WEB REVIEW: FOR YOUR CUSTOMERS

Virtual painting
The Color of Money

A leading paint manufacturer offers an interactive tool to let buyers preview their color schemes.

BY CHRIS LEPORINI

If buyers can’t see beyond the hot pink living room of your latest listing or are bored by the bisque walls in the spec home you’re showing, the Benjamin Moore Paints’ Web site may be your salvation. The site’s “Personal Color Viewer: allows users to mix and match 3,000 different color combinations. It also contains how-to advice on selecting paint colors and tips for completing painting projects.

The Viewer makes it easy for users to see how different color combinations can alter the appearance of a room. The tool provides photographs of ten home interiors and exteriors that users can digitally “paint” online. Users can modify the colors for walls, ceilings, trim, and elements such as stairways. The site provides eight preselected color palates of complementary colors. Or users can select their own from the spectrum of the company’s colors. If prospective buyers create something they think will transform their new home, users can print out a document that includes their choices as well as product information that they can take directly to a Benjamin Moore store. Users can access the Viewer either through a link below the “Color” tab or at the “My Project Notebook” under the “Homeowner” tab.

Homeowners who need a little assistance in selecting the appropriate hue can click on the site’s “Color” section. It contains short articles on color theory and interior decorating. The “Color Trends” page describes several color palates and the theory behind them; it might be to esoteric for the average reader, but if your buyer is a budding designer, understanding how achieve a “sensory balance” by combining matte and gloss finishes may be just the inspiration needed to close a sale. http//www.benjaminmoore.com-images-content-1033-sensory_lg.jpg) “Color Hints” and “Color Families” will probably prove more useful. The former explains how colors interact with each other, such as why a red couch makes white walls appear pink, while the latter explores 16 basic color groups and their effects on viewers.

The “My Project Notebook” contains several resources to plan, execute, and track home painting projects. Site visitors must fill out a brief registration form to use this feature. It includes a “Project Overview” log where users can store notes about their project. Users can also save their “Personal Color Viewer” selections for later viewing (but only save if you have entered through the “My Project Notebook” page.) The notebook page also contains a “Paint Calculator” that gives users a ballpark estimate on how much paint they’ll need to complete their project.

The “Homeowners” tab also connects to several other how-to features, such as the “Great Ideas” section, where visitors can find articles, updated monthly, on topics such as painting kitchen cabinets and artificially aging a room’s appearance to give it an antique feel. The “How-To” section offers solutions to common problems such as blistering, uneven gloss, and peeling on various surfaces; advice on painting and clean up; and techniques to create decorative finishes with sponging, ragging, and color washing.


Its one thing to tell prospective buyers how color can make a room appear more open and inviting, it’s another to demonstrate it on your monitor. (Unfortunately, the graphic-intensive site might bog down loading times for slower Internet connections.) Even if you couldn’t convince the sellers to repaint, Benjamin Moore’s site allows buyers to see how a color change can alter a room’s tone without picking up a brush.

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More Articles:
Web Review: artSparks.com , Chris Leporini, October 2002.
Books in Brief: ColorSmart: How to Use Color to Enhance Your Business and Personal Life, February 2001.
GE Lighting Solution Center , Chris Leporini, January 2001.

Suggest a Site For Review
Every week, REALTOR® Magazine Online's Web review editor surfs the Internet to find sites useful to your business and off-hours lives. Have a favorite real estate Web site that you would like to see reviewed? Send your suggestions to Chris Leporini at mediatech@realtors.org. All decisions on which sites will be reviewed are completely at the discretion of REALTOR® Magazine Online's editorial staff. Please note: this column does not review individual practitioner or brokerage sites.

The column's focus includes free sites, as well as sites that charge for goods and services, but which still offer a free component of practical, sustained value to real estate practitioners, such as a free newsletter or regular news information.

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REALTOR® Magazine Online's "Web Review" summarizes the content of Web sites that may be of interest to members. NAR and REALTOR® Magazine Online are not responsible for, and nothing in the Web site profile shall constitute NAR's or REALTOR® Magazine Online's endorsement of, the web site, its content, products and services, or its provider. NAR and REALTOR® Magazine Online believe the information contained in this profile was correct and accurate as of the time it was prepared, but do not warrant or guarantee the accuracy or completeness of that information and are not responsible for changes in the Web site. Members should conduct their own independent review of the Web site prior to any use of Web site, its content, products, or services to determine their suitability for the member's intended purpose.

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