palette.

So I finally got around to measuring all the possible swatches for my house (well, the ones I like) using a free utility called i1Share. It measures the L*a*b* values (for non-color geeks those are values as close as possible to what our eyes see) for each swatch and then exports them to a file format that Photoshop can use and that I can grab from when trying different painting options. Go ahead and click on any of these images to see a larger version.

The current dilemma then ... choosing the colors for the outside of the house (I need two + white) so I can paint the new stair railings, treads and the new lattice I'm going to be installing. So a while back I took a photo of my house and masked out all the different trim and siding and stuff (using the brush tool for those that know Photoshop) -

After probably an hour or so I was finished. So, for example, here's what the channel looks like of everything that is currently painted light brown -

Everything that is white will be colored whatever I choose while everything that is black will not be affected. And then as a mask (so you can see the rest of the photo) -

Then it was just a matter of selecting the various channels (and combining multiple ones as needed) and applying a color. So using the palette I measured above, I can just take the eyedropper tool, pick a color from the swatches palette and apply it to any of those masked areas to see what color it will look like.

The layers palette in Photoshop begins to look a little crazy but I name them all something descriptive so I can tell what each one is doing and sort of keep it sane -

So then I can just turn them on and off to see the different paint options (and there's a layer comps feature which is also super-helpful that allows you to group lots of different layer options together and toggle on/off with just one click).

So here's a layer comp called 'now' showing my house in its, well, totally crappy current state -

Then a comp using HC-109 sussex green for the siding, HC-111 nantucket grey for some of the woodwork, white of course for all the trim and a dark brown (TBD) for the porch floor, lattice and stair treads -

The possibilities are sort of endless. Like maybe the stair risers are too white and should be the nantucket gray color? Or the siding should be a different color. Or the trim. And on and on.

And I guess I have to admit that yes, there is actually quite a bit of Photoshop trickery that must happen to retain all the shading of the original photo and to actually match the swatches with the colors being applied in the photo so it's not as easy as I made it sound, but once you know how to do it it's actually really pretty cool.

I haven't landed on anything yet but will play with it for the next few days so I can get some paint and get those railings finished. And to help with the ol' curb appeal I plan on updating my house numbers to these. Or maybe these.