Published: January 11, 2011, By Abbe Fenimore

My Favorite Design Apps

I am always on the look out for fun iPhone apps that are related to design. I came across the new app from Kelly Hoppen and was beyond excited to see what it was all about.  So, I decided to breakdown and pay the $4.99 because  I love Kelly Hoppen’s  style and thought that after reading the reviews and seeing the app screen shots that I would go for it.

With features like videos of Kelly giving tips (over 40 tutorials),  step by step design guides and room by room “how to’s”  it looked promising.  Now, I didn’t go into this thinking that I was the target audience for the app but I was hoping to use it and walk away learning something from one of my design idols.  It’s full of great ideas and Kelly’s perspective on pulling together individual spaces in a room. It’s basic but not boring and I love being able to see her and hear her fabulous accent!

Looking for Apps that may work for you to help with day to day tasks or just wanting to be inspired?
Here are a few good app resources that I like to use.

Kravet’s edesign assistant that I absolutely love and use on a weekly basis! I can look up fabric by color, pattern or style number and can even check stock. This has helped me get the details I need while I’m with my client!

Houzz Interior Design Ideas. LOVE LOVE LOVE. It is almost as good as have the website in front of you. This easy to navigate and allows you to search for a designer by city, look up photographs by style or room and let’s you save your favorite images to your own idea book!  I can even see my own profile easily from the app! DON’T be fooled by other apps that claim they have 10,000+ photos…they don’t hold a candle to Houzz’s fabulous appp!

Benjamin Moore’s Color Capture App. It’s super easy to use and the color accuracy is pretty good. It’s FREE and can be very useful when trying to commit to a paint color.

Home Interior Layout Designer – Mark On Call. Very cool app! I love it but just can’t be patient enough to deal with it on my iphone. It’s a great resource for the DIYer looking to find the perfect floor plan, take images of fabrics etc and apply them to the pieces in the app and add a wall color to help with color corrdination.

Design*Sponge Podcast is ahhhmazzzing! I love that the topics range from fabrics to furniture and I always feel inspired after I have tuned in!

The Dwell Magazine App is one of the latest and it’s full of gorgeous photographs, events and the latest product trends.

Although there are a few Apps on the market that provide a few of the things I’m looking for…my idea of a great interior design app/apps would consist of the following five elements:

What would you love to see in an Interior Design App?
1. Quick calculations for paint, wallcovering and even flooring.

2. A quick guide for estimated yardage for standard furniture pieces, bedding and window treatments to make budgeting easy.

Image Via: Knol

3. A place to look up standard measurements like dining room seat height, sofa arm height and coffee table height. Sounds like simple details but being able to have a quick reference when your in a rush would be clutch.

Image Via: Decor Pad

4. If someone would create an app that allowed me to take images from my iPhone and move them into a client’s folder…life would be great. I find myself snapping tons of pictures on shopping trips and then I have to download and organize them later. Being able to access images in a client folder would be ideal for showing them what I found too!

Image Via: Studio Ten 25

5. An app that let’s you work by design style. I work with bachelors, newlyweds with mixed design styles and everything in between. I would love to have an app that was like an encyclopedia of design style. That way if I ‘m focusing on modern and eclectic pieces, I can search the app for important details that are unique to this design style. I long for more ways to stay organized and grab information quickly.

Image Via: Casa Sugar