Exactly What You Need to Know to Use Apartment Therapy’s New Room Plan Tool

Have you ever wished you could see exactly how furniture would look in your space before making a purchase? Or wanted to reimagine a room but weren’t sure where to start?

Room Plan, Apartment Therapy’s innovative new design tool in partnership with Walmart, makes it incredibly easy to visualize and shop for furniture in your home. You can design realistic spaces, experiment with different decor combinations, and shop seamlessly — all while seeing exactly how everything will look together. It’s simple, fun, and completely free to use!

Room Plan is our powerful new design tool that lets you create realistic room layouts using real products you can actually buy. We’ve created an experience that’s part design playground, part shopping platform, and part creative inspiration.

What makes Room Plan special is how natural and intuitive it feels to use. You can take a photo of any room and turn it into an interactive space where you can place furniture, see how pieces work together, and create beautiful designs that look incredibly realistic. It’s like having your own personal design studio where you can experiment freely before making any purchases.

Once you’ve created your perfect space, you can shop all the products directly through Walmart, download your designs for inspiration, and share your creations with friends and family.

Room Plan gives you three different ways to begin your design journey:

Upload Your Own Space: This is where Room Plan really shines. You can upload a photo of any room — even one that’s already furnished — and choose to have existing furniture automatically removed, giving you a clean slate to work with. It’s perfect for reimagining spaces you already live in.

Start with Empty Rooms: If you want to jump right in and experiment, we’ve provided several empty spaces as starting points. These are perfect for testing out different decor combinations, browsing Walmart products, and getting comfortable with the tool.

Explore Curated Collections: Want to explore what’s possible? Our Apartment Therapy staff created fully designed rooms that showcase clever layouts and stylish product combinations. These professionally styled spaces can serve as inspiration or starting points for your own designs. If you like what you see, it’s easy to redesign the styled rooms by adjusting the layout or swapping in different furnishings.

Ready to transform your actual space? Here’s how to get started with your own photo:

1. Choose “Upload Your Own Space” from the landing page.
2. Decide if you’re removing furniture or not. You’ll see an “Erase Furniture?” option with Yes/No buttons. If your room has existing furniture that you want to remove to start fresh, select “Yes” and the tool will automatically clear the space for you. If you want to keep some existing pieces or your room is already empty, select “No.”
3. Select your room type from the dropdown menu to help the tool better understand your space.
4. Click “Upload Your Space” and watch as your photo becomes a design playground.

Once you upload your space, you have the flexibility to create exactly the room you want.

Browse through thousands of Walmart products to furnish your room. You can start with our Featured Collections — curated product groups that work beautifully together, like “Serene Home Office,” “Chic Transitional Living,” and “Colorful Mid-Century Living Room.” These collections take the guesswork out of coordinating pieces. You can also browse by categories to find specific items, from sofas and chairs to lighting and decor.

Simply tap on any item to instantly add it to your room. Once it’s there, you can easily move and adjust everything until it feels just right. Select any product and click “Adjust”  to rotate and reposition it — the controls are intuitive and give you complete flexibility to create exactly the layout you want.

As you design, tap on any item to see product details, pricing, and shopping links. This makes it easy to keep track of pieces you love and find them on the Walmart website.

When you’re happy with your creation, Room Plan makes it easy to save, share, and shop your work.

1. Click “Finish” in the top right corner when your design is complete.
2. Get a realistic final image: While you’re building your design, the products are in “edit” mode and might not look crisp. Once you click “Finish,” Room Plan creates a stunning, realistic image of your space that looks almost like a real photograph.
3. Download and share: Save your design as a photo perfect for sharing on social media, sending to friends, or keeping as inspiration for your actual room makeover.

Ready to bring your design to life? Click on Shop This Room to see a full list of every product in your design, complete with names, prices, and direct shopping links.

Start with anchor pieces: Begin with larger furniture items like sofas or dining tables to establish your room’s layout and flow.

Use Featured Collections as inspiration: Even if you don’t use every piece from a collection, they’re great starting points for color palettes and style directions.

Add finishing touches: Don’t forget about pillows, artwork, lamps, and other decor items. They make a room feel complete and lived-in.

Try different combinations: Don’t be afraid to mix styles or colors. You might be surprised by what works well together!

Room Plan transforms the often overwhelming process of room design into an enjoyable, creative experience. Whether you’re redecorating a single room, planning an entire home makeover, or just having fun, this tool puts professional-level design capabilities right at your fingertips.

Ready to reimagine your space? Start creating with Room Plan today and discover just how beautiful — and achievable — your dream room can be.