4 Paint Color Apps to Help You Visualize Your Dream Home

On a Venn diagram of home design projects with minimal lift and maximum impact, painting your room is right at the center. There’s almost nothing that transforms a room quicker than a coat of paint, whether you’re freshening up your current shade or going for a bold new direction. 

That said, choosing the perfect color isn’t always a fun part of the process. In fact, it can sometimes be downright stressful — especially if you’re tasked with painting a large room or a high-ticket item, like your kitchen cabinetry. There’s just so much nuance to consider, from undertones and LRV (also known as light reflective value) to how a shade looks throughout the day and on different walls in your room. It can feel like you’re set up for failure — until you use your phone, that is.

These days, it’s easier than ever to test out paint colors in your home without ever picking up a brush. Many of the category’s biggest names (think: Benjamin Moore and Sherwin-Williams) have their own virtual paint color apps, in addition to some handy tech tools that are independent of any brand allegiance. 

To suss out the useless from the useful (and figure out if I, myself, wanted blue cabinetry), I put five of the most popular virtual paint testing apps to work. So whether you’re worried that red is a bad choice for your bedroom or want to see what blue cabinets would actually look like in your kitchen, these apps are here to help you avoid that dreadful paint regret.

Hot take, but I feel like nobody does color better than Benjamin Moore. Their selection and hues are unmatched, but that almost makes it harder to find the perfect shade for your project. Luckily, the brand offers its Benjamin Moore Personal Color Viewer app, which can be used on mobile or desktop using a photo from their room library or a shot from your own home. 

To put it to the test, I uploaded a bright and clear shot of my dining nook, which is flanked by two dark green cabinets we painted after moving into our home four years ago. While I love the color, we recently painted our house and they now clash with the exterior (they can be seen through the outside windows). I felt like blue might work nicely here, so I added my picture and chose a few blue-gray paint hues to try on for size. 

While using the app, you can choose up to five surfaces in your photo that you’d like to test the paint on, whether that be walls, a ceiling, a fireplace — you name it. If you come across a few shades you like or need to sleep on your decision, you can save your “Projects” and log back on later to view them. 

“Painting” your piece is easy and can either be done via a quick-select tool or, for more intricate surfaces (like cabinets), a paintbrush. I liked how the paint remained sheer on the cabinets so you could still see the texture of the piece below peek through — it ended up looking much more realistic that way.

The original hue I chose was way too baby blue, so I tweaked it and went for a more gray shade, French Toile. Ultimately, this platform was super easy to use, and while it didn’t produce flaw-free lines and surfaces, it was a great way to see what one of Benjamin Moore’s shades would look like in our home.

Sherwin-Williams is another A+ paint brand in my book, and their online visualization tool definitely held itself to the brand’s high standards. Structured very similarly to Benjamin Moore’s platform, Sherwin-Williams’ ColorSnap Visualizer allows you to browse through curated color collections and color families to devise your own perfect palette. 

From there, you can try those shades out on a photo from your home, painting them onto your desired surface using a brush or smart select tool. The colors were easy to coat on, but I didn’t love how the paint color app itself made my image a bit blurry as I used it. That said, I was still able to get a good look into what my chosen shade would look like once painted onto my cabinets. 

My favorite part? Upon completing your tester image, Sherwin-Williams gives you an in-depth download that depicts your original and modified image, as well as your chosen palette, so you can take it right to the paint counter and execute your vision.

Two other well-known paint brands, Glidden and PPG, partnered with the VisualizeColor platform to help customers recreate the look of their hues virtually before taking the leap. With this tool, you can explore the brands’ paintable photos (ranging from living rooms and bedrooms to bathrooms and exteriors) or upload a shot of your own. They even provide helpful instructions for taking the right kind of shot that will perform well in their virtual simulation. 

I brought my photo to life using blues from both brands. I loved how I was able to “swatch” and save my favorites off to the side — any time you clicked on a new hue you could choose to paint a different area that color or recoat your existing swatch with a different shade. With multiple brush sizes and erase tools, it was easy to get (fairly) precise lines on my cabinet without much overflow. 

While I prefer the experience of a desktop (I’m old-school that way, I guess), finding an app-based virtual paint program felt important, and Paint Tester for iOS was the best free one out there. To use it, you simply snap (or upload) a picture with your phone to access a full spectrum of colors. Warning: The app makes your photo very blurry, so don’t expect some sort of sharp, AI-enhanced image here! 

You can paint using a bucket or brush, and even set up boundaries manually with “painter’s tape” to achieve clean lines or a specific division on a wall. Because this app isn’t associated with a specific brand of paint, you won’t get services with hues to try, but this is a good way to kick off color inspiration, which you can then parlay into different picks at the paint counter.