Matching Digital Colors to Actual Paint Colors

Have you ever seen the perfect color on a website or Pinterest and wondered how to translate it into a physical paint color for your project?  As a designer, I am often asked to select paint colors for my clients based on a digital image emailed to me or found on a website.

It is well understood that factors like scale, lighting, reflection, and existing items influence paint color selection making it a multi-step task.  So where do you start?

Let me share my process. The links below explain the “how-to” of the EasyRGB tool that converts hexadecimal colors (shorthand codes for screen colors)  into actual paint colors in many different paint brands. The EasyRGB isn’t by any means a conclusive solution to my needs, but it is a great leverage point. Read below for how to use it:

 

How To Select & Match Digital Colors to actual paint colors

  • Download/Install Colorzilla Eyedropper Color Picker
  • Select the eyedropper in the right hand of your computer screen
  • Hover over image or paint color you want to match and click/select.
  • The Hex code will automatically save to your clipboard or write down the number you wish to save.
  • In your browser open: http://www.easyrgb.com/index.php?X=SEEK#Result
  • Insert or paste hex color in selection area
  • Then, just below select the paint collection, i.e. Benjamin Moore, etc.

 

As a best practice, once I have my paint colors narrowed, I test samples of them in the room against a white background. To do so, I use color swatches from my Benjamin Moore paint color library centered to one side of a white-colored board making sure to leave the remaining 3 edges of the swatch surrounded by a  white border. See below:

Do this

 

Not this

Alternatively, you can paint 2 coats of your color on a white-colored poster board. The white border creates an unbiased background between the new paint colors and existing items remaining in the room design. It greatly reduces the influence of the old paint color from what I see and provides a more accurate way to visualize the true impact of the new color. Using a board also allows me to see how well my new paint colors interact with the existing furnishings at different times of the day in varying locations and lights.

So there you have it. My paint color choosing process. There will always be uncertainty around choosing the exact paint color until it fills the walls but doing this is a great way to try before you buy and help eliminate expensive mistakes.

Best of luck!