The best home renovation apps to inspire upgrades

The right loan can help you renovate your home, but before you get to that point, take a moment for yourself and work out what you’ll do differently with these handy apps.

Even if you love where you live, there are times when a change can do some good. In your life, it could just be a new hairstyle or wardrobe, but at home, the results can be bigger.

The home renovation is a great way to breathe new life into a home, especially if you’re feeling like where you’re living is getting a little stale.

You’ll need some finances to make it happen, but before you get to that point, it’s worth focusing on what sort of renovation you want to undertake. Will it be simple, or supremely complex? Do you have the time or money for something more than a coat of paint?

A great place to start with home loan renovations is a home loan renovation app, because if you have a recent phone or tablet, you probably have the tools to see what can be done. All you need is a bit of time, some vision, and an app or two.

Pinterest

Price: Free

Scrapbooking ideas generally starts online, and that’s what Pinterest is for, allowing you to pick the ideas up from the online mega-mall that is the internet and place them in an album.

Find pictures online of your dream house and of all the ways you think you could change your home – enough for you to kickstart that renovation dream, share them with friends and family, or maybe even that interior designer you’re friends with.

Find Pinterest on Android or iPhone and iPad.

Houzz

Price: Free

Need a bit of inspiration from professional designers, decorators, and architects before you pick up the tools? Maybe you need to find a professional to help you make it happen?

Houzz brings the inspiration together with the places to make those ideas into a reality, letting you browse from a marketplace of furniture and interior design options, and creating what is basically your own look-book of room ideas.

Find Houzz on Android or iPhone and iPad.

Magicplan

Price: Free

Knowing how much room you have to work with is more helpful with an architectural plan, but unless you have one sitting around, you may not find it so easy. Fortunately, there’s an app for that.

Magicplan uses the power of your phone’s camera to map out your home, providing an architectural layout and assembling it with your phone or tablet, almost like magic.

Find Magicplan on Android or iPhone and iPad.

IKEA Place

Price: Free

With a few ideas down, you might have the urge to replace some furniture. After all, a little furniture can change the look and feel of a place dramatically, though it can take some planning to find what works best.

Fortunately, that little supercomputer you call a “phone” has some experience in this area, and can assist with a simulation of furniture before you buy it.

The “IKEA Place” app is one example of an app that can let you try before you buy, throwing in a virtual 3D version of IKEA furniture items into your home before needing to drive out and assemble something new with the obligatory Allen Key.

Find IKEA Place on Android or iPhone and iPad.

Home Harmony

Price: Free

Furniture is one side of a renovation, but walls and floors is the other one, and it’s an area that can be hard to imagine. Apps can help though, even if the results may not be as cool as watching your favourite Swedish furniture shop materialise a sofa in your home before your very eyes.

The occasionally buggy (at least in our play) Home Harmony can let you paint walls and try out new floors inside of an app, giving you an idea as to what a renovation could look like in your own home.

Find Home Harmony on iPhone and iPad.

Finding a loan to get a renovation started

With your ideas ready to go, a home renovation isn’t far away, and you just need to put those dreams into reality, starting with the right type of loan.

Regardless of the type of loan, you’ll end up paying money over time. Fortunately, finding the best loan can be as simple as checking out this site, with RateCity providing the resources needed to find renovation loans.

If your home renovation is about the walls, the decoration, and the furniture, you may want to consider a personal loan for your needs. A browse through RateCity’s Personal Loan Marketplace could provide what you’re after, delivering the resources needed to start those home renovation plans as soon as possible.

Customers who already have a home loan may have an offset account, and if so, they may find the ability to draw from that account to pay for some renovations. Alternatively, if your home renovation is likely to be a little bigger and may need the work of some hard-hatted individuals, you may want to consider a construction loan.

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