13 Interior Design Apps Making Redecorating Easy
Hutch
Think of Hutch as a virtual dressing room for your home – explore décor and furniture from a whole host of chic interiors brands and 3D technology to see how they’d come together in your space, trialling different styles and combinations until you’ve created your dream look. Sadly, as the app is still in its early days, the shopping feature is only available in the US – but it’s still incredibly useful for getting ideas (just read all the five-star reviews from UK users). New products are added daily, so you’ll never be short of inspiration.
For iOS and Android, FREE from the App Store and Google Play
iArtView
Our favourite app for seeing how artwork would look on your wall – whether it’s to ensure you’re purchasing the right prints and frames, or avoid nailing holes in the wrong place on your walls. It’s fast and easy to use, too: simply import images of your art, take a photo of your wall and start ‘decorating’. The app automatically scales the artwork to your wall space – meaning there’s no faffing about with measuring tape – and if you’re not near a wall? No problem. You can select one of the designer interiors provided.
For iOS, FREE from the App Store
IKEA Place
Another augmented reality app, this one lets you virtually 'place' IKEA products in your space. It includes 3D and true-to-scale models of everything from sofas and armchairs to footstools and coffee tables, giving you an accurate impression of the furniture’s size, design and functionality in your home. Found the perfect fit? It also makes ordering your chosen products even easier. Currently, the app works best in an empty space (as you can’t ‘place’ furniture behind pieces currently in your home) but IKEA promises additional functionality is on the way soon.
For iOS and Android, FREE from the App Store and Google Play
H&M.COM
H&M Home Stylist
H&M Home has teamed up with Google to launch a cutting-edge new voice application for Google Assistant, which provides personal styling suggestions, mood boards and inspiration for every room in the home – all easily accessible when you ask the Google Assistant to talk to H&M Home Stylist on your phone. To make the experience even more personal, the application has an exclusive human voice and was tested and developed with input from H&M customers.
For Google Assistant
Houzz
Topping the New York Times list of ‘best apps for home improvement’ and hailed by the Washington Post as the “single best source" of interiors inspiration, Houzz can help with everything from building and remodelling to decorating. Browse more than 16m photos of home interiors and exteriors, by room or location, and use the ‘Visual Match’ option to see your own home in 3D and virtually see how different items and décor styles would look in your space.
For iOS and Android, FREE from the App Store and Google Play
PANTONE Studio
This award-winning app allows you to mix and test out colour palettes to see how they’d work in your home. You can cross-reference colours, discover ideal colour harmonies and even extract shades from your phone’s camera and images – ideal for those looking to update wall colours, furniture and soft furnishings.
For iOS and Android, FREE from the App Store and Google Play
MagicPlan
Forget drawing, this super nifty app allows you to create a professional floorplan of your home in seconds using your smartphone or tablet. Simply stroll around your home and let the app do the hard work for you – a great tool for those who struggle to imagine where furniture will fit in, along with those undertaking remodelling jobs.
For iOS and Android, FREE from the App Store and Google Play
iHandy Level
Whether you’ve got frames to hang, shelves to put up or furniture to position, you need iHandy Level. This ‘level in an app’ uses clever sensors to accurately check how flat the surfaces are in your home. It’s easy to install, easy to use and, while lacking other features, simply does what it says on the tin – with consistently good results.
For iOS and Android, FREE from the App Store and Google Play
Homestyler
Want to see how interiors ideas will look in your home before you commit? Homestyler helps you visualise them. Simply take a photo of your space to transform your smartphone into a virtual 3D fitting room – try out wall colours, furniture and décor items (like rugs, paintings, mirrors and more) from real brands, and get interior design tips from the 100k+ strong community of users.
For iOS and Android; FREE from the App Store and Google Play
Décor Matters
Whether you’re in the middle of updating your home or simply love interior design as a creative hobby, this fun app is for you. Allowing you to create your DIY projects on templates or photos from your own camera roll, it lets you turn your dream design concept into an augmented reality – think furniture placement, budget planning and choosing the right lighting. Plus, if you’re stuck or ideas or fancy some feedback, there’s also a large online community, where users can share their designs and mood board portfolios – including quite a few professional interior designers and decorators.
For iOS, FREE from the App Store
Dulux Visualizer
Using augmented reality technology, this app helps you visualise how Dulux paint colours would look on your walls via your phone or tablet screen. You can also match paint colours to existing furnishings and items in the world around you or discover coordinating colours to go with them. And the best bit? It lets you order paint testers direct to your door, straight from the app. A word of warning, not everyone gets on with this one (not all devices, even recent ones, have the right movement sensing technology needed for the app to work well) – but it’s still the best paint colour testing app by far.
For iOS and Android, FREE from the App Store and Google Play
Photo Measures
Praised by Architectural Digest as “very useful”, this handy app is one of the easiest ways to measure your space. It’s both useful for creating plans to present to a contractor, or simply for working out if furniture will fit. Don’t expect bells and whistles – this cleverly designed app has just the right number of features to get the job done. We love the fact it superimposes the measurements on real photos of your space (which can be easily exported into PDF or JPG in various resolutions or saved to your camera roll) – very handy for those who struggle to get a feel for how things would look in real life from a floor plan.
For iOS and Android, £6.99 from the App Store and £2.99 from Google Play
Of course, it wouldn’t be an interiors apps round-up without our trusty Pinterest – even more addictive now we can access it at any time. Updated every two weeks, the app is a seriously polished experience, and one we prefer to the desktop version. With, quite literally, billions of ideas to explore, you’ll never run out of interiors inspiration (just try to resist the urge not to redecorate every time you see another dream-worthy photo).
For iOS and Android, FREE from the App Store and Google Play
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