Design: Freedom to choose

Try out new looks for your home.

Try before you buy and get it right, says Ben Crawford.

My trips to Freedom Furniture over the past couple of months have begun to exhibit traits of Augustus Gloop's visit to Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. The more I wander the aisles of furniture, the greater the temptation to over-indulge. It's an urge that's only growing stronger as its wares become increasingly sweeter, making it harder to say no and leave room for dessert.

I've found Freedom's product range so on-point lately, it hits me in the sweet spot between my Visa and voice of reason. You know those weird internal conversations you have to convince yourself that yes, you do need another sofa to replace your perfectly good one, or yes, another seven cushions will look great with the 33 you already have?

So how does Freedom source the raw ingredients to ensure their collections are perfectly suited to Kiwis? "We invest heavily in sending our people around the world to pick the upcoming trends that inspire our future products," Freedom Furniture's New Zealand General Manager Deb Ridling tells me. "Our business relies on our buyers and their understanding of New Zealand homeowners."

Predicting what products to stock up to 18 months in advance of when they will go on sale must be a scary prospect. That sort of time-frame could easily see a trend turn into a fad, resulting in warehouses full of unwanted furniture. However the team is hitting home run after home run with its recipe of Scandinavian sophisticaton with a twist.

And while Freedom Furniture spans Australia and New Zealand, it's not a case of little brother having to stock what the Australian division has ordered. "We have a focus on providing products tailored for New Zealanders because Kiwis have different tastes and on the whole they're more adventurous design-wise," Ridling says.

Freedom's product offering is constantly evolving because they think more like fashion designers than furniture retailers, releasing two seasonal collections each year. Larger base products such as sofas or dining tables may not change so regularly but the season's story comes to life in vibrant new accessories that reinterpret those staples.

Freedom has just made it harder to fight the urge to splurge on new home furnishings. It recently launched its Virtual Showroom app, the first augmented reality app to be released in the New Zealand furniture market. An augmented reality app is a nifty application that you load on to your tablet or smartphone. It then allows you to visualise how your favourite products will appear in your home.

It literally lets you try before you buy without the hassle of measuring tapes or lugging bulky furniture around. For example, if you were contemplating buying a new sofa but weren't sure if it would fit your existing furniture or match your current decor, the app can show you what it will look like in your home in real time.

After installing the free app on your phone, browse through the product catalogue until you find the sofa you're considering and click the view in your home button. Next, place a marker you've pre-printed from the Freedom website on the floor where you want the sofa to go.

Then raise your phone as if taking a photo of your room and the app will scan and recognise the marker, replacing it with a scale 3D replica of the sofa right there in your room.

You can then change the angle, colour and finish to find a combination that works perfectly or try a completely different product in its place instead. How awesome is that?

Download the app and have a play. But beware, once you've seen Freedom's products in your home, it will be pretty hard not to indulge in the real thing.

Get the app: Available free from the App Store and Google Play - just search for Freedom Furniture.

Or visit freedomfurniture.co.nz for step-by-step instructions.