• by Chuck Martin , Staff Writer, October 12, 2018

Mixed reality for interior design and room planning is making a major leap forward.

Online furniture retailer Wayfair has launched Wayfair Spaces, an interior space planning app so consumers can visualize products in their homes at scale through mixed reality.

This is a next generation of augmented reality, using Magic Leap One, Creator Edition, powered by Magic Leap’s spatial computing platform.

Other retailers, such as Ikea and Overstock, have augmented reality applications in their apps that allow consumers to visualize furniture in their homes. Wayfair Spaces adds to that type of experience a palette of three-dimensional rooms professionally curated by Wayfair’s 3D artists and stylists, including cotemporary living rooms and coastal kitchens.

Wayfair Spaces works with the Magic Leap One AR headset and consumers can move furniture by aiming a hand-held device at it, as detailed in a Wayfair video.

“We know that visual inspiration and discovery are key to creating the best possible shopping experience for home,” stated Steve Conine, co-chairman and co-founder, Wayfair in the product announcement. “That’s why we’ve always taken the lead in setting industry standards in 3D modeling and visualization, and in building innovative applications that will transform the way people shop for their homes. Alongside Magic Leap, we’re on the forefront of one of the most visionary explorations of what’s possible in retail, as mixed reality and spatial computing influence the future of the customer experience.”

Consumers are not likely to be doing this soon at their homes, unless they plan to shell out $2,300 for the mixed reality headset. However, it does show the direction that the mixed reality market is heading. Also, the price of connected eyewear will come down over time as new mixed reality headsets in the form of glasses enter the market.