Seeing is Believing: How VR Technology is Transforming Interior Design

Picture your dream room. The colour scheme, the furniture, the floors. Now picture them all together in your home – it’s not always easy. If you’ve ever wished you could see exactly how every little detail would look before you take the plunge with an interior project, the wonderful world of technology has granted you that very wish in the form of Virtual Reality.

Here we’ll explain how Virtual Reality (VR) and interior design are now working seamlessly together, along with the many benefits this amazing technology provides.

VR and interior design … together?

It’s true, the term ‘VR’ typically conjures up thoughts of the novelty gaming and entertainment industry rather than any kind of practical usage. However, when applied to the field of interior design, VR becomes an exceptionally powerful tool with boundless creative potential. Less about entertainment and more about visualisation, VR in the world of interior design allows you to step straight into a 3D simulation of your project and take a tour of your finished renovation before the work has even begun.

Once you’ve experienced it for yourself, you’d be forgiven for wondering how interior projects ever worked quite so smoothly without the help of VR technology. Here are just a few of the key advantages of working with an interior designer who offers VR-enhanced projects:

A more collaborative experience

As interior designers, it is our job to take on board all of your ideas and put them together with our expertise to create the right plan of action. Once past the consultation stage, the majority of the project is typically handled by us, the designers, but with the advent of VR in interior design it has become possible to bring you, the client, much closer to the exciting ideas and experimentation stage than ever before.

Simply by putting on a headset, you can see every element of the proposed project exactly how it would look in your property. This means that, if you have a change of heart about a piece of furniture or feedback on a shade of paint, we can easily work together in a collaborative process to exchange ideas, tweak details, make decisions and get everything just right before the renovation work begins.

Inspiring confidence

The sometimes problematic thing about professional interior design plans is the fact that they’re all in 2D. And, while interior designers are used to working with 2D imaging and representations of proposed project plans – it’s a big part of what we do after all – we do appreciate that it can sometimes be tricky for you as the client to clearly visualise how these 2D images will translate into the real world.

The introduction of an immersive, fully 3D virtual reality tour removes this struggle in one fell swoop. No more trying to will your mind’s eye to accurately visualise your new space; with VR you can quite literally stand inside the design and view it in realistic, 360° detail. This means you can comfortably enter into the next phase of your project with complete confidence that the finished article will look and feel as good as the 2D plans say it will – no surprises, no worries.

Complete immersion

VR technology has become so advanced and so lifelike that it allows the user to become entirely immersed in whatever simulation they enter into. For us as designers it’s a very exciting addition to our toolkit, as it means we can get right under the skin of your project and aspirations and make the very best recommendations for everything from colour and lighting to the most effective use of your space.

What’s even more exciting, however, is what it means for you as the client. What makes an interior designer’s job so worthwhile is seeing the excitement on a client’s face when we share our ideas and lay out the plans for what will become a beautiful new room, space or home. The immersive nature of VR makes this process even easier and much more interactive, allowing you to absorb every last element of the project in rich, realistic detail as if you’re really there inside the room.

What to expect

If you decide to go ahead with a renovation project with Wilde Collective, the process is refreshingly straightforward.

Once you’ve had an initial consultation and contracts have been drawn up, we move straight into the exciting part – the design stage. This is where you’ll meet your contractors and work with us to decide on every element for your new space, including colours, furniture and decorative items.

The next step is the star of the show; the big design presentation with your very own virtual reality tour. You’ll get to experience your space under realistic lighting conditions and make sure you’re happy with every element of the proposed work. Walk through the space, view it from every angle and soak up every last little detail; this is when the whole project suddenly comes to life and the excitement really starts to build.

After that, you simply sit back and leave everything to us. We’ll order the materials, source the furniture and decor and make all the arrangements for the work to be completed. Before you know it, it’ll be time for the big reveal!

Let’s get started

Picturing that dream room a little more clearly already? Get in touch, tell me all about it and we can set up a virtual tour of your creative vision together – with a little help from our friend, VR.