25 Sep 2013
Whether you have just started to look for your dream home or are in the stages of moving house, re-designing and decorating your new home is something that you will be beginning to think about. It can be hard to envisage your sofa in that lounge, or what colour the bedroom will look it's best in, so we have been checking out the 5 best Apps for iOS and Andriod, that you can use to help make the hidden "interior designer" in you shine.
Our list includes interior design apps that will allow you to input room sizes and add 3D furniture, as well as more simple apps that will just help you select the best colour for your lounge. All of which are certainly going to make your interior designing job a lot easier. And best of all - most are free.
1. Houzz Interior Design Ideas (free)
If you are looking for home inspiration - Houzz is the app for you. It has the largest residential design database in the world and a vibrant community powered by social tools, such as Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. It features photos of nearly every type of room, location and product collated by the company's own editorial team as well as a directory of local professionals including designers, architects and contractors. This fantastic free app, which is available on iOS and Android, is an easy way to get design inspiration for your new home.
2. Homestyler (free)
Similar to the Houzz app, this free app can help inspire you to create stunning interior design projects, plus get tips and share with friends on your social networks. You can try out paint colours, light fittings and even place branded items into your room to see how they will look. You can even experiment with your own 3D design just with a photograph of the room and some cleverly modelled images. Available on iOS and Android.
3. Home Interior Layout Designer (£1.99)
We've all asked ourselves the question "will my sofa fit into that gap?" And this app helps you to work that out, without all the heavy lifting. Simply set the room’s square footage and then enter the dimensions of the sofa or other item you are trying to fit. You can then drag it around the room to see where it fits best—if it does at all. There's even a feature that let’s you take pictures of finishes, fabrics, and floorings that you can customise any item with a "skin" to get a better idea of how it will look. It currently is only available on iOS.
4. ColorChange (£0.69)
This simple to use app for iPhones allows you to take a photo of a room, then change the colours of the walls, floors, ceilings...anything. Great for testing out a new paint palette. Available on iOS
5. Home 3D for iPad (free)
This useful 3D app helps you to visualise your home, not only in look but also as to what furniture will fit and where. It allows you to easily move floors and windows around if you are doing any building work to your new home, plus "skin" material on to the floors and walls. A nice little touch is the ability to email your floor plans or save them to Dropbox. The app is available on iOS.
If you are currently moving house or have just moved to your new home - let us know whether you used an app to help you with any of the interior design stages, or send us a photo of the decorated room.
