Transform your home’s aesthetic and functionality with the precision and creativity of SOLIDWORKS. For instance, designing custom laser cut metal railings and wainscoting.
As a technical trainer and designer, I use SOLIDWORKS all the time—at work and for my own home projects, too. The application of CAD (Computer-Aided Design) tools, such as SOLIDWORKS, extends beyond commercial and industrial projects. Increasingly, homeowners and DIY enthusiasts, like myself, are discovering the advantages of leveraging CAD for residential upgrades, renovations, and custom design elements. Projects like custom metal railings, wainscoting, cabinetry, furniture, and even complex landscaping features can all benefit from precise digital design.
By employing CAD for these projects, we can unlock opportunities for advanced visualization, better collaboration with fabricators (and spouses!), and even help with dimensional requirements and templates. This capability not only ensures a higher-quality finished product but also supports project efficiency and risk mitigation. This is relevant both with "work" projects, and on the home front.
SOLIDWORKS stands out as an industry-leading CAD platform due to its comprehensive suite of design, simulation, and documentation tools. For both work and home projects, this means users can efficiently create accurate 3D models, generate detailed 2D drawings, and validate designs before fabrication or installation. For instance in my application, it saved me from waving my arms around saying, "Just picture it!" Also, the parametric modeling capabilities allow for quick iterations and adjustments, supporting custom-fit solutions for unique, individual environments.
Integration with manufacturing workflows, such as exporting DXF/DWG files for laser cutting or CNC machining, streamlines the transition from concept to finished product. Additionally, SOLIDWORKS’ visualization tools enable clear communication between homeowners, designers, fabricators, and contractors, reducing the likelihood of costly errors or misinterpretations. It also makes it a lot easier to get everyone on the same page and excited about where the project’s headed.
Custom metal railings are a standout feature in modern and traditional homes, offering both safety and aesthetic enhancement. The existing, traditional railings on an interior balcony in my home needed updating. The spindles were spaced too far apart, which led to concerns about safety. My family decided we needed to update it, and decided to look at options other than just fixing the spacing of the current spindles. Below is the before picture, notice the wide spacing.
We happened to meet someone local that summer who specialized in laser-cut metal work, and decided to explore the idea of ditching the spindles all together, and doing a custom, laser-cut metal railing instead. With SOLIDWORKS, the vision could be transformed into a precise digital model, allowing for creative exploration of forms, patterns, and finishes. Parametric tools enabled me to tailor the design to the existing space dimensions, accommodate unique architectural features, and comply with local safety codes.
Once the design is finalized, SOLIDWORKS can generate fabrication-ready drawings for laser cutting. This process ensures that every panel, bracket, and mounting point is accurately represented. I was able to use the CAD file to generate a DXF, which my fabricator could use to quote and use in his program for laser-cutting. To Save as a DXF in SOLIDWORKS, a quick easy way to do this is to right-click on the face of a flat part, and select "Export to DXF/DWG."
Another benefit of creating projects in SOLIDWORKS as previously stated, is visualizing the end result. This can be super beneficial to ease concerns, solidify design choices, and justify expenses before going through with the production. SOLIDWORKS Visualize a standalone software for creating photorealistic images and animations from 3D CAD data. You can change the scenes, lighting, materials, etc. to get a realistic rendering. I used SOLIDWORK Visualize and added the railing image to super-impose the CAD design into the photo. Some prior photo clean up was necessary, as I removed the existing spindles using Adobe Photoshop. Below is a rendering of how the new design will look in the existing space. Now that I can visualize it better, I can also see a new ceiling fan in the near future!
Wainscoting, a classic architectural detail, requires careful planning and precise execution to achieve a professional result. There are multiple options when it comes to styles, spacing, and angles. Using SOLIDWORKS, users can model wall segments, door and window openings, and baseboard profiles to ensure every panel fits perfectly. The software’s parametric features allow for easy adjustments to panel dimensions, spacing, and decorative elements based on room proportions or personal preferences.
It was my first time doing wainscoting, and to be honest, we didn't start in CAD. It didn't seem overly complicated, and I used some basic sketches on my phone to help figure out a plan. This worked at first, and we got started on cutting and placing the pieces of chair rail. As we got passed the straightforward sections, things started to get tricker. As in our case, the wainscoting needed to go on an angle and around multiple corners. This resulted in some tricky angled pieces. There was also a corner that was giving us trouble, as it was a straight piece of chair rail that butted up to an angled piece on a corner. After multiple cuts that were not working, I decided to build it in SOLIDWORKS to try and help and to help me visualize it, and see what was causing the issue. Using SOLIDWORKS, we tried different approaches, and were able to visualize some different options. I was even able to then print out a detail view of certain necessary tricky pieces that we could then use as a template.
By using SOLIDWORKS, we felt confident with the design and measurements we needed for the areas that were giving us trouble. It also gave a better visual than the scribbles I did with the pen tool on my phone. Using tools like configurations, which allow you to have different versions of the same part all in one part, allowed me to try a few different options. This made the project more cost effective, as it reduced the possibility that I wouldn't like the actual results and have to recut pieces, resulting in waste of time and resources.
After completing the digital designs in SOLIDWORKS, the next steps involves collaborating with those who are doing the work. For metal railings, this may include submitting drawings to a local metal shop equipped with laser cutting capabilities. For wainscoting, printed plans and material cut lists can be provided to woodworking professionals or used for DIY assembly. Above is the end result of the wainscoting project, which actually went so well, we decided to do another! Again, using SOLIDWORKS as our behind the scenes little helper.
The precision and clarity afforded by SOLIDWORKS not only reduce project timelines but also help achieve superior results. Homeowners benefit from custom features that fit their space exactly, with fewer surprises during installation and a higher level of satisfaction in the final outcome.
Beyond traditional engineering and architecture, SOLIDWORKS empowers users to tackle unconventional home projects—such as custom lighting fixtures, outdoor kitchen layouts, or even 3D-printed décor elements. In my case, I have used it in the projects mentioned here, as well is designing bathrooms, garden plots and even a chicken run. Its robust design, simulation, and visualization tools support creative experimentation while maintaining a high standard of precision and buildability.
Whether designing a one-of-a-kind mailbox, optimizing a home workshop layout, or planning modular shelving systems, SOLIDWORKS brings professional-grade design and documentation capabilities to any project. By bridging the gap between imagination and realization, it enables homeowners, makers, and professionals alike to bring innovative ideas to life with confidence and efficiency.