Behr's ColorSmart Online: Preview Your Painting Ideas Before You Buy

There's nothing worse then going to the store, buying 2 paint colors that you *think* will look great, and finding out AFTER you've put two coats of each that they simply do not match. Let's face it, those little color samples always look good together, but once you multiple it by the size of your room, you never know what you are going to get! When I was repainting a few rooms in my new house, I used Behr's ColorSmart tools at www.behr.com to decide what colors I should choose, and I couldn't be happier with the results.

Signing up... It only takes a minute to create an account on Behr's website. It's FREE and easy to do. Signing up allows you to save your room design ideas. This may help you keep track of all the different paints you want to use. Once you do actually paint a room, having the paint colors stored on the site will help you remember what you used in the room in case you need to buy more in the future.

Next step is to Start ColorSmart... The program works through the website so you don't need any special software. It takes a minute to load, but once it's up, you are ready to start virtually painting in minutes! You can start by selecting colors you already know of, browsing colors in the online Behr Color Tool, or my favorite way is the Inspiration Library.

Color Name/Number: If you already know a color you like, you can use this option to search by color name or number. You can then order samples directly from the website! How nice is that?

Browse Colors: This option is nice if you know you like a particular color but don't know exactly what shade you want. You can start by picking Red, Orange, Yellow... through White. You are then able to browse through all different variations of that color until you find the exact one you want. I love this because the paper cards in the store are sometimes hard to flip through. With the website, I can say "let's see this color with a little more purple in it" and just like that I've got a new color to look at.

Inspiration Library: This library allows you to flip through photos of already painted rooms, plus some other images, to inspire you. You can choose any images that jump out at you and these are then used to help you choose a color pallet to work with for the rest of the tools.

Once you've chosen a color, see what goes with it... I was painting my bedroom ceiling and the room already had a bit of green throughout it, so I started by browsing green colors until I found one I liked the best, Sage Green. I could then choose Coordinate to see colors that would go well with the green for my walls and other parts of the room. While the choices that come up at first may not exactly match what you want, it does give you a starting point. After selecting the warm color pallet, I was then able to customize the different colors slightly until I ended up with a set of colors I really liked together.

Ok, but you are still looking at swatches, so now you have to preview it... Once you have your colors Coordinated, the next step is to preview it in a room! This is what makes the tool so outstanding. They have a pile of Sample Photos, and they now have the enhanced ability to add your own photo. When I designed my bedroom, they only had the sample photos, so I choose a bedroom sample as my preview. The samples are mostly all white with wood accents so you really have a blank template to paint. You can then click the colors in your pallet, and click parts of the room to paint it. It's really easy.

The new Use My Photo feature intrigued me, but it's not free so I did not try it out. I really think you can get a feel for how the paint will look in your room by using the sample photos. The furniture may be different but you can still get the general idea of how the colors look together and how they will look when painted on large areas of the room. You can save your designs to your workbook which is also a good feature because it means you could try various color schemes and then compare them all in your workbook afterward to see which one you like the best.

Finally, you can order samples or print it off... After your designing is done, you can order 8oz samples of the paint for $6.95 each. I didn't go that far as I felt like I already knew what I wanted. However if you are really concerned it might be nice to get the samples to see how they look together in person. If you are satisfied with your design decisions, and you don't feel the need for samples, then you can print off your decisions. The ColorSmart Tool even helps you estimate how much paint you will need based on your room size. The print out includes the different paints you choose (name and number), a list of the areas in the picture that you painted (i.e. walls - green, ceiling - white, etc), and the quantities that you have estimated. Now you are armed with enough information to go to Home Depot and tell them exactly what you want!

After the job was done... I was more than satisfied with the results. Everything was just how I pictured it would be. Behr's ColorSmart site is perfect for two kinds of people.

1. Those with a creative mind will love it because of all the different things you can preview. Sometimes creative people, myself included, have SO MANY ideas that they need to see them before deciding. This tool allowed me to see my ideas without wasting time painting over and over again.

2. Those with no creative bone in their body will also enjoy the site because it helps to tell you what goes well together. If you're horrible with matching colors, or have been laughed at for wearing an outfit that didn't match, this site will surely help you! It takes all the guesswork out of "what colors go with sage green?" and makes it into a virtually worry-free decision.

If you haven't signed up yet, then what are you waiting for! Go to www.behr.com now and create your free account. Even if you have no painting plans right now, playing on this site is likely to spark some ideas and make you want to paint! I've already redesigned multiple rooms in my house, now I just need a good excuse to redecorate. Enjoy!!