Color Planner is a handy little app that allows you to virtually change the color of your house or apartment before you paint for real.

Using your own images

Color Planner is very easy to install, and comes with a selection of interior and exterior views of homes that you can practice on. If you'd like to use Color Planner to check out colors on images of your own home, however, they must be sent to the Color Planner developer to be masked, which carries a fee.

Once you have chosen the images you want to re-color, whether you've uploaded your own or you're using Color Planner's example shots, you'll find it really easy. Simply click on the element in the image that you want to change, and pick a new color from the selection on the right hand side. Immediately, the object will change color and you can decide if you like it or not.

Changing color and decor

The colors Color Planner makes available to you for each room depend on the type of room chosen. They're divided into color maps that you can browse and choose at random, although by choosing certain color combinations, some aspects of the room will change automatically. There's a little button that helps you quickly revert to the original color scheme, and the ability to lighten and darken the layout.

Once you've used Color Planner to create a scenario or scenarios you like, you can save the combinations or print them out. There are also a few nice options for printing out before and after images for comparison. Under the Instructions menu, you'll also find plenty of troubleshooting and explanation.

In all, we thought that Color Planner was a useful app that could nonetheless be a little more polished. Although it ran on Windows 7, it felt like a program for a much older operating system, and felt rough around the edges. In short, it's good, but could be a whole lot better.

Color Planner is a handy app that will give any home decorator a head start.