How augmented reality can help consumers redecorate their home

We’ve all had a bad experience buying the wrong paint color for our home’s walls, buying a sofa that was too big, or miscalculating the amount of tiles needed for our kitchen floor.

All of these common home improvement failures could have been avoided by leveraging augmented reality (AR).

Augmented reality home décor apps make home improvements easier, more efficient and a lot more fun. Whether it’s virtually painting the kitchen or getting the exact measurements of the bedroom, AR eliminates the guesswork that so often leads to costly frustration.

To discuss the topic in more detail, we share with you 5 ways augmented reality helps consumers redecorate their home.

Eliminates consumer unknowns during the shopping experience.

Augmented reality in home redesign helps eliminate many of the unknowns we experience when shopping for furniture, especially when it comes to measurements, colors, shapes or design.

The AR sites have stored in their databases the measurements of the items and furniture, so the consumer, simply by uploading a photo of the space they want to decorate and adding the furniture or objects they like the most, can enjoy a preview of how they would look in their home before making the purchase.

Among other advantages, the consumer will be able to manipulate the digital image as desired and enjoy a front, side, back and bottom view of the furniture, in addition to knowing if there are any problems with the size or dimensions for the selected space.

Pictured is an image of the IKEA Place app, available for iPhone, which allows users to preview more than 2,000 pieces of furniture by virtually placing items in the home and scaling cataloged items to fit the room before purchasing furniture.

Personalized furniture

In the past, visualization of custom furniture design was limited to sketches or pixelated images, with which consumers could get a vague idea of what a piece of furniture would look like.

Consumers can now “drag and drop” furniture components into a digital program to configure their dream space, and customers with somewhat different spaces who require furniture in non-standardized shapes and sizes now have options at their fingertips.

Moreover, they also can give the right specifications to the manufacturer and retailer, so the custom piece comes to life exactly as the consumer envisioned it.

Better visualization of the space

Another challenge consumers faced in the past was the inability to visualize what a space would look like.

3D technology and augmented reality have changed this difficult obstacle; consumers can now completely remodel their living rooms, home offices, dining rooms and bedrooms with a clear picture of the result they will get.

Saving money during modifications

Another less obvious benefit offered by augmented reality is the  time and cost savings from not having to return products that were not what was expected.

AR technology allows for accurate measurements of the consumer’s current space and new furniture, which is guaranteed to save time and money.

How many consumers have lost money buying a sofa that was too big for the space by just a few inches, or what about shipping and return costs for those products?

Now with AR, consumers can be confident that what they are buying will fit perfectly in the space for which it is intended.

A major boost in sales

From the retailer’s point of view, AR represents a real boost in sales.

When consumers can see every piece at every angle and in every color, they feel that the company has nothing to hide, building enough trust to nurture the consumer throughout their buying journey.

3D technology and augmented reality are creating a level of brand transparency never before seen in the furniture industry leading to an increase in online sales.