Human beings have come a long way from being nomads, living inside caves to the new age ultra-modern smart homes. What has not changed through the ages is the impulse to redefine the dwelling. From cave paintings to the modern day artwork adorning our homes, interiors too have transformed. Everyone loves a well groomed home and maintaining such a home is a complex task in itself. Every now and then, people love to make changes in their setup. These changes add a new freshness to the home and offices reflecting the personality of the owners. While some love to make changes themselves, some go for professional interior designers. But having new ideas every time one sets out to make changes is not easy. Hiring professionals to do the job is also not convenient every time. So people keep looking for inspirations and ideas elsewhere.
Apps to Ideate
Interior magazines and one’s neighborhood are the basic sources of inspiration around the world. Mobile apps are the latest to join the bandwagon. Most of the apps are free and offer a wide range of designs, ideas, and many other features. Some hot favorite apps this season are as follows.
Houzz is amongst the leading apps to get ideas when one is trying to build, remodel or decorate their house. The app lets users view over sixteen million photos of home interiors which can be sorted on the basis of style or area. The app also gives access to over ten million products and materials, including a myriad of home décor items. It also connects users with home improvement professionals including architects, contractors, interior decorators, repair professionals, and more. The features in this app let users draw directly on photos and share them with friends. A 3D feature uses the phone’s camera to let users see how a certain product will look in their house.  Novel videos of home, DIYs and other inspiring transformations give great ideas.
Hutch is a great app for virtual redesigning of homes or office space. Using its 3D and AR technology lets users take a photo of their home or office space, and fit it in with the furniture or décor pieces they like. They can place the products at various angles of the space and get an almost real-life view of the decor. The products they like and fit in their space can be easily bought through the app itself. The product catalogue is refreshed on a regular basis so that users can give the latest look to their space.
Homestyler is another redesigning app that uses virtual reality to give the results users seek. A photo of user’s space is converted into a 3D virtual room where they can fit in or out the furniture and décor they want. They can change wall colors, put up light fixtures, and check out different product combinations. Users also have access to hundreds of designs, DIY ideas and more.
Magicplan lets users take interior decoration to a totally new level starting with the floor plans. Just a photo of the user’s space lets them get the measurement of the entire space and keep them ready for use. These floor plans are created in a jiffy and are easy to edit. One can add objects, photos, various products with their price listing, and more. Purchasing the app opens up even more options like converting files to different formats, and publishing them over the cloud. This app is very popular among real estate agents, architects, retailers, and others.
Planner 5D is a simple-to-use designing app which lets a user create the interior as well as exterior designs. These beautiful and realistic designs can be made in 2D and 3D. Using this app, users can create floor plans, customize furniture and accessories, apply textures and colors to the surfaces, change the size of items and view the created projects in Virtual Reality using a supportive device. The app boasts of features like editing, catalogs, snapshots, multi-language support, and gallery. Some more features unlock when the user purchases the app instead of using the free version.
Home Design 3D Gold is a great app to create complete home projects. The apps lets users draw their own floor plans, create a new partition in existing plan, draw rooms and walls. The app supports many types of house design like mansions, studio apartments and more. One can also design and decorate the house using over thousands of furniture pieces and colors. The 3D projects give better insight into the actual look of the house with day view and night view as well.
Redesigning one’s home is a great way to bring in a change and some freshness. It can also be therapeutic and moreover lets one clean up and reorganize their home. A handy app that can bring creativity, new ideas, and a good help is always appreciated. This is a way towards civilization. It provides a stairway towards better lifestyle – where amenities meet connectivity at its best.
– Sneha Sinha
