Photo by Flickr user Graeme Paterson.
Technology has changed the way we think and put our ideas into action. Technology also motivates us, lets us organize, collaborate, store, and share these ideas quickly and efficiently.
A mobile device is one such miracle of applied science, and apps built for it helps us accomplish complex tasks easily. Whether you are an engineer, lawyer, doctor, carpenter, designer, real estate broker, or simply a DIY freak you just cannot ignore the following apps that will help you plan your home improvement needs.
Now this app is one of the finest in its category, allowing users to instantly measure, store, and share object dimensions. Engineers, designers, and even DIY folks typically sketch their ideas on a piece of paper. Not many of them are capable of producing an accurate picture. In such a scenario, My Measures comes as a boon in disguise.
Simply point and shoot the object of your interest. Add arrows to linear dimensions and angles to various corners. You can also add notes or annotate the object. Your idea is now stored in your pocket device which is not susceptible to wear and tear, inaccuracy, loss of data, or the embarrassment you might face later while showing a sheet of crumpled paper to your boss or colleague.
You can calculate the area and the volume of the object, sum up various dimensions, and also share the same via email. Save and organize all these ideas in folders for easy retrieval.
Gardening Toolkit
Gardening Toolkit is available for $ 1.99. However, every cent is worth it.
This nifty little app maintains, organizes, and reflects the health of your plants across multiple gardens that you own or maintain. The garden manager allows you to shoot pictures of the plants and attach data such as location, type of plant, time you sowed, and the soil specifications. Once this data is fed, this tool tells you about the health of the concerned plant or fruit tree, as well as its harvest date in the form of handy little progress bar.
You can maintain multiple gardens spread over several zones and areas. This app also offers advice on what you should grow and the sowing time needed. Simply input your location and the type of plant, vegetable, fruit, or herb you want to grow.
Touted as one of the top 500 apps of the mobile platform, Garden Toolkit provides soil hardness factor for your area by entering the zip code. It spares you from referring to dozens of garden books which more often than not are general in nature.
This free app is extremely useful for web designers, interior designers, architects, and DIY individuals. It allows you to create your own colors which are unique and reflect your creative side. If you find a particular shade of a flower or a sunset photograph appealing, simply load that image in the program, select the color with the eyedropper tool, and use it for your tasks. Palettes also provides a great way to create color schemes. This feature can really work wonders for designers and contractors, both offline and on the web.
You can also create new colors or color schemes using any one of the 5 color models. Then, once you have created a color scheme or a bouquet of colors, simply store them in the program for later use. This app is available in three flavors: free, basic and pro.
Mentioned below are some of its salient features:
1. Works across all iOS devices.
2. The pro version allows import and export of Palettes files from and to various image editing programs such as Gimp, Photoshop, Illustrator, etc.
Houzz Interior Design
Are you looking for design inspiration? Yes! Then look no further. Houzz is the answer, a kind of image repertoire. It has the largest collection of mind-boggling images on a myriad of subjects, a design resource which no designer can ignore. Browse images by categories and style. Save the ones you like for later use, typically in offline mode. Prevent saturation and stagnation in your creative tasks and brush away your creative dilemmas.
Who can use Houzz? Almost every professional entity related to design.
Author Bio: Andy Storm is the online manager for Inlines Design. He likes to blog about various tips and tricks related to home improvements and interior designing.
Apps That Help with Your Home Improvement Needs by Sarah
