The company also makes money through product placement and other advertising. There is a clear and really good business model here – selling people the real stuff once they’ve seen it virtually in their room. It also would be great if they created an embeddable version of the projects (something I assume they’ll do eventually). They’ve also paid attention to details – notice the shadows behind the clover and the lamp, for example, and the light coming into the room from the windows. The next step, the company says, is to allow users to upload their own images and insert them into the room. Objects can be resized, rotated and moved around the room. I also made the project public, so anyone can log in to it and make changes.

I made my own room during testing – see the before and after photos above. You then start decorating it by adding a floor, paint, fixtures, furniture, etc. The first step is to pick an empty room, or upload a photo of your own room. If you thought MyMiniLife was cool, wait until you spend some time playing around with this. Previously the company, which has been around for 11 years, sold 2 million copies of desktop software that has similar functionality as the online tool. Add some nice pillows to the sofa and maybe some floor pillows and green plants.

Arrange your furniture in a conversation area around the fireplace. DesignMyRoom launched this afternoon – It’s a new product from a company called Swatchbox Technologies that allows people to decorate a real room virtually via a photograph of the room and DesignMyRoom’s library of stuff. Take the background as paint color for the other walls in the living room, take your accent color to the walls of the kitchen.

Paint my living room virtually