed to make everything work.

• Include your Chair for Sophie, Watering Can and Scale Model as furniture. 

Step 3: Make the inside 3-D

• Backup your floor-plan by using the Save a Copy as... command in the File menu.

• Pull-up the walls to make your project 3-D. An 8-foot ceiling height is typical.

• Correctly size windows and doors. Typical doors are 80" or 84" (7 feet) tall.

• Create a Tag called "3 Fixtures" in SketchUp to put attached things like sinks, counters, and toilets.

• Pull-up counters. Typical counter heights are 34" or 36". 

  • Texture the interior floor and walls.

  • Add additional furniture requiring walls, such as cabinets.

Step 4: Make the outside.

• Texture and add details to the outside walls.

• Create walkways and porches around outside doors. 

• • Important parts or features of a model can be shown separately.

  • When used with groups and components, different versions or options of a model can be in the same drawing and quickly compared.

  • (Most importantly for some...) Slow computers can still work on very complex models by hiding unneeded Tags.

With SketchUp, the computer only needs to draw what it is showing on the screen. If much of the detail of a model is in Tags that are turned off or hidden, the computer will take less time and memory to redraw the screen. Using Tags, even large complex models are possible on small, slow, memory limited netbook or Chromebook type of computers.