To choose your paint colors, you have various options.
Choosing your paint colors by yourself with free tools
Even though you could hire a professional decorator for selecting the new paint colors for your property, you can also use free tolls available online. It’s a good option to reduce your expenditures for the renovation or refurbishment of your house, condo, or commercial office. Sico Colour Palette allows you to see the colors online from home. Note the color codes that you like before going to the retail store.
Another very interesting tool, the Benjamin Moore Personal Color viewer allows you to upload a picture of your room and change the colors directly on the screen. This means you don’t need to paint a whole wall to see the effect of a color on your property. The color that appears on screen gives you a very good idea of what it will look like on your wall.
There is an iPhone application called Colour Capture that allows you to take the picture of a surface anywhere and to find the equivalent color code for Benjamin Moore paints. For example, if you are in a store that has a blue wall and you like that color, you simply have to take a picture of the wall using your smartphone, and the application gives you automatically the corresponding paint color code from Benjamin Moore.
A few tips to help you find the right paint colors
- Preview the colors online before going to the paint store.
- When in doubt, try a paint sample and spread it on a wall using a foam roller bought at the dollar store.
- Ask for the opinion of your paint contractor or ask the people who often go in the building you want to paint.
- Proceed by elimination if you like many colors.
- Do not use over 3 colors in the same room as it would look over-crowded. However, it’s possible to mix and match matt and glossy finish of a same color on different surfaces of a room (matt white for the ceiling and glossy white for the walls).
- Prefer off-white instead of white white. When it’s too white, the dirt stands out more.
Hiring an interior designor or a decorator?
The interior designer (interior architect) transforms the room layouts, creates or chooses personalized furniture, selects the materials, searches for accessories, and more.
The decorator (decoration advisor) specializes in one of the services offered by the interior designer: he matched the fabrics, paint colors and wallpapers, rugs, curtains, lamps and other accessories.
In other words, if your renovation project only includes ceilings and walls painting, a decorator will be able to help. However, if you look forward to a larger project, ask for a designer.
FinDecor offers the service of guiding you in your choice of paint colors. However, it’s important that you understand that we are not decorators, but building painters. Benjamin Moore Signature stores have decorators.
Dave Beaupre
Master painter
