Smart tips for smartphones

Description: Called the "Wikipedia of interior and exterior design" by CNN, Houzz has a huge database of home design ideas, with more than 500,000 high-resolution photos. Browse photos by style, room and location and save them to your virtual idea book -- it's the equivalent of clipping design magazines for a scrapbook -- making ideas easier to search, save and share. You can save your photos for on-the-go access.

Price: Free

Maxwell's take: "It's a site that's grown really fast and it's really useful. However, there's not much character to it."

Description: For technical facts and figures, this app doesn't play around. Take a picture of furniture or living space and highlight the dimensions you need. This app is perfect for when you're out and about and need to double-check your home's facts when you're in the hardware, furniture or appliance store.

Price: $4

Maxwell's take: "This is great. It helps you avoid mistakes and return trips. It even measures nooks and crannies."

Description: Point your Windows Phone camera and snap colors that surround you to find their RGB and hexadecimal matches, which are helpful for designers of all categories. When looking for the perfect tone for room accents, save colors for later that strike your fancy.

Maxwell's take: "I like color apps from paint companies, too. Yes, they're marketing tools, but they do interesting things and they're free. Chip It! by Sherwin-Williams lets you photograph a rug or something, and then it will create a palette of paint chips."

Description: Feng shui is the popular spiritual art of home decor, which promotes the creed that a good home layout brings peace, health and prosperity in your everyday life. In finding the Earth's polarity and energy flow, you will be able to find the optimal placement of furniture. The Feng Shui Kua Finder app makes it easier for beginners to jump in by inputting the data surrounding their living space and in return receiving data back that are easy to digest.

Price: Free

Maxwell's take: "I think this is fun but actually useful, too."

Description: Check on your family, your home, your stuff -- right from the palm of your hand. VueZone lets you remotely take a glimpse into the other parts of your life from anywhere.