14 Home Exterior Design Apps

Remodeling your home is exciting, but it's also stressful. Big decisions can be hard to visualize, and you don't want to spend a lot of money on something you thought would look great, only to be disappointed by the final result. Luckily for you, we here at doityourself have your back. Check out these exterior design apps to plan your project ahead and avoid making choices you'll regret.

Overall Exterior Design Apps

Whether it's a complete overhaul of your home's exterior, an experiment with trim, or a change of doors or windows, there are several options to help you visualize your modifications.

For the best all-in-one stop for your home remodeling projects, we like the easy-to-navigate Provia Visualizer. It provides state-of-the-art technology right at your fingertips, allowing you to manipulate a gallery of exterior photos to your specifications. When you're ready, upload your own photos and go from there. They can even prep your pic for use in the visualizer—at a cost, of course. This is one of those times when free can only get you so far.

The Alure Home Designer is very similar to Provia in look and offerings, but Alure goes a few steps further. Alure allows you to customize interiors, for example. They also offer virtual consultations, 3D visualizing, financing, and online specials.

Alside is free and easy to use, but just in case you're finding it not so intuitive, they've thoughtfully included a video tutorial to help get you started. You'll have to create an account to use it, but with an extensive range of colors and materials, customizing your project to suit your tastes is a breeze. The one big downside is the strict criteria for photo uploads. The pics can't be blurry at all (okay, we get that), and they must have a minimum of 1600 pixels in jpg or png formats. Still, for the money (ha-ha, it's free, remember?) Alside is a great visualizing tool for your next project.

We've stuck with beginner friendly options here, and we're not going to veer off course, so last but not least, check out DreamDesigner. Create an account, upload your photo, and start designing your dream home. We like that they aren't quite so strict with photo uploads, and we love being able to order up to three free samples of a product if the visualizer still can't help you decide. You might have to be patient for this one, though, as response times can be a bit lengthy.

3D Modeling Design Apps

When you're trying to visualize external modifications to your home, 3D renderings are especially helpful. We've already mentioned Alure, but we'd also like to submit for your consideration Hoffman Weber House Design. This system can create a 3D design to help you experiment with roof, siding, and trim replacements. The downside to all these cool features is it's a bit slower than the alternatives, but that's a slight inconvenience compared to what it offers.

You might also want to check out Hover. This company will render an accurate 3D model for you to work with your professional team. The key word is accurate. Precision is important in being able to properly estimate supplies and costs, because who wants to go over budget? Not us, not in this market, and not with this economy, that's for sure.

Paint Design Apps

As far as home remodels go, you'd think this would be one of the simplest decisions you could make. Think again! Those of us who've taken that very same approach and failed (twice even) are here to tell you it's a little more complicated than that.

Why? Glad you asked! A new coat of paint is so much more than regular home maintenance. A fresh coat of paint can increase the home's value by adding curb appeal. It adds a layer of protection from wind and rain to increase the longevity of the exterior walls. And the perfect colors can be used to highlight architectural details or your own personal style. That's a lot to ask from a simple decision, isn't it?

Choosing the right color for the exterior of your home (and the interior for that matter) can be very difficult. Pick the wrong one and your house may end up looking like it was lifted from your four-year-old's drawings. And if you belong to an HOA with strict guidelines on appearances, that's a whole other can of worms you don't have time for.

Do yourself a favor and download a paint app to help guide your decisions. There are many free ones to choose from, particularly from big-name manufacturers that offer different options with accompanying pros and cons.

Color Snap by Sherwin-Williams is a great all-in-one app where you can pick your color, create a color palette, and find coordinating colors. Once you've made your choices, take the app to a Sherwin Williams retailer to pick up your paint. Unfortunately, this is one case where more is too much; with so many options, it's easy to get overwhelmed. Thanks, Sherwin Williams. So much for making decisions easier! Jokes aside, this app is available for download on both iOS and Android devices.

The Color Portfolio/ColorReader by Benjamin Moore app has much to offer the diy-er, too. Color Portfolio is free to download and gives you the ability to snap a pic and use it to find a similar color in the Benjamin Moore family. It also offers you the capability to apply their colors in your own photos AND even a video visualizer to instantly see your chosen colors on the walls. ColorReader comes at a price ($99, or $249 for the Pro version), but it gives you fantastic color matching capabilities with over a 90% accuracy rate.

And paint manufacturers aren't the only ones with these handy apps. Search the App Store on Apple or go to Google Play, and you'll find other apps to help you make your decisions. One of our faves is Paint My Wall from the App Store. It's easy to use and lets you test colors on a gallery image or on one of your own photos. In exchange for the free functions, you'll have to skip through ads in order to move forward.

Android users, no need to feel left out. Project Color from Home Depot is a go for any quick project you've got on the horizon. Browse and match colors, test your favorite colors on different pics, discover color trends, and even purchase paint directly from the app.

With any technology, these apps have varying degrees of usability. Some have a steeper learning curve than others. Some require you to create an account. Others have limited capabilities for manipulating your uploaded photos. Still, they can be very helpful for reducing the guesswork in choosing paint colors. There's no need to ever regret a paint decision ever again!

Garden and Landscaping Apps

Maybe Mary wouldn't have been quite so contrary if she'd known how her garden would grow. Hardcore landscapers and garden noobs alike will find ways to improve their outdoor spaces with these handy garden apps.

iScape in the App Store is one of our faves for its abilities and ease of use. Its augmented reality interface allows you to design your outdoor space using an uploaded image from your phone. Using the thousands of elements and plants available in their database, you can visualize your project with a simple tap of the finger.

Just because it's got the word PRO in the name, the highly-rated PRO Landscape Home boasts ease of use for accessibility to even beginning DIYers. Upload your own photos and manipulate the pic by adding a variety of plants from the plant gallery. Add pavers, mulch, and furniture to create a finished exterior to give you a better idea of what your finished project will look like.

PRO Landscape Home has a search tool that enables you to find plants suitable to your location to eliminate wasted money and effort caused when plants die when they are unsuited to their environment. It's available for Android, iOS, and Kindle users. As a bonus, you can share your mock-ups on social media to give family, friends, and other garden fanatics an idea of what's to come. You can even share your inspiration with professional landscapers who can bid on the project and help you turn your dreams into reality.

If you're not a wanna-be pro when it comes to gardening, don't get discouraged. You can still create a beautiful landscape even if you don't have gardening experience. Better Homes and Garden has developed a simple, easy-to-use app called Plan-A-Garden.

This handy dandy tool gives you access to helpful tutorials to guide you through the app. It was developed specifically for amateur do-it-yourselfers and is available free for iOS and Android users. The intuitive interface makes it easy to use. Simply upload your photo, pick your plants, add structures and/or hardscape, and voila. you're a pro (kind of).

Once you've gotten those plants in the ground, you'll need to continue caring for and maintaining them. While some people are blessed with green thumbs, others can't seem to get even the most hardy and hands-off plants to live through the week.

Territorial Seed Company has developed a garden planner to help everyone keep track of their gardening journeys. Their Garden Journal helps grow your garden skills by keeping track of the information you've shared with the app and sending you reminders and reports on maintaining your plants. You can use these tools to access weather forecasts, helpful videos, guides, and how-tos, in addition to a community to support your adventures and celebrate your achievements. This one offers a free 7-day trial, so you'll have to pay to continue reaping the benefits.

Window Planning Apps

If the eyes are the windows to the soul, windows are the eyes to the world. They add beauty and value to your home, not to mention providing warmth in winter and cooling in the summer. So if you're looking for added curb appeal, you can't go wrong by upgrading your windows.

Unfortunately, windows are one of the most expensive upgrades you can make, so you don't want to take this decision lightly. For this reason, you might want to check out the Window World visualizer. It's easy to use and beginner-friendly.

And bonus—it offers more than just windows to visualize. Upload your photo and customize windows, doors, shutters, and siding. Select the appropriate apertures for your climate to keep you comfortable no matter what the weather. They offer design services to prepare an image of your project which you can share with your project team online.

Remodeling is tough. Let these apps help you see before you spend so you can make the best decisions for your next reno project.