Hi everyone! I hope you’re well and having an amazing day.
Lately I’ve been spending time in my gardens, going to the beach, enjoying the sunny outdoors and painting furniture. Or should I say… prepping furniture.
I have umpteen pieces on the go and not one of them is anywhere near finished. I’ve been picking a project, prepping it, and then engaging in an intense-stare-down trying to choose the perfect color(s) to paint it.
Color choice usually comes fairly easy to me, but I think with all this fun-in-the-sun, my right-brain has over-heated.
The other day when I was sitting and staring at yet another piece, it came to me… this would make a GREAT blog post.
I can’t possibly be the only one who looks at a piece of furniture (for what seems like forever) trying to figure out what color it should be.
Luckily, there’s no lack of online-tools to help a girl out. Here’s what I’ve learned to do when a little inspiration is needed to get the right-brain flowing again…
COLOR VISUALIZERS!
My all time favorite go-to image-editor is Photoshop (PS). Although PS is pricey and does have a learning curve, there’s nothing this software can’t do. When I’m stumped, I use Photoshop to help me visualize my furniture in different colors.
For the examples on this page, I uploaded a photo of this French Provincial Dresser and then played with the Hue/Saturation Adjustment tool to completely change the colors and tones.
To show more variety, I used the Exposure to create the ombre effect so I can see different shades in the same color family.
You don’t have Photoshop? You don’t need it!
There are online photo-editors that will work as color visualizers. They are FREE and easy to use.
They provide the same Hue/Saturation and Exposure tools that PS does so you can upload your furniture and see what it looks like in different colors/shades. A few popular online-photo-editors are Pixlr (my fav), FotoFlexer, and PicMonkey.
I used Pixlr when trying to decide on a color for the back of this China-Cabinet.
Sherwin Williams Color Visualizer is another free tool I love. SW Paints provides a FREE online software to help you choose the perfect color(s) for your projects. This tool can be used to choose paint color for your walls, floors, ceilings, trim, cabinets and yes, your painted furniture!
Super convenient because once you find a color you like, SW gives the exact name/color code of the paint. Armed with this info, you can go buy paint with zero hassles. No more trying to choose a color from a small paint chip under weird lighting in the paint store.
I’ve also used the SW Visualizer to help clients decide on their perfect color choice. If they are having a difficult time deciding between 2 shades of blue, it’s helpful to upload a pic of their piece so they can see both shades ON the furniture!
Below is a screen capture of me using it to find a color for a MCM Dresser. I ended up choosing SW Ravishing Coral #6612.
Benjamin Moore Color Viewer is another free tool. With BM, all they ask is that you to register with an email address before using the service.
So, if you’ve ever been frustrated and confused (as I’ve been lately!) trying to choose the perfect paint color for ANY project, I hope you find these tools helpful. Also if you have any other suggestions to get the “color inspiration” flowing.. chime in… I always love hearing from you!
Happy Painting,
Denise x
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Excellent Blog Dee. thank you.
Thanks for this. I’ve been trying to paint more and go online less, but this is a great help. Maybe I really will paint more now.
I love it when a piece tells me what color it wants to be, but there are plenty of pieces that don’t know themselves all that well! LOL
I agree MJ..lol!
Excellent post!! I am going to try this out, I’ve been stumped on a few pieces of furniture that I have put aside waiting on some inspiration!! Thanks!!
Kelly T
Thanks Kelly! I hope it inspires! 🙂
Oh Denise I’ve been in this position many times and everytime I jump into a piece I usually end up repainting it. I have to let my piece speak to me. Sometimes I’ll have a piece for months before I touch it. I do have a question about the photo editing tools and how they work. The china hutch with the different color background, how did you do that without the whole piece being that color? I use Pixir for editing but didn’t know it could do this.
Thanks for this great blog!
Exactly Josi… it can be frustrating when ‘inspiration’ isn’t flowing. I’m waiting for my furniture to speak but lately I’ve been ignored…lol. To achieve the different backboard on the china-cabinet I used Pixlr’s Color-Replace-Tool. When using photo-editors there are SOOOO many different ways to get the same effect (layers mask etc) but you can Google the effect you desire and get a ton of vids to help you out. Here’s a quick video on the Color Replace Tool. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ1rLdhXgJ8
Thank You!