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Digital Painting - Homeowners Nail It Before Painting

Submitted by: Conceptor
Created: Aug 20, 2007, 10:10 am

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The Elevator Pitch

For Homeowners who want to see their color selections, of their home, before painting the Nail It Before Painting is a home improvement service that saves money and time. Unlike trying to paint based on color chip pasted on the wall our product let's you see your room, in the exact color you've selected before any paiting is done.

The Idea

A service for homeowners who would like to see the color of their house, interior or exterior, presented on a computer and in print, before any physical painting is started.

The concept is not new in today’s painting and decorating market, in fact many major paint companies sell software to try and help visualize and big box stores have mini kiosks to do the same, but here's the perpetual problem: what you see on a monitor/screen or in print rarely matches the color in a can of paint.

New Perspective/Idea: Establish several key components: trained person to take digital picture of home; use software such as photoshop to prep pictures once taken; use software that contains paint manufacturer’s colors and made specifically for virtual painting; color calibrate monitor and printer; and install best grade desktops and printers for use in operation.

The service model would include the following: set appointments with homeowner to have digital picture taken of select rooms in the house; pictures are then downloaded and prepped (ie, white balance photos, essentially get truest colors in place) for next step, which is to meet with color consultant; staff consultant meets with homeowners (typically 1 hour) and paints select rooms with designated software; print finished look (print out should match what was seen on monitor).

The key to solving the ongoing problem is getting the best quality picture in print, which enables either the paint store to visually match using their internal process or industry-related color matching hardware (spectrophotometer) to get a color match, with minimal to no color variation, thus taking the guesswork out what knowing all the colors in a can of paint.

I thought of this idea when I was...

After leaving the corporate world, I wanted to bring technology and my background in hospitality management to improve an industry (home improvement -contractors) well known for sub standard service and professionalism, not to mention a lack of technology.

Comments Posted

Conceptor Posted: August 20, 2007, 10:36 am

The following questions I'd like to answer:

1. If you're a homeowner, typically handling this as a do it yourself project, would you pay for example $75 for this service?

2. If you're hiring a paint contractor to do the work, would incliding this service for a charge in the bid be acceptable?

fossiloflife Posted: August 21, 2007, 2:46 am

neat one! like it!

firefox Posted: August 22, 2007, 10:46 pm

Yes for both questions. Like it.

Rosary_Monday Posted: August 23, 2007, 5:11 am

I believe, manual mixing will always matter however visualization and perspective one could imagine.

bcforrester Posted: August 23, 2007, 8:39 am

I would use this service if it could be done by myself - ie I have a camera, photo software, colour printer etc, Could you package all this in a DIY kit and sell for $20? I would be adverse to paying someone $$ to do this for me.

cRitter Posted: August 23, 2007, 10:46 am

i believe a majority of the paint manufacturers already have some flash variation of this idea for free. while they do not typically include the ability to upload your own photos, the extra service charge doesn't incite me to spend more.

HerbCSO Posted: August 23, 2007, 9:30 pm

Seems like it'd be too expensive to do all this. Sounds like the kind of thing you could sell in the higher-end markets, though (think McMansions...! ;] ).

Conceptor Posted: August 24, 2007, 10:17 am

thanks to each for your comments.

bcforrester: thank you for your input, and thoughts regarding a DYI kit. Perhaps a place where one could bring in their own photos and have the available hardware/software to produce a color for their projects.

iLabrador Posted: August 24, 2007, 9:53 pm

I like this but how is it different from PErpspective sofware on the market?

kerrj Posted: August 26, 2007, 8:00 pm

I would move forward with caution here. I have been in this situation and have actually done this myself with photoshop several times. It worked well for me because I am good with photoshop. The problem is that paint manufactures are now starting to sell sample colors of their paints in stores and online. For two or three bucks you can have a sample pouch of paint which covers 4 sq feet on your wall. I think this is a far better and cheaper method for determining color because you see it on the wall in the actual light conditions. Saving an hour in photoshop and spending a few bucks on sample colors seems like a better solution to me.

Selise Posted: August 28, 2007, 12:18 pm

good idea, but as a digital painter/artist there are already some companies that offer a free service similar to what you're talking about. Be careful with this idea, but try it.

Conceptor Posted: August 28, 2007, 3:42 pm

to iLabrador, kerrj and Selise: Thanks you for your input, and know that the feedback is valuable!

Brenden Posted: August 28, 2007, 10:43 pm

home depot has a program for free that dose just this

Hello!

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