My Image Inspiration: What Inspires You?

A few weeks ago I shared My Colortopia, a fun site created by Glidden Paint to help take the scary guesswork out of choosing a paint color.  Using the tool, My Life, My Colors, you answered 7 fun questions to reveal colors you would enjoy having in your home.

Often when we freshen up a space in our home with new paint, we’ll have an item that’s serving as our inspiration.  It could be a particular fabric, a treasured vase or a beautiful painting.  It really does help when we have an inspiration piece since it gives us a great starting point for our room design.

Even with an inspiration piece, it can still be a little tricky choosing the right paint color.  But what if there was a tool that could help with that—something that would offer paint options based on what most inspired you?  Glidden thought of the same thing and came up with a niffy tool called My Image Inspiration to help.  Here’s how it works.

 

You just upload a photo of your inspiration piece and My Image Inspiration will go to work finding a pallet of color choices based on the colors found in your inspiration item/photo!

 

I decided to test out this neat tool with a doggy painting I have in my family room…the one there just to the right of the tree.  I promise my Christmas tree isn’t still up.  This pic was taken back in late December when I posted about “reforming my faux ways” in THIS post.

 

Now, I’m not planning on painting the paneling in my family room, but I LOVE the colors in this painting, so I was eager to see what paint color(s) My Image Inspiration would select based on this inspiration piece.

 

Once you upload your photo, a box will appear over the photo.  Just drag/stretch the box to cover the area depicting the colors you most like.

At first I chose a really broad section of the painting…see the outlined area below.  I got the results you see here.  I do like those colors, but I was more interested in more specific color sections of the painting.  That meant I needed to narrow down the focus a bit more.

 

So I pulled the edges of the box in and covered a much more specific area of the painting…focusing on the beautiful colors in one of the dogs.  Here were the choices My Image Inspiration provided.  Aren’t those just the yummiest colors!

 

There’s one final step.  Once My Image Inspiration provided a selection of possible colors, I clicked on the color that was my favorite in the grouping.  I chose “Extra Virgin Olive Oil” and the palette you see on the right popped up.  EVOO (as Rachel Ray would say) is my “main” color, since that’s the one I clicked on, and the other two colors are colors I could consider for trim or accents in the room.  Interesting, huh?

 

I decided to run the program again, selecting another section of the painting with colors I love.  Do you see the area I chose below?  The colors you see to the right popped up this time.  How perfect are those colors for a room with a nature/hunt theme!  Since there’s a leather chair in the family room, I chose “Leather Brown” as the main color.

 

I clicked on “Leather Brown: and My Image Inspiration produced the following color palette, choosing Leather Brown as the main color and the other options as possible coordinating colors.  I do like the golden yellow a lot.  I think it also picked up on the light blue in the sky that is right at the top of the box since it suggested some soft blues, too.  If I had run the program again, I think I would have moved my box down just a little to get away from the sky since I’m not really interested in blue for the room.

See how it works?  My Image Inspiration works off the section of the painting you highlight, so be sure to place your box over just the area you wish to focus on for your color choices.

 

Once you have your color palette, you can print it out or share it with your friends on Facebook.  Pretty cool!

Your Turn:
Try it out and let me know how it works for you.  To get the best results, be sure to be specific about the area where you place the box on your inspiration photo.  Selecting too large an area with too many colors won’t work as well as narrowing down to a specific area on your photo.

To give it whirl, go to My Image Inspiration and upload a picture you have saved on your computer.  OR, find something online that you like, save the image to your computer and upload it to try.  It’s a lot of fun to move the box around to see all the possible color combinations the program chooses for you.
Have fun and let me know what cha think.   Did you like the color choices you got?

I have been sponsored by Glidden brand paint to write this post but the thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

*If a post is sponsored or a product was provided at no charge, it will be stated in post. Some links may be affiliate links and as an Amazon Associate, I may earn from qualifying purchases. *



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Comments

  1. Pam - diy Design Fanatic says

    Looks like a fun decorating tool. I haven't tried it yet, but your have inspired me to head on over and give it a try!

  2. Pat@Back Porch Musings says

    I will definitely check this out. Interesting and fun.

  3. Laurie of Lulu and Daisy says

    That is a fabulous tool that I will definitely be using in the future.

  4. FABBY'S LIVING says

    This looks just like the right tool to tell you inmediatelly what your colors are, better than consulting anyone, as when I consult, they're never assertive with me as to what I want! This is like asking and reaceiving the right answer from yourself, lol! I love your painting and anything with dogs. Thank you Susan for such great tip, only you find them! Have a terrific weekend.
    FABBY

  5. That is so cool, I can't wait to get home and take a pic of something to upload! I've just "pinned" your post so others can find this too! TFS, Nan

  6. Michele @ The Nest at Finch Rest says

    I either have ivory and beige – or if I did color it was those earthy fall colours just like you selected- I have moss in the downstairs half bath, I have that golden Tuscan color in my tv room den, I have the cinnamon on focal point wall in my great room and a lighter – not much- lighter though pumpernickle on the walls in my kitchen.

    You and I have similar appetites, I knew that when I saw your granite and it was the same as mine.

    I love warm earthy shades.

    I have come a long way since my chrome and glass, black and white contemporary days of the 80s. I think my Mom would be pleased, she told me I would one day hate it and, per usual, she was always right.

    Have a wonderful weekend, Susan.

  7. That is terrific! I thoroughly enjoyed this one!

  8. Linda/patchwork says

    This looks like a great tool for picking the right color.
    Thanks for the tip.

  9. ~ ~ Ahrisha ~ ~ says

    Susan, this is amazing. Thanks so much for sharing. I have used Glidden paints many times and I really like the quality. They are made in our area or at least they were a few years ago. I like supporting local businesses that employ my neighbors.
    Make it a wonderful weekend!
    ~ ~Ahrisha~ ~

  10. It didn't work for me. I tried to upload my photo twice, and a photo of some creepy man showed up both times. Hmmm.

  11. Susan BetweenNapsOnThePorch says

    Adie, are you kidding. lol That's weird!

  12. Susan BetweenNapsOnThePorch says

    Adie, I just tried it again and it worked fine. Are you uploading a pic from your picture file on your computer?

  13. What perfect timing you have, girl! I need to repair / repaint the walls and ceiling in much of my condo after a disastrous roof leak recently, and would love to freshen up the wall colors. Benjamin Moore is my reliable go-to paint, but perhaps this new toy from Gliddon is worth a shot! Thanks for the post, and happy weekend ~ Terrie from Atlanta, GA

  14. oldporscheracer says

    Thanks for featuring this cool tool. I'm going to try it out when I get a chance!

  15. That is a very interesting tool Susan. I have bookmarked it. I must catch up on your blogs as I have been in Mexico for a month.

  16. What an amazing tool! I'll likely be moving in the next year or so, which means it will be time to paint… will definitely be bookmarking this one.

  17. Pamela Knopf says

    Wow, this tool is amazing! I am having so much fun playing around with it. This will help me tremendously when I begin decorating another room. Thank you so much for posting this!!!

  18. How fun! Can't wait to try it out. Love being able to isolate a specific area of your inspiration. Thanks for sharing!

  19. Grace InAZ says

    Well, how cool is that! I will have to give it a try! Thanks from one who needs all the help I can get! LOL!
    Hugs, GraceinAZ

  20. MoneySavingEnthusiast says

    I've been looking for somthing like this.I like how the name of the color is given. Thanks for sharing this information. I can't wait to do this.

  21. Patty (Patty's Pretty Things) says

    My jaw dropped when I saw your paneled room! What a gorgeous room! And such an interesting post! Thank you for the information.

  22. The Cottage Market {Andrea} ♥ says

    Gorgeous room!!!! AMAZING technique…APPLAUSE and APAWS!!!!! : ) hugs…

  23. This is a genius application! Thank you so much for posting it, Susan. I can't wait to try it. (And your room is just beautiful. It's lovely to imagine your Christmas there!)

  24. Susan BetweenNapsOnThePorch says

    Awww, thanks Patty! Appreciate that so much! It was the room that made us buy the house. 🙂

  25. Susan BetweenNapsOnThePorch says

    Thanks, Andrea!

  26. Susan BetweenNapsOnThePorch says

    Thanks! It feels warm and cozy at Christmastime with a fire in the fireplace. 🙂

  27. It was really fun, (and easy), to use this tool. However, the colors were not true to the photos I uploaded, so it was minimally helpful.

  28. Good Morning Susan, This is such a cool tool. My eyes are telling me the home made butterscotch is a color I would love in my family room (currently a very light sage green, as is my kitchen). I would use a picture from my collection of framed prints depicting Amish rural life. One picture is a fall scene of a covered bridge with lovely rolling hills in the background where the leaves on the trees are lit up with their autumn colors. I would like to re-mat this picture anyway, so this would be a good time to take a picture of it and try out this very interesting tool. I would be aiming for the beautiful golden fields in the background. Then my only problem would be to convince my 65 year old body that it can climb up and down the ladder like it did the last time I painted the family room when it was only 60 years old. Have a great day and thank you so much for the link to this post. I do really appreciate your help……Candy

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