Online Interior Design Software

Fortunately there are several free and low-cost interior design programs available to give you a hand. Rather than arranging then re-arranging your rooms before getting it just right, these programs allow you to place and test furniture placements by simply clicking your mouse. Much easier, much less strain, and it's a lot of fun.

Our article on Interior Design Software is a good place for free and inexpensive programs you can download to your computer. There are, however, a number of free online programs that are comparable in function and usefulness. All you have to do is click the link and you can start designing your home! This article highlights two of the best online interior design applications that make planning your decorating a simple task.

HGTV's Room Planner

• HGTV Room Planner

By far the easiest to use online interior design program, HGTV provides decorators with all the basic tools you'll need. Add, remove or resize walls to the appropriate length, then select furniture groupings from the drop-down menu to the left. You can place, rotate, resize and move as many objects as you like.

The program is fairly intelligent and allows you to do almost anything you need for your home. It lacks a few basic editing features like a group select/resize, but furniture does move if a solid element next to it shifts position.

You can print your plans right from the webpage, but it lacks a save feature so you can't return to your designs at a later time. It's a great program to design and test your ideas before starting the heavy work of moving all of your furniture.

Icovia's Room Planner

• Icovia Room Planner

This piece of commercial software is designed to accompany professional interior design websites to allow customers to fit new furniture into their homes before buying. The program is extremely full-featured and includes a save feature, send by e-mail option, and more slick editing tools than any online room planner I've seen.

Editing in this room planner is a little easier to get the hang of, as rotating/resizing options appear as tiny icons when you highlight the border of an object. You can also alter the properties of the furniture and change its name or resize/rotate by increasing/decreasing the numerical value. Very handy if you know exactly what you need.

The downside is that most advanced saving/sharing features are disabled in the free trial on Icovia's website. You can, however, use a full version featured on a professional website. Be sure to support the site whose program you use, as they pay a monthly fee for access to Icovia's planner.

Here's a full-featured version of Room Planner as found on the Mathis Brothers Furniture website: Mathis Brothers Furniture Room Planner (by Icovia)

Different versions of Icovia's software can be found throughout the web, but their free trial showcases the most advanced features which include color changing and lots of advanced extras.

PlanningWiz

• PlanningWiz Software

PlanningWiz is an online room planner that allows you to experiment with different room layouts and plan your dream space online.

The online room planner gives you the ability to design your ideal interior, create virtual rooms, and fit them with any items stored in the database, including:

• Walls
• Furniture
• Home theater
• Sectional components
• Architectural elements
• Sanitary accessories
• Gym equipment
• Descriptive texts
• Room decorations

Arrange, resize, rotate and shift the pieces as wanted, and then save, compare, print or email the room plans. Additional features include an administration panel where you can add new items in the planner library, create pre-built plans, track customers and access reports.