7 Best Online Interior Design Resources

 Designing or even renovating an interior design can be a lot of work – especially if you haven’t done so before. Even professional interior designers with years of experience up their sleeves have design faux pas every now and then. It’s really nothing to be ashamed of; creativity can sometimes only come to you with a pinch of inspiration. But where can you get the inspiration and assistance you need?

Whether you’re starting from a blank slate or already have something to work with, here are some excellent online sources you can turn to, to make your interior design bloom into exactly what you’ve dreamed of, plus more:

1. Homestyler

If you’re designing a space from scratch, you’ll love Homestyler, which is a free 3D interior design tool that will allow you to virtually design your space and play around with colors before designing your actual space. You can use Homestyler on your desktop or even download it as an app via the Apple App Store or Google Play.

The tool has different floors, wallpapers, furniture, and a plethora of building features from light fixtures such as pendant lights to columns and beams. Change and/or move around furniture and other features of your virtual space as you wish.

Homestyler is useful for teaching about interior design, space, color, texture, and style as it offers realistic graphics. It is incredibly easy to use. You can create multiple rooms – or just one if you prefer. As you’re creating your space, you can view it from a grid bird’s eye view or from a first-person point-of-view and literally “walk” through your space. Replace, delete, or hide/unhide different items as you plan, and when you’re finished, you can export the floor plan and even download the summary report, so you can buy the actual furniture and other aspects in your space if you wish!

In case you have trouble with Homestyler, there is a tutorial to help you while you’re using the platform if you decide to utilize it.

Check it out here.

2. Recessed Lighting

For many, implementing lighting in a space can be a bit tricky, especially when it comes to recessed lighting. If you don’t know where to place recessed lighting, how many to utilize, and what types you may need (e.g., color, size, etc.), Recessed Lighting is a wonderful free source you can turn to.

At Recessed Lighting, you have all of your recessed lighting planning needs available before you. While simple, Recessed Lighting is easy to use and teaches you everything about the basics of planning where to install recessed lighting as well as what light fixtures to pick out based on your preferences.

Check it out here.

3. FabricCalc – Lite

This next interior design source is actually a smart phone app. However, do be aware that this is only available for iOS devices. To cut to the chase, FabricCalc – Lite is an essential app for any upholstery projects you may encounter as it can help you indicate how much fabric you will need.

Based on the dimensions of your piece (e.g., sofa, bench, ottoman, etc.), the app will give you an accurate calculation of the amount of yards of fabric you will need to complete the project. Using an app like this can ensure you get the right amount of fabric the first time around and don’t get up buying too much, wasting precious money in the process. It’s generally convenient, even if you’ve already upholstered dozens of items in the past.

Check it out here.

4. Color Mind

Just about everyone knows what their favorite color is (and knows exactly which colors they aren’t too fond of). But when you’re designing a space, coming up with a color scheme isn’t so easy. Sure, gray and white look great together and so do blue and green depending on the shades, but how can you ensure your colors click together and complement one another? Easy: Use Color Mind.

Color Mind is a free color scheme generator, that at a click of a button, can build a five-color color scheme for you in seconds. If you don’t like the scheme, just click the button again for a fresh color scheme. You can even click the little lock button under a color if you want to keep it but change the rest of the colors. Additionally, if you love all the colors in a scheme except for one or a few, you can change those colors. Color Mind is also useful for website and newsletter designs along with other creative projects that go beyond interior design.

Check it out here.

5. Knock Off Décor

Home décor can be expensive, especially if it’s something that is in high demand due to current interior design trends. But at Knock Off Décor, you can find a wonderful selection of DIY projects, affordable alternatives, and advice for saving some major moola when adding some décor to your design.

As some examples of what Knock Off Décor can provide, it offers everything from How to Make a $1,000 Desk for $30, to DIY Painting a Dresser, to DIY Farmhouse Style Media Center. Overall, just from this one website, you can find a significant amount of inspiration and frugal ways to complete your interior design.

Check it out here.

6. Cocoweb

Sometimes when we don’t know where to begin with an interior design remodel, looking at pictures can help significantly. Fortunately, Cocoweb.com has interior design resources with collections of pictures to allow you to get an idea of what design style is for you, and of course, how to get inspiration from those designs to implement into your own space.

Best of all, when you’re done looking through different designs, you can look through, customize, and purchase unique, trendy light fixtures right from the Cocoweb website. Cocoweb offers many fixtures including chandeliers, picture lights, barn lights, and many other fixtures of all types of styles and colors for your interior and exterior design(s).

Check it out here.

7. Design Sponge

Last on some of our favorite online sources for interior designs is Design Sponge. From Design Sponge, one can get inspiration through helpful interior design-related articles that are adorned with incredible photos. You can receive great tips, tricks, and a spur of design motivation quickly from Design Sponge not just for your home’s design project, but also for a business or even a classroom.

Different articles might show you before-and-after interior design projects, show you the top trending designs, give you virtual home tours, or even offer advice for how to make your design yours. This website is incredibly unique and gives insight into projects and ideas that are based on different countries and styles from bohemian to country.

Check it out here.

Conclusion

Each of these interior design online sources are great go-tos regardless of what project you’re tackling, how big it is, and how you propose it will turn out. Hopefully, with some resources at hand, you will put them to good use to find exactly what your design needs to flourish. Apart from the above websites and apps, you can find plenty more online just a quick Google search away.

Even better, you can find a plethora of online furniture shops and even beautiful light fixtures from sources such as Cocoweb.com where there are thousands of light fixtures including barn lights, picture lights, wall sconces, and much more for both indoor and outdoor use. The Internet is a wonderful place to find what you need. Use it, and use it well!