I'm sure we're not alone in this particular variant of domestic conflict.
Anyhow... I refuse to lay waste to perfectly healthy patches of green something without a bit of an exercise in visualisation. I have a bit of history with 3D-Design: I cut my coding-cloth building applications around PDMS (3D for pipes and flanges, Oooh-Err Missus) and have a more than passing interest in BIM, given my current role. But I haven't actually played with any 3D tools for a while, not since Google's early days of investing serious cash in SketchUp, which has always been a bit of a marginal oddity in the architecture/civils world... not really Revit, not Microstation, not really a PROPER MAN'S TOOL that can be used for PROPER WORK.
And I don't really know if it is now, either. Because Google flogged Sketchup to Trimble a year or so ago and you can no longer download - for free - an all-singing version. So I have no idea whether its historic Achilles' heels - production of decent 2D drawings fit for construction-purpose and proper management of objects and associated information - have really been addressed. But you can download a free version - Sketchup Make - which lets you do just about anything you might want, apart from hand plans to a builder and tell her to get on with it. So I did, figured it was about time I got up to speed with it again.
It's bloody good. It's hard to know how good, to be honest, because I'm familiar with many 3D design concepts which I guess some might struggle with at first encounter and I also know what a ball-ache 3D tools can be, albeit I've been somewhat out of touch with the nitty-gritty of the serious player's offerings for a few years. But this exercise in modelling my house - which is accurate to 10mm in most respects - was hours of effort, not days. And that includes having one 'throw it away now I'm vaguely up to speed' pass and a fair amount of time playing with better ways to achieve the same end.
Yes, I know. I'm meant to be planning the garden... but I got a bit enthusiastic. I can feel an urge to start modelling door-handles coming on, so I'll stop fiddling and get back to locating the sunbeds...