Like many home renovations, painting your home can be an intimidating prospect — especially for someone who’s never done it before. How do I know that?
Because I’m one of those people.
It’s something we’ve considered on a few occasions, like when we purchased our first home and when we set up the nursery for our little one a few years later, but those experiences were already overwhelming (and expensive) enough.
Quite frankly, we didn’t want the added hassle.
In today’s day and age, consumers are more demanding than ever before. We want a quick, seamless shopping experience. And my perception of purchasing paint hasn’t always been that.
I’ve seen friends and family members do it, sometimes taking weeks if not months to decide on a specific colour after going through endless swatches at different stores and then taking home samples to paint on parts of their walls. And that’s just the first step.
Like I said, it’s an intimidating prospect.
That’s why I was excited to try out Roomvo’s enhanced paint visualizer, which allows shoppers to see what different paint colours would look like on their walls by simply uploading a photo of their space and browsing through a retailer or manufacturer’s products.
Here’s how I fared.
Step 1: Upload photo
For context, I used the Roomvo visualizer at ColourSpark.ca. I opted to use my computer, but the process is very similar on a mobile device.
After hitting “Room Visualizer” on the navigation bar, the first step is to either upload a photo or select one of the demo rooms. I uploaded a photo of my bedroom that I took on my phone.
More than any other room in our home, this is the one we’ve been wanting to paint for a while. With the large bookshelf surrounding the bed and the view of the mountains and greenery peeking in through the window, we feel like this room has a lot of potential.
At the same time, the walls are rather dull. We don’t mind the existing combination of a darker and lighter grey – it’s what we have throughout our home. But it’s a fairly muted look to begin with and the colours have faded a bit over time. Not to mention: if you look closely, you’ll notice that there are a few streaks visible that were used to patch up previous imperfections.
In order to create more of a “wow” factor and truly unlock this room’s full potential, we felt a paint job was needed.
Step 2: Select colour(s)
Here’s where it gets fun.
After uploading my photo, I’m now able to browse through the full catalogue of Colour Spark paints that appear on the left panel and, with the click of a button, preview what they’re going to look like in my room.
I’ll be honest with you: we didn’t go into this with any particular colour scheme in mind. As noted above, the goal was simply to bring the room to life. We’re open to whatever colour(s) will help accomplish that.
As you can see, both walls are selected to begin with. So, I can either go with the same colour on both walls, or I can select one wall at a time and choose a different colour for each surface to maintain the presence of an accent wall.
Let’s start there.
At first, we were drawn to Charcoal Black and Clay Mask Green, as we like how those two colours complement each other. But using the compare feature, we can now see that Charcoal Black looks nearly identical to the colour of our existing accent wall. We’re not sure that will freshen up our look to the extent that we want, so we’re going to keep playing around.
The other colour that caught our eye is Stellar Navy. While we thought it looked quite sharp in tandem with some of the lighter grey tones available, again, the combination didn’t feel fresh enough for our liking, as we already have a lighter grey wall.
We’re still big fans of the navy, though, so we eventually decided to try it out on both walls. And right away, we felt like that was the one.
Step 3: Make a decision
So Stellar Navy, it is.
After seeing the room come to life with the same colour all around, we really like how the white bookshelf becomes the focal point of the room, rather than an accent wall. Along the same lines, the darker shade of the navy helps accentuate the bookshelf and window even further, while still adding a splash of colour to the space compared to the greys we currently have.
It just feels right.
And that’s the beauty of all of this. I can sample all the colours and combinations I want, without the limitations that come with using physical samples, to help me come to a decision I’m confident in. As someone who wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted in the first place, that’s a game-changer.
Initially, I was a bit worried that the visualizer would spit out something resembling a rushed Photoshop job and not provide a realistic depiction of what the room might actually look like, but that’s definitely not the case. I was impressed with the level of detail I saw, particularly how the shadows and lighting on the walls were maintained from my original photo.
Once again, this gives me confidence that I know exactly what I’m getting and there aren’t going to be any surprises once the paint’s up on the wall.
Step 4: Purchase paint
To complete the visualization process, I can now email the photo to someone or download it onto my device using the buttons on the right panel. There’s also a button that takes you to the product page, where you can find direct purchase links from the retailers that carry the paint you’re looking for.
Just like that!
So, maybe buying paint doesn’t have to be as stressful as it seemed. Not only was this a painless experience, it was also, dare I say, kind of fun.
I’m already looking forward to painting the nursery next.
Subscribe to our blog below to stay up-to-date on Roomvo’s latest paint innovations and learn more about how room visualization can simplify the painting experience for shoppers.
