Homeowners who want to make exterior changes to their home, sometimes need to have a way to visualize how their homes will look, before they begin their project. This is now possible using an free online exterior home color and material creator. I have found a cool free Internet tool that might not be as all inclusive as the CAD software I use, but it is an easy to use, quick way to visualize how exterior home improvements will look almost instantly.

This tool is not perfect, but works good enough to help home owners make choices or at least narrow choices down which will help speed up the decision making. Anything to save time or money, is always a good thing and it can actually help take some of the stress out of making these types of decisions.

Here is how it works. First users type in the zip code of where they live, and then they be able to choose from materials available in that area. Next users will be able to choose a home that most closely resembles the style and look of their own home. So if it’s a ranch, two story, colonial or other style of home, they can pick one that is most like theirs to begin.

Next, what I do is make changes to the exterior, to get it to look as close to what I already have as I can. The reason for this is because I want to see what the changes I make will look like next to the other existing colors and materials that exist on my house.

So if a home owner had black shingles and wanted to change the color to a lighter gray, they simply drag and drop the shingles from a huge shingle drop down library, into do a designated box, and then they can watch the roofing on the house change to the new shingle choice.

This process continues with the siding, exterior trim, doors, doors and window trim, railings, decks and painted surfaces. One could literally give their home a complete exterior makeover within minutes. Users can even make up three or four versions, using different color and material choices, which makes for more options.

When a project is completed, it can be enlarged, zoomed in on, printed, emailed and users can sign up, to be able to save and store their finished products.

Keep in mind that users choose actual photographs of real homes, and the roofing shingles and siding are actually materials that are available to purchase from building material suppliers. So, when any of the materials are changed, users will see them in the photos exactly how they will look on the home.

After the user makes all the exterior color and material changes, the resulting 3 Dimensional finished product is a real home with real products and colors. What you see, really is what you get!

Article originally published at Source by Rick Maselli