Designing, or re-designing, the interior of your new or existing home can be quite exciting, but if we’re completely honest, there’s always an element of fear lurking in our subconscious as well.
“What is fuchsia?”
“Is this the right shade of fuchsia?”
“Does this antique lamp flow with the aesthetic of my state-of-the-art media room?”
If you’re just starting out on this adventure, it’s fair to say it can be daunting. While it can be overwhelming to type interior design into Google, there are some websites and apps that are ideal for seeking inspiration, advice, assistance, information or very niche design recommendations for your project.
Here are some of the best interior design websites and apps to help you on your designing way.
Pinterest (Inspiration)
Pinterest is a visual feast of inspiration when undertaking an interior design project. Firstly, you create an account (free of course) so you can create your own ‘boards. Companies, bloggers and individuals load pictures of their favourite designs for anyone to view, and some even link the images back to their own sites/blogs for further reading.
Once you create your account you can also create ‘boards’, which are places where you can save the images you like. The benefit of this is to categorise each board to suit your tastes or project. For example, if you are designing your lounge room from scratch, you may need to find a lounge, coffee table, lamp, recliner, entertainment unit, etc. You can create a board for each item and then save (‘pin’) your favourite images and styles to each category. This makes it easier for you to reference when deciding on your theme.
Houzz.com.au (Advice)
Houzz is one of the most popular home renovation and decorating sites around. Although global, Houzz has region specific sites ensuring you have access to professionals and products relevant to your country. Boasting over 13 million images in their library they are a great source for design inspiration as well. In addition to all this is a country specific forum where you can ask questions or seek advice from the greater community.
Lifestyle.com.au (Advice)
https://www.foxtel.com.au/watch/lifestyle.html
This site is a great ‘go-to’ for advice and recommendations on almost every element of decorating and styling your home, inside and out. The landing page contains all the latest blogs and videos, but if you don’t find what you’re after there is a category menu at the bottom of the page. When you choose to access a blog or video, you can find various icons underneath allowing you to print out the page, share it via social media, or ‘pin’ to your Pinterest account.
Room Measuring Apps (Assistance)
Be done with paper and pencil measurement keeping because modern technology has your back.
Photo Measures ($4.99) is an app that helps you keep detailed measurements of any room you are working on. Available on iPhone and Android, simply take a picture of the room then add the measurements to any wall or surface. You can also add angles for corners and text to label rooms.
http://bigbluepixel.com/photo-measures/
Roomscan ($4.99) is revolutionary app available only on iPhones and iPads. Put away the paper, pencil and measuring tape, this app relies on your phone’s in-built gyroscope feature to approximately measure and draw your floor plan. Simply open the app and touch the phone to each wall (including mirrors and windows), click on ‘Finish’ and the app draws the floorplan for you. View the video below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUBCh8IAyC8
Homeone.com.au Chat Forum (Information/Advice)
When you’re making decisions on style, items, colour, or anything really in regards to your design choices, you sometimes need advice or opinions you can’t get from a blog or app. Forums are a great way to seek out what you’re after from like-minded people, those that have been in your shoes and shared a similar experience.
The ‘Homeone’ forum lets you post questions and seek opinions/advice from fellow DIY interior decorators like yourself. Another advantage is that because the site is Australian, there is a greater chance of the community providing you with relevant and helpful advice, such as recommending local sellers or professionals to help solve your problems.
Men’s Home Interior Design (Niche site)
https://nextluxury.com/home-design/
There is no doubting this site has a very particular audience in mind. It provides advice and recommendations on things from candles and alarm clocks, to man caves and bedrooms. It’s more than just car posters and pool tables, it showcases elegantly styled design options with a masculine theme, ideal for those looking to enhance their bachelor pad or cave.
So whether you’re looking to harmonise your home, modernise your man-cave or manage your measurements, we trust we have put you on the right path to your design dreams.
