Virtual Interior Decorating

Designing your humble abode can be very hard. Most of the time, you would need to hire interior decorators who present you with designs on what they could do for your homes. But these may take lots of time and money. Through the improvements in technology, you can find a quicker and easier way to design the layout of your home. Decorating your home can now be done simply with the touch of a button through virtual interior decorating.

What is virtual interior decorating?

Virtual interior decorating allows people to design the layout of their own homes without spending too much money on professional decorators. In fact, you may no longer need to hire one, for you can already design your apartment or home by yourself, simply by purchasing interior decorating software. Not only does it save you money, since you will be in charge of your plans, you also do not need to hire the services of an interior decorator for this phase of work.

This software is also very helpful for professional interior decorators because their ideas will be visualized easier by their clients. Through the magic of virtual reality, you can now have a sense of what your future home will look like before the designer begins the actual construction work.

Aside from generating you room or home in a virtual environment, you can also send pictures of the room you wish to change to professional interior decorators and they will then super-impose or create digital sketches of their ideas on them. This may give a clearer picture of what you can expect from your room or house instead of relying on simple descriptions or plain sketches.

By using virtual reality as a helpful tool for interior decorating, you can now easily and conveniently design the house of your dreams at a very affordable price.

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E-Decorating: Is Online Interior Design Right For You?

Call it online interior design, e-Decorating, virtual room design, or room design online. Whatever the spin, it all points to a cutting-edge trend in home decorating that translates into affordable interior design for you.

With the deluge of DIY shelter magazines, home-decorating TV, and easy online access to home furnishings, it was only a matter of time before the interior design industry would be forced to evolve as well. Enter e-Decorating, a budget-friendly, flat-fee based online interior design alternative to traditional, on-site interior design services.

Wondering how e-Decorating works? Here's how face-to-face and web-based compare:

Style and Budget

* An on-site designer helps you define your needs, preferences and budget through on-site consultations. An online designer does the same through a questionnaire, phone consultations and in some cases, services such as Skype.

Inventory, Measuring and Photography *

An on-site designer inventories, measures and photographs your space. An online designer guides you in conducting your own inventory, measuring and photography, which you then submit, typically via e-mail.

Design Concept

* An on-site designer creates your room's design concept, which includes a space plan, color palette and product recommendations. An online designer does the same.

Architectural Drawings

* An on-site designer prepares interior architectural drawings for the construction of the space and or built-ins. An online designer typically does not prepare architectural drawings that require precise on-site measuring.

Purchasing and Installation

* An on-site designer implements and coordinates the purchasing and installation process, with bespoke, antique and/or custom To-The-Trade items not available to the general public. An online designer guides you in implementing the purchasing and installation of products from well-established online-retailers and, in some cases, purchases To-The-Trade items directly for you.

Timeline

* An on-site designer sets the pace for the purchasing and installation process. An online designer allows you to take your project at your own pace, implementing your purchasing and installation as your budget and time allow.

Pricing

* An on-site designer typically requires a retainer ranging from $1,000 to $10,000 and charges actual project fees at either a flat or hourly rate based on $120 - $200/hour. An online designer charges a flat fee ranging from $250 - $1,000 for a complete room design.

There you have it. If you're on a slim budget, don't mind doing a little leg-work, and like initiating new projects on your own, consider e-Decorating services. If you have bundles to burn, need precisely dimensioned architectural drawings, and prefer to have someone else do all the leg-work for you, go face-to-face. Either way, you won't be disappointed.

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Remodeling Your Home

Remodeling a home is a very difficult task, especially if you decide to do it on your own with no help from anyone. With so many rooms to take care of, how can you figure out what furniture, paints, and accents to choose? A great tool for redesigning a home is to use a room planner, like a kitchen planner.

There are different ways you can plan out your rooms. For instance, if you go on the Web, you will find websites that allow you to plan out rooms. Other sites will ask you to download software in order to do this. Some are free, while others are not, so be careful of what you download.

When you use a room planner, you need to know the dimensions of the rooms you are redecorating. Do this by taking a measuring tape and carefully measuring each of your walls. Also take note of the shape of the rooms and any strange spaces that are not usable. Take a measurement of room heights also.

The planner will give you many options for various types of home accents and furniture. These things can be placed in the virtual room, so you can see what they might look like in your house. You can even play with different kinds of light fixtures.

When you are creating your virtual room, you will be able to change the paint and the floors. You can also add wallpaper and experiment with different kinds of flooring, such as wooden and marble floors.

If you use a website for planning, you will most likely have to create a login. This does not give you any obligation to buy products and services from that company, so do not worry about creating an account. The reason many sites ask you to make an account is because they want you to be able to save your work. This way you can go back to the site and pick up from where you have left off, rather than having to start all over.

Many people will say that using a virtual room planner is only a small part of the design process. This is true because you never really know exactly what the design will look like until you have started doing it. If the process of redoing your rooms is too much, you can hire an interior designer and work with them.

There's so much you can do with an online kitchen planner. Not only can you use it for designing your new dream kitchen, you can also use it to see how various styles and designs of kitchen cabinets can fit into your kitchen area.

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Taking Virtual Measurements of Your Space Using Design Software

Designing a new home or remodeling an existing one can be stressful and overpowering without design experience or the aide of a professional. But new technology in the form of home design software allows any homeowner to utilize simple and resourceful tools to get the job done. Design software can provide the homeowner with helpful information and tips on everything from drawing up floor plans to aspects of interior decoration, such as placement of furniture and customization of window and door treatments.

One aspect of designing your home that can be a difficult and daunting task is the taking of room measurements. Having accurate and precise measurements is the key to making sure a room is correctly planned and designed. The slightest error in measurements can effect even the smallest detail, such as where to place a piece of furniture. Fortunately, design software can aide in the task of measuring space, making it a simple and stress-free part of designing and decorating your space. Once you physically take measurement of your room, you can input those measurements into the software to create a perfect and exact layout of the room you wish to design or remodel. This builds a floor plan to work off of, ensuring that you have a record of your measurements at all times.

A great feature of design software is the ability to upload your own photos to create virtual interfaces that aide in sketching and customizing space. Once the software has record of your room's measurements, you can then use your own photos to pull up creative ideas and customization options. If you prefer, you can instead pull up the software's design wizard to sketch completely new ideas and aspects of your dream home. You can then choose from a library of paint samples, fabrics, furniture, appliances, flooring, and more. These images can easily be dragged and dropped into your current measurements to ensure everything will fit correctly in its place. For example, when remodeling a kitchen, it can often be difficult to determine the space you have for cabinets and appliances; with a design software, you can easily use your pre-existing measurements to choose and place the cabinets you want. When designing a bathroom, you can choose from a variety of tub shapes and sizes to customize your look. This is also helpful in the decorating aspect of home design. Rugs, window treatments, wall treatments and decorations can be selected and carefully placed throughout your virtual room layout. The ability to view paint and fabric choices also allows you to color-coordinate and find the perfect match. By using virtual room planning, you can see a realistic, three-dimensional view of the finished product, which is open to change at any time.

To design or remodel a room or home in precise and efficient fashion, there is no better tool than a good home design software. It is the perfect way to remain cost-effective and productive while finding the perfect look for your home.

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10 Tips To Add The Wow Factor To Any Room

It does not take too much time or money to add the wow factor to any room. Making your home look nicer is actually very easy and can be accomplished without the need to hire an interior designer or spend a months salary on expensive new wallpaper. Here are 10 tips that will help you brighten up, freshen up, spruce up and improve ANY room in your home. 

1. Shift the furniture around the room to give it a totally new look. Try chairs at odd angles in corners and try moving the sofa away from the wall if possible. You could drag the soft out, place it at a diagonal angle which will make the room look much wider than it does at the moment. Play with the space and see what works best. If you like, you could plan it out on paper first, making scale replicas of your furniture that can be arranged in your virtual room.
2. Choose a great color that everyone loves and then paint a single wall in that color. To add to this huge focal point,, try placing some contrasting furniture or pictures there which will add to the overall effect. Don't go too mad with the color though - stick to something that is in tune with the rest of the room.
3. Adding plants to a room adds light and color and makes the room look much nicer too. There are also many different types of silk flowers you can buy that will do the job just as well as real ones - if not better. The quality of fake flowers and plants is so good that your friends will struggle to notice the difference.
4. Try putting down a large rug to act as a focal point in the room. Some people like large contrasting patterns, but try to opt for something that is not too way out unless you are looking to make a design statement. Rugs look great under tables too and can be used to divide spaces and areas.
5. Hang some large art prints on the wall or add a mirror which will add visual space to your room. Look at all of the different types of frames you could use too - which would look best or most interesting. Mirrors add depth to a room and can be used to create the illusion of space. Try placing them where they will be seen and used, rather than in a dark corner.
6. Do you like antiques or collectibles? Put them on display in your room. They look great and also show people your personality and style. Add small groups of objects to the room to have them on display. They will look great on top of cabinets or on bookshelves.
7. A sofa needs cushions and adding some contrasting patterns and colors is a perfect way to add some wow factor to your room. Just by adding 6 small patterned pillows on the furniture in your room, you can make it look 10 times better.
8. Look into changing your lights and lamps for more contemporary models. There are many different types on the market now. Often, the fixtures and fittings such as lighting can date a room, so think about how light can be used to add something to the room.
9. If you have an old chair that you love but has seen better days, add a throw or afghan to it to cover it up and hide the worst of it from the eye. There are many different types, colors, textures and designs of throw you could use, so again, think about contrasting colors and textures that will add to the room.
10. The quickest and easiest way to spruce up a room is to clear away as much clutter as possible. Hide away the piles of papers, books and magazines and look to see if the things you have around the room are really required. The more visual space you can see in the room, the more stylish it will become.

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