Technology at our fingertips… but do you know how much power you hold towards improving your home, right in the palm of your hand?

If home design is on your radar, you likely scroll through pretty pictures on the web and perhaps social media, like some, save some, send some to your friends or spouse to get their feedback on the things you would love to have for your own home.  

But did you realize that there are many more ways that you can use your device (smart phone or tablet) to help you along on your home improvement journey? 

Inspiration Apps 

There are endless ideas out there to ponder and collect in the process of planning your home project. The internet is overflowing with photos and videos, blogs and magazines that showcase amazing images that help to visualize the ideas, functionality and aesthetics that you have in mind for your home. At some point, whether you are trying to convince your spouse of a colour scheme you have fallen in love with or trying to communicate what you want to your interior designer… you are going to really appreciate having these visual examples… so best to start saving them… 

Houzz – is a website that is essentially thousands of home magazines rolled into one convenient website that serves as a scrapbook, education platform and place to review and select contractors and trades… 

Pinterest – is a platform that serves as a virtual bulletin board to pin inspiration and information from all over the internet. You can make all kinds of boards to save and organize your thoughts and ideas…   

Collaboration Spaces – if you are a bit old school and have a folder of physical photographs and magazine clippings or handwritten wish lists, you can scan and upload them into an online shared space such as google drive or dropbox. These sites provide users with an uncomplicated way to share all the different files in any format with everyone involved on the project via a single download link that can be sent in an email ????  simple!  

Functional Apps 

Measuring & Leveling – iPhone utilities apps offer a digital measuring tape and level that you can use to get dimensions and placements without having to haul the toolkit along with you. Useful for shopping trips and simple décor jobs. 

Checklists & Reminders – built into all our devices as a stock standard, these organizational apps assist us in keeping track of fleeting thoughts, managing things to do outstanding and completed, and sharing the tasks with other members of the household.  

Photos  

Colour Matching & Coordination – we tend to find the most wonderful things when we are not even looking for them, but when we stumble upon an unexpected treasure, a reference photo is of great benefit. Having access to a camera and photo album on your phone enables you to either pull up a photo of the space in which this new piece might go, or snap an image of your finds to take back home and ensure that it will work where you are intending it to be placed. 

Markup – Another feature of photos on our smart devices is the ability to mark them up, this can help you to communicate your vision – of placement or dimension – within the image to aid in illustrating your thoughts and ideas. Simple as this…

Sending & Sharing – The ability to send photos with such momentary ease is another asset – to text someone at home to send the photo you need, or ask their opinion on something you have found, is a convenience we have already come to take for granted. 

There are so many handy assistant features right at our fingertips – we might as well utilize them to best our planning experience! 

Tags: colour, decor, furniture, planning, style, vision