The Ingenious Way You Can See How Any Piece Of Ikea Furniture Will Look In Your Home

Ever buy an Ikea couch, only to realize it’s way too big for your space — and the colour totally clashes with the rest of your decor? Wouldn’t it be helpful to actually see it in your home before you buy? Now you can — virtually, at least — with Ikea’s app (which launched in September, and is arguably the Swedish retailer’s best-kept secret).

What is the Ikea Place app, and how does it work?

Ikea Place is a “augmented reality” app. In other words, it shows you what an Ikea product looks like in your space by superimposing, say, a chair over a real-time image of your living room. It lets you hold up your phone, select an Ikea product and move it to where you envision it, like so:

Ikea Place scales products…

The app will scale the products you are placing in your space, based on the room dimensions (that it figures out on its own) — giving you an idea of whether or not a piece will fit in your space. Plus, the AR technology will even give you an idea of the texture of the fabric.

…Plus, it lets you ID Ikea furniture

Let’s say you’re at a friend’s house, and love a piece of Ikea furniture they own — but don’t know which model it is. Using the app, you can hold your phone up to the product and it will immediately pull it up in the catalogue. You can also save the ones you love in a “favourites” list.

How do you get Ikea Place in Canada?

The app is available on the App Store for iPhone and on Google Play for Android.