Decorating your home can be stressful for a multitude of reasons. But one that comes out top for us is trying to visualise exactly how a piece of furniture will look in a certain room. You can end up spending endless hours asking yourself: ‘The beige or light brown couch? The round dining table or the regular rectangle?’ And the list goes on…
But Ikea has just given a whole new meaning to ‘try before you buy’ by launching an app to try to help end our interior design woes.
The app, Ikea Place, basically allows you to see how the item – be it a couch, table or cushion – will look in your home through the use of augmented reality technology (basically like playing The Sims, if you ask us).
After downloading the app, you point your phone’s camera at the space you visualise the piece of furniture sitting, and then the app superimposes it into the space - and scales it to size and fit with “98% accuracy”.
"Many people are uncertain about changing their furnishings because they’re afraid of making the wrong decision," Michael Valdsgaard, leader of Digital Transformation at Inter Ikea, told Architectural Digest.
"Or worse, they return a piece they loved in a store because it simply doesn’t fit in their space. Ikea Place will give them the confidence that they’re making the right choice. It lets you explore various styles and colours, experiment with placement in the room, and visualise how it complements what you already have in your space."
So from the comfort of your own home, you’re possibly eliminating the high probability of you buying a piece of homeware, only to discover it doesn’t actually fit the space or suit the interior aesthetics, after you’ve lugged it home on the bus (and built it with your own bare hands).
The Swedish homeware store will launch the app in October as part of Apple’s iOS 11 update which will come with Apple ARKit – a handheld augmented reality playing field.
"Apple has solved critical technical hurdles in AR, and ARKit gives us the opportunity to help shape the development of AR as an accessible tool for real-life decision making," said Valdsgaard.
So, no need to take that measuring tape with you on your next trip to Ikea then.
You can watch the video in full below:
Images: YouTube
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