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Find the exact paint color you need with this handy tool
Painting your home can be time-consuming and frustrating, and most of our time is wasted trying to pick the right colors for each room.
If you’re anything like me, you’ve wasted time sitting around with paint swatches just looking down at them then up at the wall. Rinse and repeat. Tap or click here for 7 of the smartest productivity tools to improve work performance.
With all the tech in the world, it was only a matter of time until someone came along to make the tedious task of picking the right paint color just a little bit easier. Take a look at how something as simple as an app can help speed up your DIY project.
Lasers, camera, action
Benjamin Moore, the well-known paint producing company, has come out with a tool to help you make the right decision the next time you want to paint a room: The ColorReader Tool and its accompanying app, Color Portfolio.
The standard ColorReader Tool is a physical color picker you can buy online through the Benjamin Moore website. It uses a small camera and laser to match whichever color you want. Now, you might be thinking, “Oh, so it can just tell me something is blue?” Well, yes, but it can do so much more than that.
ColorReader can match a color EXACTLY. This means if you’re wearing a shirt that has a beautiful shade of blue you want for your wall, you can use the tool to get that precise color. Take it to the paint store and get the exact shade you’re looking for.
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The ColorReader tool comes in two different variations: The standard model, which is $99 and the pro model, which is $249. The Pro model comes with an OLED screen that allows you to view the color you’re capturing in much the same way as a digital camera reveals your photos.
Once you get the tool, it’s time to download the companion app. This app can do a ton of different tasks that go into painting a room.
Deciding made easy
Color Portfolio has a ton of special features to make your next project as easy as 1, 2, 3.
When you open the app you gain access to four different features: Collections, Video Visualizers, Photo Visualizer and ColorReader. Here’s a quick video to demonstrate what you can expect:
Think that’s cool? Just wait until you sync the tool with the app. Remember that blue shirt you love? Once you copy the exact color with the reading tool, you can import it into the app.
Just like any other Bluetooth device, you will need to make sure you have the Bluetooth turned on in your phone’s settings. Having trouble? Tap or click here to troubleshoot your Bluetooth issues.
Once your phone is paired to the ColorReader, access Color Portfolio to import the shade of blue and boom! You can use the video or photo visualizer to see how that color would look in that room.
The Collections button will open up a slew of digital paint swatches. This has all of the latest colors from Benjamin Moore.
You can open up one of its signature collections and scroll through the different options. While this might seem like just like a normal color swatch pallet, it’s actually so much more. Once you find the color you want, select it and move on to the next feature.
Video & Photo Visualizer
The Video Visualizer function allows you to see the color you like on the surface you want. Virtually paint your walls using the video function on your smartphone. Walk around your home to see how each wall, tabletop, couch — any solid-colored surface in your home can look with that particular shade.
No more having to move all the furniture out and just hoping it looks good with the new paint. Now, you can use the Video Visualizer to see how the fully furnished room looks with the new wall color.
Next, you have a Photo Visualizer. This works much the same way as Video Visualizer, but it allows you to use a pre-existing image of the desired room to add colors to different walls.
Say you want to show someone what the room would look like to get their opinion. Use the photo visualizer to “paint” the walls, then send them the picture through text or email.
This tool and companion app might be a little outside the casual user’s price range, but that’s not to say it’s a bad tool. This might be ideal for designers, contractors and architects. So while this may not be the be-all and end-all when it comes to painting your home, it could make your next project a bit easier.
Tags: painting, Productivity Tools, settings, YouTube
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