"You begin with your carpet color and watch your room come to life. If you are considering the purchase of a new rug, the Colorscope will help you decide, for the 12 leading carpet colors are shown with complete rooms planned around them.

Every color scheme is described in detail and you learn why each color is suggested for walls, draperies, upholstery and accessories.

One of the most important features about Colorscope is that not just one manufacturer's color range is shown. Instead, every leading producer of home furnishings items is represented. You can choose from many colors."

And all this for only a buck! Man, times have changed.

I find it fascinating that the idea to create a systemized, monetized approach to color design is not new. It seems the advertising age of the 1950s spawned this idea that color systems can - and should - be packaged and sold. (Advertising legend Louis Cheskin even tried his hand at a color system for the home.) The funny thing is, none of these systems ever seem to stick. They get their moment in the sun, but eventually fizzle out. That's because our relationship with color is far too complex to be whittled down to a "pocket-sized shopping guide."

The Colorscope may seem silly and dated now, but the packaging and selling of color tools for profit is certainly not a thing of the past. There's a lot of money to be made in color. It's big business. Color is part of everything we purchase. As long as we keep shopping, there are going to be tools to "help" us shop.

Are there any current color tools out there that make you go "hmmmmmm?"