All homeowners have certain pet peeves when it comes to their houses. Perhaps your kitchen is terribly outdated, with linoleum tiles that are peeling up at the corners, appliances that might be older than you, cabinets that are sagging, and countertops that were last in fashion in the summer of love. Or maybe you’d like to knock a few walls out to create an airy, open floor plan. It could be that you simply want some ideas for trending paint colors and linens that you can work into your master bedroom. Whatever is bothering you about your current residence can be addressed through either simple DIY upgrades or major renovations. But before you start the demolition you need to have a clear plan for what’s to come. And instead of shelling out the dough for a pricy interior design expert, you might do just as well (and save a ton of money) by downloading the Houzz Interior Design Ideas app.

At the very least this app is free, so if it doesn’t end up delivering the inspiration you’re looking for you haven’t lost anything but the time you spend perusing picture galleries. However, nearly everyone can find something of value in this comprehensive catalog of interior design ideas. The app has been called the “Wikipedia of interior and exterior design” (CNN), among other things, but this descriptor is apt. Although it is not a compendium of design knowledge, and it certainly won’t help you to become a professional interior decorator, it will offer the average homeowner the inspiration to take their house to the next level in terms of design, and it leads by example.

When you download the app you will gain access to a library of more than half a million images, all geared at helping you find ideas that you can implement in your own home. Whether you’re starting from the ground up and looking for floor plans or you simply want to suss out color schemes to go with a certain style, this app can deliver thousands of options within your search criteria. You can browse by style (Mediterranean, modern, traditional, etc.), by living space (kitchen, bedroom, exterior, even closet), or by “metro” (i.e. metropolitan areas across the globe, from Sydney to San Francisco). And each category will deliver more photo samples of beautiful and diverse designs than you can shake a stick at.

Houzz will give you nearly unlimited options for renovations and interior decorating ideas that will help you to transform your shabby domicile into the chic living space you’ve dreamed of. Don’t know what to do with your old vinyl records? View rooms where they have been strung together to form curtains or hung on the wall as art. They can even be cooked in the oven and molded into lamp shades (bizarre but true). You’ll find color combinations you never even considered, furniture configurations that will make the most of your oddly-shaped spaces, and an excess of uses for woven wood mats. This app won’t tell you how to swap out a lighting fixture or install hardwood flooring, but it can help you to design the spaces in your home by providing inspirational photos of other houses. And that’s where every renovation project should start.

Editor’s Note

Thanks to Evan Fischer for this guest post. He is a freelance writer and part-time student at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, California.

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