Housing News

How Your Smartphone Can Help You Decorate Your New Home

Many people view their new home as a blank canvas where they can express their creativity. People with a knack for interior design are generally good at making a room come together and feel welcoming to anyone who enters. However, a lack of strategy can result in clashing colors and unneeded expenses. The best way to create a cohesive look in every room in your house is to plan it out carefully. Thanks to the technological advancements of today, much of your brainstorming can be done on your phone.

Picking Paint Colors

All of this information is incredibly helpful when relocating to a new neighborhood. However, many new homeowners also want to begin to plan how they're going to take their new house and make it uniquely their own. That's where interior design apps come in handy.

Choosing paint colors is often the first step in redecorating a room. Color-centric apps like Pantone and Behr can help people choose the color of their choice, according to Macworld. They both allow users to match paint colors based on photos from their phones. This is especially helpful when you already own furniture and you need to find a paint color that will complement it. The Pantone app also creates a color palette, which will help choose a variety of colors that don't clash.

Paint My Place allows users to virtually paint their walls with a chosen color, explained My Home My Style. Just upload an image of the wall you want to paint and apply the color. The app allows you to choose the paint brand, color range, and specific paint colors.

Laying out a Floor Plan

Houzz allows people to see how those colors look in real-life applications. The app is used mainly to give people decorating inspiration, according to Macworld. Another function of the app is to allow people to see how the colors they choose have been used in other rooms, explained Trulia. Users can search by paint brand and color to find how designers have used it in places they've designed. This gives homeowners a better idea of how it will look once the painting is done.

Once you know what color you want your room and have some ideas as to the decorations you want, it's good to know how everything will be laid out. GottaBeMobile.com suggested using the MagicPlan app to create a floor plan. Use the photos of your new home that you took during your walkthrough to get the dimensions of the house. Then, virtually add furniture and other objects to begin organizing. This will give you a good idea of which boxes will go where on moving day. This will also help you plan out what furniture you still need for your new home.

Finding the Right Furniture

You may move with some or all of your furniture, but chances are, when you buy a new home, you're going to purchase some new pieces. Maybe your old couch doesn't fit through the door, or maybe the colors don't agree with what you now have in mind for your living room. In either case, you'll need to find the perfect fit for your new home.

SnapShop allows users to see how an item will look in the room they're shopping for. According to Architectural Digest, photos of furniture available at certain retailers are placed so they look like they are already positioned in your home. Simply take a picture of the room and choose the item and the app will overlap them. The Washington Post explained that the app will keep track of the prices of the pieces you add to the room and will tell users where and how to buy it or offer a link to where it can be purchased. Rooms can be saved and sent to friends.

If you would rather hunt for hidden treasures than shop in the stores, apps like Craigslist and eBay can help to find what other people are selling for a low price. HouseBeautiful suggested using the Yard Sale Treasure Map to seek out inexpensive items to decorate your home. Use it to find where garage sales are located in your area and map your route.