“I’m like, ‘Bro, how much furniture do you think I buy??'”

I forget who said this while I was working on AR at Google, but it’s always made me laugh, because nearly every demo inevitably gets into the territory of, “Don’t you wish you could see whether this sofa fits in your space?”

Still, though, it’s a useful capability—especially if one can offer a large enough corpus of 3D models (something we found challenging, at least a few years back). Now, per the Verge:

Pinterest is adding a “Try On for Home Decor” feature to its app, letting you see furniture from stores like Crate & Barrel, CB2, Walmart, West Elm, and Wayfair in your house… According to the company’s announcement post, you’ll be able to use its Lens camera to try out over 80,000 pieces of furniture from “shoppable Pins.”

As the article notes,

Of course, this isn’t a new idea — Ikea’s app lets you drop virtual furniture into your house in 2013, and in the almost decade since, companies like Target, Amazon, Shopify, and even Etsy have introduced ways to let you see how certain products will work in your house. Other companies, like Walmart, have gone even further, imagining (and trademarking ideas for) entire virtual shopping experiences.

To me the progress here is access & ubiquity, making it commonly possible for shoppers to try these experiences. I’m glad to see it.