Color Help Is On The Way

Sometimes before I leave the house my husband will look my outfit over and say simply, "Too many colors." The secret is out, I guess -- I'm not a good matcher. Luckily I just discovered color palette generators, ingenious web applications that let you upload a picture of, say, your favorite bag or a new rug, and then spit out complementary colors so you know which shades of paint or curtains or even sweaters will work best. What a relief.

I took several color palette generators for a test drive. Check out the results below. I entered a picture of this pretty clutch from Beegee Bags and DeGraeve's color palette generator gave me ten colors that match perfectly, in both "dull" and "vibrant," making it my favorite application. How about a color scheme based on your bridal bouquet or another lovely but temporary set of shades? CSS Drive closely matched the bouquet from OnceWed that I plugged in, but overwhelmed me with too many options.

After the jump, see how four more color palette generators performed.


This leather sofa from Anthropologie goes perfectly with the colors Big Huge Labs' version suggested. The crisp design puts it at number two on my list. Pictaculous, which is also available as an iPhone app, gave me five colors to match a lovely Angela Adams rug. Easy peasy, though presenting just five colors doesn't allow for much gradation. Craving your favorite food at all times? Color Hunter capably matched the raspberries I entered, though it is also limited to five colors. Plus, the website's ads are distracting. JRM's color palette generator did a genius job matching the gold and purple Ferm wallpaper I uploaded, earning it third place. If you can't afford to wallpaper an entire room, now you can splurge on covering just one wall and let a color palette generator tell you what color to paint the others.