Sunday, April 22, 2012

Colors Realized with Chip It

Have you ever looked at a vintage magazine scan online and wished that you could match the colors to use in your own modern day home? How about that perfect shade of pink in the cute curtains on a catalog page? Sherwin Williams has this really cool program called Chip It that can help make it happen.

If the photo of the item that you want matched is already online, it's super easy. If not, just scan it in and post it online yourself. Your blog account would work great for this. You just drag their program into your toolbar and it's at the ready whenever you feel inspired. So when you're tooling around online and see a glorious color, you just click twice and hello, color swatches.

Take for instance, this beautiful photo from Homes and Antiques magazine online:




I clicked Chip It on my toolbar and two more clicks later, their program told me which colors from the over 1500 colors in the Sherwin Williams line of paint would be the closest to what's in this scene:



If I had been trying to do this by holding up paint swatches to the computer monitor...oh, what a nightmare! It literally takes less than sixty seconds to see the color swatches.

Here is a shot of some fabric that I sold on Etsy last year.



Let's see what kind of colors the program will give us.



I think that it did a pretty great job. It's interesting that it even tries to match the tiniest little bits of colors in a photo. Sure, if you have the fabric on hand, any paint store can match it with their color matching service. If you don't though and just see a color online that appeals to you, I think this program could be aces.

Super cool, huh? It was so quick and easy that I've already done a dozen of them in the past ten minutes just for kicks. Click here to see a quick tutorial : Sherwin Williams Chip It. Then you can grab the program for free and put it in your toolbar. Easy Peasy. Done.

So, if you've ever wanted to match that pastel cabinet color in an ad from a 1956 issue of Better Homes and Gardens - or the beautiful shade of mint green in that old photo of your grandmother's living room, you just might come pretty close!

Until next time,
x's and o's,
Eartha

16 comments:

Rae - Say It Aint So said...

very cool! that would have really come in handy when we were trying to match the color in the wall paper in our living room!

Perdita Tinsel said...

I've actually sat on that very sofa in that room! It was in the Royal Festival Hall last year- a celebration of 50s British design!

Miriam said...

Thank you so much! That's awesome and I'm installing it now!!

Marite said...

Thank you for sharing :)
and you have such a lovely blog ^^

K0dama said...

that is totally cool!

DearHelenHartman said...

Fun and practical - and your blog tip is good too! I would have been in the paint section trying to get the website I saw on my phone to show the poor paint mixer while hubby hid in housewares. MUCH easier on all of us.

Lisa said...

I'm so trying this! I love the two "chip palettes" you brought together with those patterns, too. Ugh! Gorgeous.

Sara In AZ said...

Really cool, thanks for the heads up Eartha! I will definitely be giving this a try in the future....I hope soon...when we find our dream retro house!

Kally said...

The wallpaper and fabrics are all by Sanderson in the UK, you will be able to find them online or you can order free samples on their website.

I've got loads of their sample squares which are about 9"x9", I'm going to make them into four-panelled cushions.

cheshirecat666 said...

whoah,what a cool fun thing! I can't tell you how many times Ive had "arguments" with pals over what's sea foam green and what's turquoise,etc. I can't wait to have fun with this!

cheshirecat666 said...

Okay,I am now obsessed with this. I already used it in a "HA! I told you that was sea foam green!" (known in Sherman Williams world as "Surfer") and my Mom totally flipped cos it will be a super handy tool in her quilting! She's gonna tell her quiltin' hens about it,too. You done good,girl!

BEESTLYproducts said...

who's scanning in every vintage sears catalog they own? this guy.

Lakota [Faith Hope and Charity Shopping] said...

That's such a great idea - it did a pretty good job too.

SUZY8-TRACK said...

That is so awesome! Definitely going to give that a try. Thanks for sharing!

danielle thompson said...

this is so awesome! thanks for sharing!

Barbara said...

Oh my god this is so cool!!!