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The 10 Best Apps For Planning a Room Layout and Design

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What a time to be planning room layouts! Lucky for us, we now have access to a treasure trove of user-friendly apps to help us create floor plans and virtually design our rooms—taking a lot of the guesswork out of everything from gauging the right-sized furniture for our space, to assessing how a paint color will look, to putting entire rooms together in virtual reality before we take the plunge IRL.

The following are some of the highest-rated apps on the market right now for drawing floor plans and creating room layouts. These apps can prove incredibly helpful when moving to a new home or embarking on a remodel, room redesign, or even when purchasing new furniture (I'm looking at you, sofas). They're also a great way to turn interior design into something of a hobby. Who knows? One day you might be able to take all of your room plans and turn them into a side hustle.

Please share any experiences you've had with room layout apps in the comments!

FOR CREATING A FLOOR PLAN

MagicPlan

MagicPlan for iOS and now for Android is a free app (in-app purchases $2-200) that lets users create floor plans based on their photos. According to the product description, there is "no need to measure or draw." So it's a good option for users who have minimal experience creating floor plans. While not as detailed in terms of interiors as other apps, it is highly effective for quickly planning layouts.

Room Scan Pro

Room Scan Pro for iOS ($4.99) "draws floor plans by itself." Users simply hold a phone up to a wall which scans the circumference of a room (a voice-activated prompt states "hold against wall until you hear a beep"). Reviews note there is a bit of a learning curve to using the app but also praise its effectiveness in accurate floor plan creation. Check out the video tutorial to see the app in action.

Floor Plan Creator

Floor Plan Creator for Android is free (in-app purchases $1-7 per product) and allows users to create detailed floor plans in 3D. Reviews praise the app's usefulness when furniture shopping to gauge whether potential furniture will fit in the context of your specific room's dimensions.

Planner 5D

Available for both Android and Apple users, Planner 5D gives you the ability to sketch up HD renderings for your dream room or whole house. Choose from over 4000 furnishings to deck out your spaces, but keep in mind that the more premium items are only available via in-app purchase. "Daily rewards" do allow you unlock additional free items as well.

FOR DESIGNING A ROOM LAYOUT

Room Creator

Room Creator is free for Android (in-app purchases available) and lets users design a room interior in "10 minutes or less" by entering room dimensions, designing floor patterns, choosing wall colors, and adding in decor. Fans of the app praise its easy navigation and straightforward interface.

Amikasa

Amikasa is the Webby Award-winning app for iOS and Android that is receiving rave reviews for it's aesthetically pleasing interface and because it allows users to create room layouts using furniture and home decor from real brands—about as mistake-proof as you can get in room planning. The app also has cool features like a walk-through mode that allows users to take a virtual tour of their newly created rooms to get a feel for the room design and layout and the option to share the room via social media for input and advice. Though the app is free, creators have begun asking for a donation of 99 cents for new downloads.

Home Design 3D

Home Design 3D offers a free version and Gold Edition ($4.99). All versions are also available for Android. The app receives praise for its high level of detail while still remaining easy to use, and the latest version even offers an online 3D-printing option.

Rooms

Rooms for iOS (free but users need to upgrade to the $3 version to save room designs) offers a fun and easy way to play with virtual room layout ideas. Users enter the dimensions of their room and then can try out different room planning ideas by flipping furniture, changing wall colors and flooring, and altering the scale of items to see how everything will look together. Reviews praise the app's ease of use but note issues with crashing (though the newest version addresses the bug in the app and states the issue has been fixed).

Room Planner: Design for IKEA

Ever wondered how that new IKEA product you've been eyeing might look in a space? With Room Planner, you can try before you buy in a virtual room that's drawn to scale, once you've set your room's size and shape in this app's 2D mode. Take that level of personalization a step further in the 3D mode, where you can upload a picture of your own walls to use as a backdrop if you'd like. Of course, there are other furnishings (not from IKEA) available to play around with in the app, and you can start a room from scratch or build upon a bunch of communal user-generated rooms, using them as templates. The standard version of this app is free of charge.

Decor Matters

Full disclosure: This app gamifies the process of room planning with virtual coins, levels, leaderboards, and special badge rewards for design challenge participation. All that aside, the e-design features are pretty decent, even if you aren't looking to engage socially or compete in this space. Create a virtual room using a template or "tweak" your real-life room using augmented reality (though you do have to pay a small fee to use this feature). You can also just browse around other people's rooms and boards to search for inspiration and real-life furnishings that you can order online.

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Julia Brenner

Contributor

Julia is a writer and editor living in Chicago. She's also a big fan of old construction, new design, and people who can pull off a wink. She is not one of those people.

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