You want to remodel your home, but you don’t know where to start. There are a lot of ways to screw up your next project and you’re not interested in wasting money. You’ve heard the horror stories. You’ve seen people who have been through the nightmare. It costs twice as much to fix a remodeling blunder. But, you’re committed to doing the job yourself. Thankfully, there are apps that can keep you out of trouble.
iHandy Level
If you’re installing something like timber flooring from Lifewood, then you’re going to need a level. Problem is, you might not have a level. Now, you can go out and buy one or you can fire up your mobile device and download iHandy level. It’s an app for both the iPhone and the Android.
It’s pretty simple to use and is also very accurate. You can use it to lay flooring, hang pictures, and do pretty much anything that require things to be level. Landscape, portrait, and even face-up orientation allows you to lay the mobile device on any surface.
Carpet and Floor Calculator
For many homeowners, one of the hardest things to do is lay down carpet. The problem usually isn’t the actual installation process though – it’s the amount of carpet that’s the trouble. How much do you need? Measuring and cutting the right amount of carpet often makes or breaks an installation. If you don’t get enough, even if you’re off by a little bit, it won’t lay down properly. And, undercutting will almost always show, even if you fill in with remnant or scrap after the fact.
That’s where a carpet and floor calculator come in handy. This app, for iPhone (sorry Android users), will take the guess work out of the measuring process. It’s simple. All you have to do is input your room’s dimensions and your flooring choices. The calculator will do the rest.
It even calculates the cost of labour and the estimated time for completion.
Houzz Interior Design Ideas
Sometimes, the hardest part of remodeling is coming up with an interior design. This is where interior designers get paid big bucks. But, you don’t have to pay someone several thousand dollars to help you pick out carpet, window treatments, and wall colours.
This app comes with over a million high resolution photos and tons of ideas to help you figure out what’s best for you, given your own tastes. And, it’s a social sharing app, so you can search other users’ favourite images, save what you like to a personal idea book, and download everything for offline access. You can even share images that you found that you like.
This app is one of those hidden gems in the app store for both iPhone and Android. Seriously. A good interior designer charges $60 per hour and up. Some charge over a hundred per hour. But, since the app is crowd-sourced, you’ll end up with professional designs from people who’ve come before you, homemakers, engineers, and enthusiasts. You don’t have to be a good designer. You’ll have hundreds, even thousands, of other people helping you. Neat, huh?
