Feel like freshening up your decor now that spring is here? Changing the colour of a wall can do miracles. Virtual paint makes it child’s play to imagine the effect of a colour on a wall, furniture or an accessory. We had a look at a few sites for you that offer a virtual paint service: CIL, Sico and Benjamin Moore.
Generally speaking, you start by choosing the room to paint: bedroom, bathroom, hallway, living room, office, etc. You can choose from many styles.
The next step is to select a colour palette. The blues, greens, reds, oranges, yellows, etc. differ from one collection to another.
CIL has the advantage of letting you easily change the colour of a wall, a tablecloth, a ceiling, baseboards, doors, frames and more by simply sliding your choice of colour to the desired place in the virtual room. Their tool is user-friendly, but the choice isn’t completely accurate due to the lack of a personalized program.
A test version on the Benjamin Moore site only lets you change the walls. Another free version that you can download lets you recreate your own environment.
We didn’t like the free online version by Sico of Akzo Nobel Canada Inc. We could only access a demonstrator colour palette like the in-store pamphlets. To play with details, you have to download their Xpert virtual decorator for $17. You can then create rooms and paint them virtually.
Obviously there’s no guarantee on how a colour will actually appear. However, you do save a great deal of time and money because the process of choosing colours and where to apply them is greatly simplified.
Talking decoration with your family will become fun. Virtual paint makes it easier to defend your tastes and open up to other people’s tastes.
Sources: CIL, Benjamin Moore, Sico d’Akzo Nobel Canada Inc.