High-tech Decorating: Managing Home Decorating the New-fashioned Way

With warm weather in full swing – and better ventilation from all those opened windows – summer is a popular time for homeowners to tackle redecorating and renovation projects. Smartphone users can take advantage of some mobile tools to turn inspiration into reality.

Wall color is an important part of transforming a room, but selecting the perfect shade can mean spending hours walking up and down aisles comparing paint samples. Apps like Behr Paint’s ColorSmart allow DIY painters to pick out the perfect color before even arriving at the store. Then, by uploading an image of the room to be painted, they can see how the color will look and determine the approximate quantity of paint needed, so all they need to do at the store is grab their paint and go.

Sometimes, a homeowner may spot the perfect color for a particular space while they are out and about. They can snap a picture and upload it to Benjamin Moore’s Color Capture app to see if it matches one of more than 3,500 paint options the company offers, also reducing in-store time and frustration.

Beyond figuring out paint colors, homeowners can find new inspiration and pin design ideas and items they still need for their new spaces with the Pinterest app, which allows them to save photos, Web pages and other information they can access anywhere. To collaborate with family and friends on these ideas, they can share their boards and keep everyone up to date on their progress by posting before and after photos. 

Above all, it’s important to see the big picture during any home decorating process. The panorama function found on smartphones such as the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 stitches together shots taken in succession to create one seamless image of a large space.