Loyd44

This already exists in the furniture world and is usually called a lift top coffee table or rising top storage table, so you may not need to design it from scratch. Many manufacturers sell versions with the same mechanism using standard lift hardware kits that can be modeled in Chief by building a simple cabinet or custom solid, then adding a hinged top and applying the correct dimensions. If you want a custom version for your ADUs, a local cabinet shop can build it easily using off the shelf lift mechanisms like those from Häfele or similar suppliers, which keeps cost down compared to a full custom fabrication.

The popup countertop outlet is not a separate default symbol in many libraries. In Chief you typically find it under Electrical Fixtures as a special outlet or as a fixture within the Manufacturer or Bonus catalogs if you have those downloaded. If you do not see it, check your Library Browser for “popup outlet” or “countertop outlet” and make sure the Bonus and Manufacturer catalogs are installed and up to date. If it still does not appear, you can place a standard receptacle and modify its mounting height and 3D representation, or import a manufacturer symbol and save it to your user library for reuse.

You can find pre-made plans, but they're generic and you end up modifying them.

In X17 beams and posts are now treated as the same framing member category, so group select grabs both by default. To isolate beams you need to switch to the Select Objects tool, open the Select Similar or Filter options, and temporarily limit the selection to the specific object type or layer the beams are on. The reliable workaround is to place beams on their own layer, lock or turn off the posts layer, then use group select so only beams are available to grab. This mimics the old behavior even though the underlying category is now unified.

Do not push the half wall into the corner as one continuous object because the program tries to merge the framing and doubles the drywall. Instead draw the half wall as a separate wall segment that stops just short of the intersecting wall, then use the join or break wall tool to cleanly connect them without structural merging. After that open the wall specification and set the end condition to a butt joint or manual connection so it keeps the correct 2x12 thickness only where you want it and does not auto build the extra stud wall up to the ceiling. This keeps the ledge independent and prevents the doubled layers.

Text styles usually do not transfer automatically with layer sets because they are stored at the document level, not inside the set. Open both the source template and your target file, then use the document settings or style manager panel to export and import text styles if the software supports it. If not, copy a text object that uses each style from the template and paste it into your new file, then save those as styles in the new document. That forces the styles to register so you can reuse them consistently.