Houzz
Move over Pinterest. The Sunday Times has labelled Houzz the ultimate ‘cult American design and home renovation platform’. It is still quite US-centric, but there is tons of functionality us Brits can sink our teeth into. With 20 million photos in its database of home interiors, exteriors and garden, you can filter by room, location, budget or style to create your ‘ideas book’ and build up a moodboard for your new room, extension or even self-build. The Sketch feature allows you to annotate and draw directly on photos from Houzz and share from the app with friends and family. There’s weekly updated editorial content from the in-house design experts if you need guidance or to keep up-to-date with the latest interiors trends. The ‘Visual Match’ option lets you see your own home in 3D and, through the app, virtually create different decors or view pieces of furniture in situ.
FREE
MagicPlan
Easy and intuitive to use, you don’t need to be an architect to draw up accurate professional 2D and 3D floorplans with the MagicPlan app. From a few photos, taken from different angles, the app will be back to give you measurements and calculations to ensure you never buy a piece of furniture that won’t fit through the doorway again (just us?). Looking to add a built in wardrobe to an alcove, or find the perfect piece of furniture for that bay window? You’ll have all the calculations you need to get the perfect fit.
FREE
Pantone Studio
This award-winning app from the Colour Gurus at Pantone allows you to put together colours on screen to see how your new palette will look together. It will tell you the exact pantone reference – handy if you are working with professional interior designers and need to convey an exact brief – plus, it also allows you to pick out a colour from a photograph and find out the exact colour. So next time you have bathroom envy at your favourite restaurant, get snapping!
FREE
Curate
If you’re at the ‘finishing touches’ stage of your home makeover, the Curate app will let you virtually hang pictures on a wall to see how they will look (no nails required). Simply take a snap of your blank wall and insert any piece of art of wall décor to the space. Great if you’re trying to piece together a gallery wall, or if you fancy investing in a new artwork and want to see how it will fit with your colour scheme.
FREE
iHandy Level
This simple hack does exactly as you’d expect. A handy, digital spirit level, it will ensure your pictures are straight, shelves level and your worktop is flat. Simple, accurate (thanks to the clever sensors) and free. A great tool for keen DIYers.
FREE
IKEA Place
A clever augmented reality app from the Swedish interiors giant, it allows you to place any IKEA product into your space. It works best on an empty room, as it can’t currently layer up furniture, but the 3D and true-to-scale models allow you to accurately plan out your buys, before you buy them. Once you have your layout out nailed, you can simply order your products through the app for delivery, knowing they’re going to be the perfect fit… once you’ve built them of course.
Monday
For those mourning the passing on Wunderlist, Monday is a good, if not better, alternative. Are you project managing a home renovation? Co-ordinating between building contractors, designers and your own never-ending to-do list? Monday.com is an award-winning task management that tooltransforms your to-do list into tasks you can plan, organise and manage, with time tracking, views and integrations. Unlike Wunderlist which was free, this is a subscription based service but in the first instance, you can have a free trial to see if the app works for you.
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