If you want to change the look of a room, you don’t just have your imagination to rely on when visualizing it. Through augmented reality, you can check whether certain furniture, paint colors, and other decorative choices suit or even fit in a given space.
Several interior design apps with AR capabilities exist for Android users. They each come with a range of features to make your enhancement project easier. You can also have a lot of fun giving that old living room a virtual makeover. Here are six of the best AR design apps to choose from.
1. Houzz
The popular hub for home designers has an app with an AR trick up its sleeve. While uploading photos and browsing products from various retailers, you can view some of them in a more realistic way.
Just select the item that interests you and tap the View in My Room button. This will let you see the chair or mirror in the place you want to fill. You can take pictures of different setups and return to them later when you’re ready to invest in your space’s new look.
Collecting visual representations of your ideas means you can then compare them to each other and go for the most appealing design. Unfortunately, the mechanics of Houzz's AR tool does need some manoeuvring to get all the elements right on the screen.
Nevertheless, as far as AR interior design apps go, it's a handy feature, not to mention versatile. The wide selection of products and brands also means you can find almost anything you need to plan your project and buy it on the spot.
Download: Houzz (Free)
2. Home Depot
Here’s another retailer that joined the helpful trend of AR-based interior design apps. But Home Depot is a high-end brand, which results in software with much better user experience.
Even though the mechanics follow the same process of choosing a product and pointing the phone at the room, the overall performance is just smoother. The downside is that the AR feature only supports some items on the retailer’s catalogue, so there’s still room for improvement.
But this doesn’t take much away from the app’s value. You can enjoy peace of mind knowing that you bought something online with a good awareness of the item’s dimensions and overall harmony with a space’s style.
As augmented reality improves, so will the scope of opportunities on Home Depot’s app. Its existing foundation is sound, however, and promises great things in terms of the product range, efficiency, and convenience of its mobile platform.
Download: Home Depot (Free)
3. Dulux Visualizer
When it comes to achieving a room’s new style, finding the perfect shade for the wall can be just as tricky as choosing furniture. Dulux, as a leading paint brand, offers a great solution in the form of a simple but very helpful augmented reality feature on its app.
Instead of making several trips to the local store just to test and then pick colors, go to Dulux’s mobile platform. Here you’ll find the Visualizer button. Tap it to turn on the AR program and follow a few easy steps.
In the same way as the previous apps, direct your phone’s camera at the wall you want to paint. Choose a hue from the many color schemes available and tap where the paint should go in the virtual representation of your space.
This could include ornaments in the case that Instagram’s interior design hacks inspire you further towards your artistic side. Whatever the case, if the camera’s angled right, the Visualizer will fill in your selected area.
The software’s handiness goes beyond picturing a new environment. The colors offered conveniently come with their assigned names. If you like a color or several, you can quickly note them down or order them there and then through the very same app.
Download: Dulux Visualizer (Free)
4. Wayfair
Out of the many home improvement retailers with AR options, Wayfair is one more that got it right. You gain access to a great range of furniture, decorations, and other high-quality products. And you can instantly see how they fit into the space you’re renovating.
It’s true that, even here, there are minor weaknesses to deal with, from glitches to flaws in the layout. But the overall service works quite well, especially on up-to-date devices.
That said, it’s always a good idea to carefully judge the dimensions of virtual items against a real room. Things like the phone’s screen and your position in the space can mislead you. Keeping such factors in mind helps avoid mistakes.
If you’re serious about home improvement projects, you could even go for a free online interior design course. With the ins and outs of the business clear in your head, it’s easier to achieve, if not exceed, the stylistic results you want.
Ultimately, with careful planning and use of this app’s AR features, you can easily freshen up your bathroom or hallway exactly as you imagined.
Download: Wayfair (Free)
5. Overstock
.@Overstock releases its #AR feature on its shopping app for Androids. https://t.co/JUwpEMVv5B#android #furniture pic.twitter.com/bNIjMY2jdr
— Furniture Today (@FurnitureToday) March 21, 2018
As a popular and well-supplied retailer of home goods, Overstock's app is a go-to option for homeowners and Android users in the US. The software works in more or less the same way as Houzz.
You pick items you like from Overstock’s lists, select to view them in augmented reality, and then use your phone to place 3D models of the products in your current environment. The technology matches what most retailers’ interior design apps offer through their AR features.
The difference lies in the standards of this software’s producers. The program came about from a collaboration between Overstock and Seek, creator of one of the leading AR platforms, in an effort to improve the shopping experience.
The software delivers exactly that: a better and user-friendly way to plan your purchases. This is thanks to the developer’s care when designing the program, but also to Overstock’s substantial wares.
Download: Overstock (Free)
6. AirMeasure
Airmeasure can do so many things! https://t.co/vyvmXGOwdK Uses Augmented Reality to measure things. What size TV will fit on that wall? What will a stencil look like on this field? That and 13 other things. Here is me measuring camera distances for a tech. pic.twitter.com/FDovgLuKg6
— Leslie Fisher ✂️👩🏻🦳 (@lesliefisher) November 14, 2017
Finally, when it comes to buying furniture or home décor materials, measurements are essential to making right decisions. This is something AR can help with too. If you don’t have a measuring tape at hand, AirMeasure is the perfect digital tool for the job.
If you want to measure a wall, for example, all you do is point your phone at the desired area. Tap the place your virtual measuring tape should start from, then tap where it’s supposed to end, and the app automatically calculates the distance.
AirMeasure will make you feel a lot more confident about the couch size you need or the amount of paint necessary to cover the whole bedroom. With AR technology on your side, redecorating the house can be a fun and less stressful experience.
Download: AirMeasure (Free)
Make the Most of Interior Design Apps With AR Features
When it comes to interior design, Android is catching up with iOS in the AR scheme of things. More and more retailers are enhancing their apps with augmented reality. At the same time, Houzz and other home improvement hubs that bring brands together do their best to develop good 3D tools of their own.
Despite some shortcomings, there’s much you can do with these interior design apps. What matters is that you enjoy the experience as much as you can, including the chance to let your creativity run wild. Make that space your own.
