Stuck on Paint Colors? Use These Free Apps to Decide!

Key Takeaways

  • Overcoming Paint Selection Stress: Choosing paint colors is often the most challenging part of a home renovation or painting project, but mobile applications have made color-matching and palette planning accessible to everyone for free.
  • Leveraging Brand-Specific Apps: Major paint manufacturers provide dedicated apps—such as Dunn-Edwards InstaColor (referencing Dunn-Edwards), Sherwin-Williams ColorSnap Visualizer, Benjamin Moore Color Capture, ColorSmart by BEHR, and Valspar Color Connect—that let users snap photos, match real-world objects to paint swatches, and preview rooms digitally.
  • Digital Tools vs. Physical Sampling: While digital apps streamline inspiration and color matching, they are only initial guide tools. Always consult a paint professional and request physical paint samples to test colors under actual room lighting conditions before making a final purchase.
home remodeling blog about mobile apps

As a painting and general contractor, we’ve painted plenty of homes and we can honestly say the most challenging task for a homeowner is picking the right colors. Whether it’s coordinating a new color with an existing color in your home, or finding an all new color palette, we usually do our best to help and make suggestions. However, the decision ultimately still rests on you. But there’s no need to stress out too much about it because choosing colors can be fun – if you have the right tools to help you.

The most common tool for choosing the perfect paint color has always been a fan deck. Unlike a color wheel, a fan deck consists of easy-to-view strips arranged by color family featuring various shades and intensities of the same hue. But these fan decks are usually only available to the contractors or can be found at your local paint store in the hands of an associate. And if you wanted to take home a fan deck from your local paint store, the answer will be no or someone took the last one.

In some cases, you may even be told they are for sale only. Thankfully, the internet and smart phones have helped evolve the paint industry by pushing paint vendors to build mobile tools to help make the color choosing process easier. The best part is they are all free. From color picking, to paint choices, here are a few that will simplify your life tremendously!