Update: Modsy has reduced its prices.
We may all fancy ourselves interior designers, but if we’re really being honest, we should probably leave the decorating to the experts. One such expert is Modsy, a new home design service that doesn’t just suggest furniture for your space, but actually shows you what it would look like in 3D renderings. Welcome to the 21st century of home design.
While there are plenty of digital decorating services available today (think Laurel & Wolf, Havenly, or Decorist), Modsy takes advantage of augmented and virtual reality in a way that few of its competitors have managed. Getting started with Modsy simply involves setting a budget and sending a few pictures of your home, whereupon the company will render each room as an empty space (which for some of us might in and of itself be a step in the right direction). Then, the real magic happens. Modsy refills your rooms with furniture, art, and accessories of Modsy’s choosing, all of which are based on your answers to a preliminary style quiz.
In just a few days, you’ll have 3D models of your home in your hands, showing you exactly what you could be living in. And of course, anything you want to buy can be purchased directly from the Modsy site.
Originally soft-launched in mid-2015, Modsy has since grown significantly. A Series A funding round back in February brought total capital raised to nearly $12 million, and a couple months ago, the company was featured on a new Bravo show, Cyrus and Cyrus. The company looks to be well on its way to redefining the way in which we buy furniture and conceptualize our living spaces. Sure, it has plenty of competition from competitors that use augmented reality (AR) to power their tools, but Modsy thinks it is onto something better.
“While AR is a fantastic step in the right direction, today it is limited to solving only a piece of the larger design challenge when shopping for furniture,” Modsy founder and CEO Shanna Tellerman tells Digital Trends. “AR allows you to see an item overlaid in the real world through your camera. This is helpful for spot checks once you’ve selected an item you are considering and if you have an empty space to virtually place it, but shopping for the home is often more complex — in reality, you’re trying to establish the design and layout of a full room and find the right pieces that work in conjunction with one another.”
Ultimately, Tellerman told us, “We’re very excited about the future of AR at Modsy, but believe that the full solution includes design guidance, an empty 3D version of your room that you can populate and move items around within, and the ability to design with your “digital” room anytime, anywhere without being tied to looking through the camera.”
Modsy isn’t a free service, but it’s still significantly more affordable than hiring a real-life interior designer. In May, Modsy brought its prices down to just $69 a room — that’s $30 less than they were in September 2016, and a full $130 less than Modsy’s launch price. So why has the company been able to keep bringing down costs? The startup told us it is due to an increase in the platform’s tech capabilities, allowing them to create the same renders with far fewer human hours of work. You will still get interactive furniture swapping tools and the personalized attention of a stylist.