If you're anything like me, you have no shortage of interior design inspiration: you've saved it on Instagram, pinned it to Pinterest boards, and ripped it out of magazines and catalogs. But taking that inspiration and actually translating it into your own home? That's a whole 'nother matter. For some of us, we've been burned in the past. We've ordered a sofa that looked amazing in the showroom...but once it arrived, it was too bulky for our space. Or we've painted our walls a color that looked gorgeous in our favorite blogger's home...only to have it clash with our flooring and furnishings. So we're nervous to order something else that could turn out all wrong again. Wouldn't it be great if we could just see what things would look like in our own house before we bought them?? Well, it turns out, sometimes we can!
Bali just rolled out a brand new visualizer that allows you to preview window treatments on your very own windows. Simply upload a photo, choose a treatment, and see how it looks in your actual space. Change colors, options, and more to find the best window treatment solution for you. This is a super cool (and fun) way to bring your design vision to life and feel really confident about your decision.
Here's how it works:
1. Upload a photo of your space.
Choose a landscape (horizontal) photo where the window is straight-on. If you have existing window treatments, it's best if you raise them or remove them first. You can also choose from the sample room scenes if you want to try out the visualizer without uploading a photo of your own.
2. Mask the window.
Once you've uploaded your photo, a pink overlay will appear. Drag the dots of the overlay until they line up with the corners of your window. Then enter the approximate width of your window. If you have multiple windows in the room, click "Add Another Window." When you're satisfied with the overlays, click "Visualize."
3. Try out different products.
Hover over the window overlay and click the "Customize" button. This will allow you to change specifics like the Product Type, Color and Privacy level. You can even hit the Window Controls at the bottom to raise and lower the window treatments! Try different products to quickly visualize them in your own room, with your own furnishings.
4. Find your favorites.
As you're testing out different styles, it's often easy to rule out the noes. Deciding between the yeses, however, can be much harder. Luckily, the visualizer has a few tools to help with this! Start by clicking "Add to Favorites" on any option that you like. This will save your top choices to your Bali account, so you can come back to them at any time. When you're ready to narrow them down, you can view "My Favorites" to see all the options you saved. If you want to remember their specifics, that information is also saved under "View Details."
Tip: If you want to keep your visualizer open, you can open a new tab on your browser and go directly to My Favorites. That way, if you want to keep playing with the visualizer, you won't have to start all over with uploading a photo and masking windows.
5. Compare your top choices.
When you have narrowed your favorites down to two, click "Add to Compare" and then "Compare." This will show you those two choices side-by-side. You can drag the slider either way to see more of one option or the other. If you want to get other opinions, you can also download the photo to show it to other members of your household—or post it on social media to get a vote from your friends! Seeing the side-by-side comparison is really helpful to visualize potential window treatments and make that final decision.
One important caveat about the visualizer: it's a great tool, but it doesn't take the place of ordering swatches. The actual colors may differ from what you see on your screen, and you can't feel texture digitally. We always recommend ordering swatches (after all, they're free!) to confirm your color and fabric choices.
