You may THINK you have the right color...

Choosing paint colors is a tricky task, particularly if all you have to go on are tiny paint chips from the hardware store. It's easy to be disappointed when you see the little square of color reproduced life-sized on your living room walls. Paint companies know this. They also want satisfied customers as much as any other business, so they have created some fantastic interactive color design tools on the Internet.

We recommend both Benjamin Moore and Sherwin-Williams paints both for their quality and choice of colors, and we can now recommend them for their user-friendly online design tools. These apps can make choosing house and room colors not only less daunting but downright fun. In fact, you can get downright captivated by the many color schemes you can create in just a few minutes. All of the colors are keyed to each manufacturer's paints, of course, so all you have to do is note down the names and numbers and go buy them. (Or tell your painting contractor.)

Sherwin-Williams Depends on Drag and Drop

Sherwin-Williams' "Visualizer" follows a more traditional approach. First you select an interior scene (bedroom, living room, etc.) or an exterior scene (Colonial, Victorian, etc.). The software displays a photo of a room or a house painted white. You also have the option of uploading one of your own photos, so you can design with your own home as the canvas.

Next you select a color palette, using one of their color collections or by entering one of their color names or numbers. The Visualizer lets you pick and choose from the swatches in the palette and also to adjust the colors by going for shades that are lighter, darker, more orange, and so on. This expands your working palette.

When you see a color you like, you drag and drop it onto a part of the photo - a wall in the bedroom, for example, or the trim boards on an exterior view. The Visualizer fills in that part of the image with the color you selected. You can drag colors onto other walls or sections of the image and change to new colors until you have the combination that you'd like to see on your home.

Benjamin Moore Has Style

Benjamin takes a different approach. Its "Design by What Matters" tool uses a brief lifestyle survey to figure out what your personal preferences are. For example, it asks questions like "What does your dream view look like?" and "What type of movie would you act in?" and shows several alternatives to choose from.

After the survey, the designer creates a palette by asking you to either download a photo that you really like, pick a color that suits your personality, or let it surprise you. (Try them all - it's worth it to see the differences.)

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