Monday, September 2, 2013

Repainting the House... the 21st Century Way

Hey, remember in Total Recall (the original awesome one - not that thing they did to remake it) when the secretary was painting her nails?  She just used a wandy-thingie, touched the tips of her nail, and it changed to a different color. 

Well, I'm not quite using that level of technology, but I am using Microsoft Image Composer to look at different colors on my house so we can get an idea of what color would look the best.  (Yeah, Image Composer - which I've had and used since 2000.  They don't even make it anymore and it's not 100% compatible with Windows7.  But I'm used to it and it is awesomely easy.)

Anyway, I used one of the photos I took of the house:

After several false starts, including one where I turned the whole picture B&W, I got into the 'tools' in the program and chose the 'colorization' function to make the orange part white (for a better canvas):

And since then, I've been trying various shades of wood tones.  Anything to get rid of the orange.  I even tried to match the wood - using the 'color picker' tool (it sucks the color off any other image and puts it into the 'paint') I tried to match our sunroom paneling:

And ended up with:

Way too yellow...

I tried to pull colors off one of the does:

But everything looked flesh toned...

I tried using a fawn's coat:

But the background was making every attempt pull too much green.

Anyway, I'll probably play with it some more today.  I may even go out and take a full frontal pic of the house to get a better canvas to play with.  :shrug: 

Yeah, I probably should be writing...

What are you up to today?  And once you get done answering that question here, please go over to the Killer Chicks and answer it over there. 

kthnxbai




6 comments:

  1. I'm betting part of your problem is that your monitor and/or printer needs to be color calibrated. Only digital artists worry about color calibration but it makes the difference between a true fawn color and pink.

    If you're looking for warm wood coloring, buy a sample paint in oak or tea color. If you want a cooler wood tone, try for beech or taupe.

    Personally, I'd go for ecru or a light khaki. And even though I don't like yellows, a soft yellow looks beautiful on house exteriors. Realtors say it makes a house look more sellable.

    Good luck!

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  2. Very neat! I love playing around with stuff like that. I can't wait to see what you end up picking =)

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  3. I seem to remember one of the paint companies or roofing/siding companies had a program to play with. You could scan in a picture of your house and then change the colors using their products. Can't remember right now who it was. Google it. ;)

    I'm working today. Or will be in a short. I caught up on DVR'd shows this morning and now I'm wending through emails and blogs before opening the current edit/revision project.

    Have fun with the colors!

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  4. How cool. I love wood tones, but on your house that golden pine looks ... orange! LOL!

    A white pine / ecru sounds good, and pale yellows are gorgeous. I'm with Natalie, I can't wait to see your choice.

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  5. LOL, I think most of my problem, Maria, is that I'm just screwing around. If I wanted to really get into this, I'd buy a program that wasn't the hottest thing 13 years ago. =o) And we're not worried about making this place sellable. I'm planning on living here until I drop over sometime in the distant future.

    It might not be until next year, Nat. Phase 2... or Phase 2.5... or whatever phase we'll be on at that point. ;o)

    I can't remember who it was either, Silver. But like I told Maria, I'm just screwing around and thought I'd share it with y'all.

    LOL, Deb. Not orange! I'm half tempted to paint it purple just to see people's reactions.

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  6. Cool - I need that for hair color!!

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