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Color Studio
Try real Benjamin Moore and Sherwin-Williams colors on a New England house or a kitchen before anybody opens a can. Nothing to install, nothing to upload, no account, and no form standing between you and the result.
Your scheme
Start from a scheme
Eight combinations by house type. Each one is a real recommendation, not a random pairing.
82 real colors · 24 exterior bodies · 8 cabinet colors · 16 historic · Benjamin Moore and Sherwin-Williams codes and LRV from the manufacturers’ own color data
Sample before you commit
A screen emits light; a wall reflects it. Narrow it to three here, then paint two-foot squares on the actual house and look at them morning, midday and dusk. We will bring the sample pots to the walk-through.
Historic district first
In Concord, choosing from the Commission’s Approved Paint Colors List means written staff confirmation and no hearing. Choosing anything else means a hearing with samples. Find that out before you order twelve gallons.
The fixed things decide it
Roof color, stone, brick, the neighbour’s house and how much tree cover you have all constrain the answer more than taste does. That is what the color conversation at the walk-through is actually about.
What we used, and where it came from
Every color here carries its manufacturer’s own code and published light reflectance value, pulled from Benjamin Moore’s and Sherwin-Williams’ own color data rather than from a blog. LRV runs 0 (absolute black) to 100 (absolute white) and is the single most useful number on a paint chip: it tells you how much light the color gives back to the room, or to the street.
Two things we deliberately left out. There are no colors here that the manufacturer marks interior-only sitting in the exterior lists — a couple of the yellows that get recommended endlessly online for front doors are interior formulations. And there is no upload-your-own-photo mode, because photo masking is exactly where these tools go soft around gutters and downspouts and start looking like a screenshot instead of a house. A drawing has perfect edges, loads instantly and prints cleanly.
Historic districts in MetroWest
None of the three commissions publishes a downloadable approved paint palette on its website. Concord is the only one of the three that operates a formal ‘Approved Paint Colors List’, and that list is held in the Commission office rather than published online. Lexington reviews color case by case. Cambridge requires color approval only in the Old Cambridge Historic District and for some easement properties, and offers a paid (or free, in those cases) on-site color consultation.
- Concord, MA — Published Approved Paint Colors List + hearing for anything else. Concord maintains an ‘Approved Paint Colors List’. A color change selected from that list does not require a hearing or a Certificate of Appropriateness, and staff confirm the choice in writing. Any other color requires a hearing before the Commission with samples. Repainting the same existing color never requires a hearing. The list itself is not published online – it is available for review in the Commission office.
- Lexington, MA — Case-by-case review; no published approved palette found. The HDC was established under Chapter 447 of the Acts of 1956 and has jurisdiction over the town’s four registered historic districts. It approves all exterior changes including color changes. It meets monthly; appeals go to Middlesex Superior Court. No published pre-approved color list was found on lexingtonma.gov.
- Cambridge, MA — Color approval required in the Old Cambridge Historic District and for some easement properties; staff color consultations offered city-wide. The Commission employs a staff member with historic paint color experience who does on-site consultations anywhere in Cambridge for a $100 fee. Consultations are free where color approval is mandatory. The Commission administers Old Cambridge HD, Fort Washington HD, Harvard Square CD, and the Avon Hill, Half Crown-Marsh and Mid Cambridge Neighborhood Conservation Districts. It also publishes a guide, ‘Painting Historic Exteriors: Colors, Application, and Regulation’. No pre-approved color list is published online, and the published material does not state whether color is regulated in the Neighborhood Conservation Districts – confirm with staff before relying on it.
The full guide to getting a color through a Massachusetts historic district commission →
Color is free at the walk-through
Bring us three candidates from here and we will bring sample pots, look at them against your roof and your stone, and tell you which one is going to look wrong in October. There is no charge for that and no obligation attached to it.
Products we buy
Benjamin Moore, Sherwin-Williams, California Paints, Cabot. The exact product line and sheen is written on your estimate before you sign it, which is the only way to compare our bid with anyone else’s honestly.
FAQ
Questions about the Color Studio
Do I have to give you my email to use this?
No. There is no gate, no account and no export limit. Several visualiser tools in this trade collect your name, email and postcode before they will show you the result — this one does not collect anything, because it runs entirely in your browser and nothing you choose is ever sent anywhere unless you decide to attach it to an estimate request.
Are these the real paint colors?
Yes — real Benjamin Moore and Sherwin-Williams colors with their official codes and published light reflectance values, taken from the manufacturers’ own color data. What a screen cannot do is show you paint: your monitor is emitting light and a wall is reflecting it, and no two screens are calibrated the same. Treat this as a way to narrow twenty candidates down to three. Then buy sample pots, paint two-foot squares on the actual wall, and look at them at 9am, at 2pm and at dusk before you commit.
Why does it warn me about dark colors?
Because New England is hard on them. A very low LRV body color on a south- or west-facing elevation runs hotter, moves more with the seasonal swing, and fades faster than the north side of the same house — which is how you end up with two different colors on one building in six years. Dark colors are not a mistake; they just want a premium exterior line, and an honest conversation about the south wall before you sign.
My house is in a historic district. Can I use any of these?
Depends on the town, and this is worth getting right before you buy paint. Concord keeps a formal Approved Paint Colors List — pick from it and staff confirm your choice in writing with no hearing and no Certificate of Appropriateness; pick anything else and you are going to a hearing with samples. Repainting the existing color never needs approval. The list itself lives in the Commission office rather than online. Lexington reviews color case by case across its four districts. Cambridge requires approval in the Old Cambridge Historic District and for some easement properties, and offers a color consultation that is free for those properties. Switch on “Historic collections only” above and you are at least choosing from period-appropriate colors before you make that call. Our full guide to historic district approval →
Can you just tell me what to pick?
Happily. The eight schemes above are real recommendations by house type, not random pairings. Beyond that, color is part of the walk-through — we will bring samples, look at the fixed things you cannot change (roof, stone, brick, neighbours’ houses) and narrow it with you. That conversation is free and does not obligate you to anything. Book a walk-through →
Found a color you like? The next step is a wall, not a screen.
We will bring sample pots to the walk-through, put them on the actual house, and give you a written price for painting it. No charge and no obligation either way.