Designing your baby's room? There's an (new) app for that.

With a baby due in about two months, the second question I typically hear (after "Is it a boy or a girl?") is "do you have the baby's room ready?" It seems that people who otherwise don't put much thought into interior design spend plenty of time painting a room to welcome a new baby, and carefully coordinate all the furniture and linens.

But where can these parents find inspiration? There's an app for that. On April 2, PixApps debuted Interior Design: Babies and Newborns. For 99 cents, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad users can scroll through more than 200 images of designs and themes for baby rooms. Last month, the same company released a version for teen rooms and a more general program offering ideas and concepts for interior design.

The iTunes store has plenty of interior design applications, some of which may be more practical now that the iPad's bigger screen can show larger design images. Here are some of the offerings:

• Interior Design: Best of 2010 also debuts this week. It is a 99-cent showcase of some creative offices, bedrooms, living rooms and more from the world's leading designers.
• A two-part 2009 app simply called Interior Design is basically a textbook for interior design concepts.
• For those who would rather watch than read their lessons, there is the 99-cent "Style Video: Interior Design," with video tutorials on remodeling the great indoors.
• Once you have some inspiration and want to choose some furniture, IKEA will gladly let you download a 2010 catalog for free. Likewise for Zara Home and a handful of clothing designers if you need to update your wardrobe while redesigning the closets.
• If you need to match a color you like or already have, try Ben Color Capture. It matches any color in a photo to one of Benjamin Moore's 3,300 available color samples. As the company warns, you may not get an exact match because of variations in lighting or screen calibration. You probably can't use the app to find a perfect match of your wall paint for some touchups. "Sherwin Williams ColorSnap" is the same concept with a different company's colors. Both applications are free, as the companies hope you are inspired to buy some new paint.
• Once you get down to actual interior design, planning and shopping, Mark on Call is indispensable. Even professional interior designers attest to using Mark Lewison's namesake program, but it also works for do-it-yourselfers. Users can create floor plans, work through a checklist of design items, incorporate their own photos of rooms and furniture items. After settling on a design, the program also helps you create a shopping list, including price estimates.

My soon-to-be-born son can't even properly focus his eyes for a while, but rest assured his dresser, bookcase and rocking chair all match. Thankfully, there is an app to help me continue the theme.

Posted by: Steve Graham

Photo credit: iTunes