10 Free Interior Design Tools to Help You Plan Your Room
When I started delving into the process of designing a room, I quickly realized that pencil sketches or traditional mood boards were no longer enough. I wanted a convenient and interactive solution that would allow me to immediately see how different furniture, color schemes or textile elements – such as rugs, cushions or curtains – would look in a real space.
Then I came across 10 free online tools that have fundamentally changed the way I approach interior design. As someone who loves the latest technology, intuitive user interfaces and quick design coordination solutions, these tools completely changed my design process. They are suitable for homeowners, renters, interior designers, decorators and DIY enthusiasts alike – and since they are all free, anyone can try them out and find a favorite one. I personally love DressMyCrib, a visualization tool that makes it super easy to preview rugs, curtains, furniture, wall decor and pillows in your space.
How can Free Tools Help You Design a Room?
Visual Furniture Layout
One of my favorite features is the ability to quickly drag-and-drop furniture onto drawings. This allows you to instantly see how furniture can fit in the room without having to physically move and rearrange. It also helps you understand whether a sofa is too big or if a wardrobe will block a passage.
Testing different Color Combinations
I often have second thoughts about color compatibility, as even the slightest change in shade can completely change the mood of a room. Tools with color options allow you to quickly change wall colors, accents or textiles until you find the most balanced combinations.
Experimenting with Rugs, Curtains and Wall Decor
Textiles can add a lot of personality to your space, so the ability to change the pattern, size, or even the shade of a rug with one click is extremely useful. You can do the same with curtains, cushions or paintings on the wall. This allows you to virtually “measure” different design solutions until you find the perfect one.
Floor Plans before Buying New Decor
Before buying new furniture or home decor, make sure that they will really fit in your space. Make a virtual room plan first to avoid unpleasant surprises when the furniture doesn’t fit or looks different than expected.
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10 Free Tools That Help You Design Your Room
1. DressMyCrib Visualizers - Best for Rugs, Curtains, Wall Decor, Furniture and Cushions
When I first tried DressMyCrib, I was impressed by how quickly I could visualize any furniture or textile decor in my own room. The platform allows you to preview rugs, furniture, curtains, cushions and wall art, using AR (Augmented Reality) through your phone or tablet camera. You can also upload a photo of your space and browse the entire rug catalog in it - no need to click on each rug individually. It’s become my go-to platform whenever I want to see how a specific rug fits with my interior style.
Key Features:
- Visualizes rugs, furniture, curtains, cushions and wall decor, using AR (Augmented Reality) and your phone camera for a Live View in your room.
- Features products from various manufacturers and lets users upload product photos for Live View (AR) visualizations in your room.
- Rug visualizer supports room photo uploads to instantly see the whole rug catalog visualized in your space.
- Doesn’t require downloading an app, works with the browser.
DressMyCrib's Rug Catalog Visualization in the Room Photo
Who It’s Best For: Anyone who wants to pay special attention to rugs, curtains and other textile elements or want to see how certain furniture would fit in the room – for me, this is an indispensable tool when choosing a rug.
2. Planner 5D - Best for 3D Floor Plans
When I want to quickly understand how a room will look in three dimensions, I choose Planner 5D. You can start with a simple 2D version and transfer everything to 3D with one click. This is especially useful if you’re designing a larger space or want to show a client a detailed view of the space.
Key Features:
- 2D/3D creation that allows you to “drag and drop” furniture on the plan and immediately see a three-dimensional visualization.
- Includes a large library with a variety of furniture, colors, and decor elements so you can customize everything to your taste.
- A friendly user interface so even without previous experience, you can quickly get the hang of all the tools.
Best For: If you want to quickly look at a room from different angles and try different furniture arrangements.
3. Roomstyler 3D Home Planner - Best for Beginners
If you're just starting out and looking to learn the complexities of interior design, Roomstyler will be really useful. Its uniqueness is its simple user interface and a product library of real furniture and decorations, so you can immediately "try on" what a popular sofa or dresser with drawers will look like.
Key Features:
- Requires a very short learning curve, so you can get started in just a few minutes.
- Includes well-known furniture brands so you can try on real "branded" furniture and more accurately imagine the final result of your space.
- Has a community of users that can share their design ideas and project examples.
Who It’s Best For: I recommend it to anyone who is just starting to get interested in interior design or wants an easy-to-use tool.
4. SketchUp Free - Best for Professional Features
When I need more complex 3D modeling or precise dimensions, I always turn to SketchUp Free. It is practically the benchmark for architects and designers, allowing you to recreate spaces in great detail.
Introductory note: For me, with more experience, it is important that the tool allows you to create professional drawings that can later be applied at various project stages - from the beginning to the finish.
Key Features:
- Advanced 3D modeling allows you to create even complex, non-standard architectural solutions.
- Everything is stored online with Cloud service, so you can access the projects from any device.
- The 3D Warehouse library includes a lot of models - from furniture to doors, windows and other details.
Best For: When you want to seriously delve into the architecture of the space or create a more complex configuration, SketchUp Free is indispensable.
5. Floorplanner - Best for Floor Plans and Layouts
If your main goal is to quickly create an accurate room plan, Floorplanner is the first stop. It is a very fast and efficient way to create clear drawings that you can transfer to 3D with one click.
Key Features:
- Quick 2D Layout: you can draw the walls of a room and start placing furniture in just a few minutes.
- You can immediately see how everything will look in space when you switch 3D modes.
- Design Sharing allows me to easily share files with family, colleagues or clients when you need to collaborate.
Best For: Planning the placement of walls, doors, windows and furniture arrangement.
6. Homestyler - Best for Augmented Reality, AR Solutions
I really like Homestyler because it is one of those tools that offers augmented reality (AR) capabilities, along with DressmyCrib. Using your phone, you can simply point the camera at the place where you want to place a new piece of furniture or lay a rug and see how it will look live.
Key Features:
- AR technology allows you to see in real time how the piece of furniture or rug would fit in the physical space.
- Along with AR, it also offers classic 3D views so you can be completely sure of the perspective.
- From sofas to lamps, you have a lot of options in one place.
Best For: When you want to see if a new dresser will fit in a spare corner of the room, or check if the carpet color will “clash” with the walls in reality.
7. SmartDraw - Best for professional Floor Plans
Some projects require extremely precise drawings that meet technical requirements or even building codes. In this case, SmartDraw allows you to create professional-quality plans with detailed diagrams.
Key Features:
- Detailed architectural drawings that are ideal for commercial or larger projects where precision is required.
- Convenient if you work with other designers or present plans to a client.
- Many pre-made templates and elements that help speed up the creative process.
Best For: When you need to create precise, formal floor plans and adhere to technical building standards, this is a go-to tool.
8. IKEA Home Planner - Best for IKEA fans
When I know I’m going to buy new furniture at an IKEA store, IKEA Home Planner is my savior. You can instantly select a variety of IKEA furniture, arrange it in the room and see how it all looks together.
Key Features:
- Direct connection to the IKEA catalog that allows you to know what the exact dimensions and appearance of the furniture will be.
- You can easily see if a kitchen cabinet or wardrobe will fit in your planned space.
- You can immediately see how much you would spend if you bought all the planned parts.
Best For: When shopping at IKEA, this is the easiest way to quickly check if all the modules fit together and if they will fit in your room.
9. Houzz Room Design Tool - Best for Inspiration and Ideas
When I'm looking for new ideas or want to see how people are tackling similar design challenges, I immediately turn to Houzz. Plus, there's a large community of like-minded people who share their experiences. This helps you form a clearer opinion about certain solutions.
Key Features:
- A huge photo gallery with millions of photos that can be filtered by style, color and room type.
- An active community with reviews and discussions that are useful when you want to hear the experiences of other designers.
- Product “tagging” - if you like a particular sofa, you can often find a link to the manufacturer or store.
Best For: If you lack a creative spark or want to see how others have solved similar design challenges.
10. MagicPlan - Best for Floor Plans on Your Phone
When you need an instant floor plan and you don’t have a computer nearby, you can always choose MagicPlan. Walk around the room with your phone and automatically generate fairly accurate drawings with the app.
Key Features:
- AR scanning - no need for a tape measure, because the app measures distances and creates digital wall plans on its own.
- Quick measurements that lets you see the size of a room or the dimensions of niches right away.
- When you’re done, you can save them in PDF, JPG or DXF formats and easily share them with colleagues or clients.
Best For: When you need to quickly create a room plan without any additional tools. Especially useful for quick renovations or small changes.
How to Choose the Right Tool?
For beginners, I usually recommend DressMyCrib, Roomstyler or Homestyler, as their interface is very user-friendly for beginners. For professionals, SketchUp and SmartDraw offer many advanced options, suitable even for architectural projects.
For rug, furniture and decor visualization in your room I always say that DressMyCrib is a great choice if you want to virtually “try” rugs, curtains or other pieces. When it comes to planning furniture layouts and floor plans, Planner 5D or Floorplanner work great for me.
Finally, if you want to try Augmented Reality visualizations, MagicPlan, DressMyCrib and Homestyler allow me to see in real time how interior solutions will look in the living space.
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