(ARA) - Hold off on the adhesives and tools, forget about drop matches and simply click until your room is done. That's right, your computer screen will soon act as your personal palate to visualize wallcoverings, fabrics, flooring and bedding. The home shopper will soon be able to view patterns online and paste them onto the walls, commitment free. Home decorating has never been easier, thanks to Home Fashion Partners, publisher of "The Wallpaper Guide," and new United Kingdom partners interactivstudios.

Since 1977 "The Wallpaper Guide" has simplified shopping by categorizing more than 90,000 wallcovering patterns for easy reference, and the guide's Web site, www.wallpaperguide.com, has been a household name for almost five years because it allows wallpaper shoppers to browse through thousands of available patterns. Constantly growing from its inception in 1997, the site receives more than 5 million hits a month. Now with room rendering technology designed by interactivstudios, patterns can be tried on for size.

Choose plaids, stripes, damasks or fauxs from the Web site's Featured Collections Showroom and view the full repeat, as well as the interaction with all aspects of the room. In one click you have a new room. From there users can choose to save the image, print a high-resolution copy and start again. Plus, the site will offer product information and direct purchasing. The same process can be used for coordinating accessories, making the site a one-stop shopping endeavor.

This innovative tool is one step closer to being available in your home thanks to an agreement between Home Fashion Partners and interactivstudios. Interactivstudios, based in Nottingham, England is a growing internet technology company that has more than quadrupled its staff in the past two years. The company's most notable success has been with its interior design Web site, www.interiorstudio.com, currently the only site of its type that allows consumers to decorate virtual rooms with real world interior products.

This is the technology that will be combined with "The Wallpaper Guide's" extensive pattern database. The results let the customer plug and play with thousands of designs and turn their living room into the subject of a digital redecoration project. Home Fashion Partners will be the exclusive North American agents for this technology.

Alan Hancock, managing director of interactivstudios, is excited about the union. "Our unique software and approach to new media solutions seems to be hitting the mark," he said. "The site appeals as much to the professional designer as to the consumer, enabling [them] to visualize products in a real room environment."

All involved on this side of the big pond are equally eager about the possibilities of this technology. "We are happy to offer solutions to one of the biggest dilemmas that our industry faces, which is the reluctance of the consumer to purchase wallcoverings without being able to envision the finished product," said Mark E. Langman, president of Home Fashion Partners. "Now they will be able to see what a finished room will look like," he added.

Web users will be able to experience their own virtual decorating by the end of the summer. Simply click onto www.wallpaperguide.com and visit the Featured Collections Showroom. Thanks to "The Wallpaper Guide" and interactivestudios, a new room is only a few clicks away.

Courtesy of ARA Content