5 Easy Tips for Choosing Your Exterior Paint Palette

Rough Linen I had an anonymous letter from a neighbour saying this was regarded as a NICE neighbourhood and she hoped I'd be toning my paint choice down...

olldbobbi Tricia Rose - I hope you told her you regarded your paint color as NICE, too!

SPACIFY INC, I read your ideas....Nice..Perfect paint color for beautiful home..

harringtonhouse We have a dark brown vertical shiplap post and beam house in rural New Hampshire, which we recently had restained in the same handsome sable brown. The roof is a lighter multi-toned sandy color. We painted the window trim deep barn red, whereas it has been white, and the formerly white doors a gorgeous! rich brown-gold, an autumnal color. The impact of the house is handsome--classy yet vibrant.

belle7070 I have a faily new medium size home painteed a terra cotta color. There is a lot of ginger bread accents on the home. I do not care at all for the paint the builder chose so your articles were helpful making a new color selection. Belle Florence

babyb That blue/purple color. Don't know if I would have the guts to do it, but love it.

Custom Draperies - Joyce McKay We renovated our entire exterior about 8 years ago. Our neighbor come over to ask what colors were we going to use. When I told her, she screeched "green and red"! This is the result. We like it!!

ddelora All these homes are quite lovely, and so much architectural detail. Since millions of people (me included) live in traditional housing tracts, I would like to see solutions/ideas for "regular" homes. We don't have dramatic steps leading to the front door, large verandas, nor impressive peaked roofs. Give us ideas for homes built mid-70's - mid-90's in California!

ikwewe I chose aqua aka Miami blue, with pale gray trim and coral accents. Pic shows painting in progress. Door on left and former shutter areas are now aqua. Front door inside porch is coral. Screen door will be white with a big white egret grille. Most neighbors love it, but the unfortunate lady across the street thinks it is too much, houses should be white with muted trim. These houses are just around the corner from Indian River frontage. When these houses were built in the late 50s and early 60s, bright colors were fairly common, pinks, yellows and blues. We wanted to evoke that retro feeling.

Olive Oil THAT is just what I was going to say. While these homes are beautiful, we need some practical ideas. My daughter just bought a '50's tract home in California and we could use some ideas to spruce up the outside. Most magazines and websites feature only rooms and houses with wonderful architectural elements but most of us live in simpler digs.

joybliss I renovated a 1914 Greek Revival - with much flavor of Arts and Crafts - in Carson City, NV, 6 years ago. Always wanted the deep sage green body color, light sage green trim and love that, but the crowning glory is the deep red in the columns and facias - actually my painter insisted! Folks in town call it the neighborhood masterpiece !

idonttwantone Your tips for choosing exterior colors work regardless of your home's style. One tip that I might add. If you see the exact color that has eluded you on someone else's home, ask. That's how I finally found the perfect field color for my 60s ranch after years of choosing the wrong color. Our houses are in different neighborhoods and she chose light accents while I chose dark. Very happy!

mrsben Wonderful tips Lisa! Thank you. (I bookmarked your article.)

You mentioned study your colours at various times of the day and under different weather conditions which I totally agree with. Also, if you live in a climate like I do where we have four distinct seasons and the landscape changes drastically, a colour of a home can appear very different in each Season. ie: Summer when wrapped in lush greens and blooming flowers compared to that of Winter when everything is blanketed in white snow.

For myself, I am presently toying with the idea of consulting a colour expert and thiinking seriously of refacing my Tudor Style home. Am hoping by doing so, I will be able to still retain many of its design elements that I love but at the same time it will provide me more freedom in colour options.

P.S: What your readers have posted are very impressive!

Nancy Sloop Next year's project will be painting our early 80s orange brick house. On either side of us is a white clapboard house with green shutters and a tan siding-covered house with cream accents. We're thinking of medium gray paint with white trim, black shutters, and a black roof (when it's time to do the roof, that is). Thoughts? Painting the awful faded orange brickwork will be done; the color is what we must decide. (Picture is the back of the house)

William & Mary We are building a woodsy farm house in the country. I was so frustrated trying to pick an exterior paint color that I actually PRAYED and asked God to help me. I had picked a certain color and my husband went to the store to get it. When he put it up I was delighted. It was perfect. Just what I wanted. "I can't believe that has so much green in it. Paint is so hard to predict."

It was two exterior walls later before we realized that my husband got the "wrong" color. He bought HC-106 (Crownsville Grey) as opposed to what I sent him to get (HC-103 Cromwell Grey). = ) I felt that God knew best and picked the color for me. I told that story in the hardware store and as man said, "Well the Lord has never picked a paint color for me." I said, "Well I'll bet you've never asked Him to."

I trimed our craftsman style double hung windows with Spanish White and finished the interior walls inside with the same. They look great with the plank ceiings and floors stained Early American.

Then I used Wythe Blue in our guest room. It all looks great.

All Benjamin Moore colors.

ki2dever As uncomfortable as it may make some followers,prayer is in fact a great way to choose paint colors. I use it in my business and personally for my own house.That being said .You have to do your homework also.And you can't be in a hurry.Many people want to pick a paint today and paint it this week end. As others have said you must consider seasons, location,time of day ,folage,other buildings nearby etc.The same is true for interior.You must consider your space and most importantly the ammount of light (or lack) . Color and light reflect, so it is crucial to making a decision inside and out. Prayer does remarkable things when we allow God to do even the simplest things in our life.

gigibaby I used to live in Milwaukee,Wi, and there were several colorful houses all around the city. We lived in a reddish brick, and when we resided the wood areas, we choose a Colonial Blue, and white smaller accent trimming. We now live in asubdivision, and the colors in this area don't very too far from certain standard colors- beigey tones, white-sih, there are a couple that are eye shocking bright blue, but color and trim colors are controlled.

dbax We are re-siding our house with red cedar shingles, and I need some help with choosing a stain color. We live in rhode island, near the water, in a colonial. I love the silver grey of weathered white Cedar, but need the rise (larger dimension) of the red cedar. I am looking for a semi transparent stain that will come close to that look. Any ideas?

Visual Jill Interior Decorating We just staged a home and chose the paint colors. I love how the bright yellow door pops against the dark gray and white trim. Most people have reacted with surprise --- but in a good way i.e. "It's nice to see something different".

Sterling Property Services Great article and I share many of your ideas; however I believe that you should never accent something just because it's there. Be sure anything you feature deserves the attention. I also would caution against always having high contrast between the trim and body colors, or your house could wind up looking like a series of shapes, instead of a cohesive whole, and because often the trim isn't well-proportioned. Sometimes a subtle palette will serve the architecture of the house better than high contrast. The front door should always be special, and it's best to paint the garage door with the body color so it doesn't compete.

For more tips, see my blog

Choosing A Front Door Color-A Baker's Dozen Mistakes to Avoid
http://sandyatsps.blogspot.com/2012/06/choosing-front-door-color-bakers-dozen.html

Choosing Exterior Colors? Use This Questionnaire
http://sandyatsps.blogspot.com/2011/07/choosing-exterior-colors-use-this.html

Rhonnie K Sterling Property Services... what would you suggest painting our garage doors (located at the front of our house) if your home is brick? The same colour as the trim or siding colour? I am assuming siding colour given your thoughts... I am facing this dilemma right now! Also, can anyone share their thoughts regarding siding being lighter (e.g. cream) and trim being darker (but not dark e.g. light grey/tan) up against brown with a little bit of cream bricks? thanks!! I can post a photo when I get home ;-)

Fine Art & Portraits by Laurel Good tips, especially the last one. Years ago a friend chose her exterior color from a small paint chip. She came home to a flamingo pink house, and burst out crying, because she couldn't afford to change it right away. Her neighbors didn't speak to her for a while.

Sterling Property Services Rhonnie, much depends on your overall color plan, but in general I'd suggest a low contrast color close to the dominant hue in the brick. The garage is only where the cars live, and the place you welcome visitors should have center stage. Make the front door the "wow" color, and don't use it anywhere else.

lindseyakin Our house is currently LILAC and even the UPS guy asked when we're going to paint when we first bought it! Believe it or not, the purple paint (it really looks like the house from the film Up) is one of the more sane things the previous owners did so it'll be a while yet, inside takes priority. We've chosen the color though, Sea Salt by Sherwin Williams, its gray with some green in some lights, green with some gray in others, and we love it. We 'listened' to the house and it told us what it wanted to be (after testing about 10 colors on the back of the house, it looked camo'd for a while). The house was meant to be this color, and then doing some demo we came to original shingles really low down, clearly the original ones, and they are pretty much the color we chose!

theweelander My husband's house had too-yellow beige trim next to the late-60s orange-and-gray brick. When it came time to repaint, we agreed to keep the trim neutral. Online, I read that neutral trim should match the grout (as opposed to trying to "match" the brick). I took a picture of the grout with my digital camera, opened it in MS Paint, and grabbed the "color code" from a few different pixels. There is a free online tool which spits out the paint color (SW, I think) if you enter the color code. I bought six tester paints from those colors and painted a few places on the trim. I felt like Goldilocks - one was Just Right. Picking a color from the grout resulted in a creamy beige that really compliments the brick. Nice and easy. :)

lamiller99 Can't afford to paint my entire awful light blue Cape Cod style house right now (we're still getting the inside finished), but would like to update it by painting the shutters and door. I was thinking black for the shutters, but can't decide on a front door color. Any ideas?

balfour_girl Our house has a red metal roof that is visible from space (well, google maps anyhow!) and was painted a pale grey with white trim. I always found it tall and gangly, it pretty much stuck out like a sore thumb in our neighbourhood. We just painted it dark grey and added red trim around the windows and doors to tie in the roof. I'm loving the way it settles back into the forest background with the darker colors... no more sore thumb here!

mhayes622 looking to repaint front door, shutters, trim and garage. The garage doors are a taupe color. Does it matter if shutters are darker than front door of vice versa? Do I match the color in the stone for the shutters? Looking for some advice. Posted a pic for review. Thanks.

kaymarie We chose Ivy green for our lake house, vinyl cedar shakes, white trim...have yet to do it. Just order siding for soon to be built garage.

dalol I wish this article had included advice on how to handle different colored brick in the decision of choosing color for upper sided story of house.

Lori A. Sawaya Applying color swatches directly on the house is never a good idea. Even if edges are feathered out perfectly, the outline can still telegraph through the final coats. Use a paint color testing decal - sticks right on most house substrates (surfaces), removes without a trace. www.chipplique.com

calavera2 I need suggestions. For exterior. Paint color!

chapstick049 Benjamin Moore: cc-500 ranchwood. Great exterior colour.

Rhonnie K lindseyakin... our bedroom is painted sea salt and everyone who sees it loves it! A friend just saw it and phoned her painters to say switch it to sea salt from the colour she had chosen. Our trim was SW creamy so I didn't want to paint the ceiling white (making the trim look "dirty") so my painter mixed a custom colour from the sea salt and creamy - the result is exactly what I wanted which is just the slightest hint of blue so when people walk in they say "is that ceiling white... or is it blue?" It definitely changes with the lights throughout the day and is the most soothing, relaxing color I have seen to date!

vdidomenico I just purchased a home and need help with a paint color. I love the light fixture and double french doors. Would like to play off those features for the style of the home. I have considered placing two cone topiaries (one on each side) of the french doors. But am unsure on where to take the rich traditional style of this home with color. Stay cream or go light green or....?

araed I agree all these homes are beautyful but my home is from mid 90's we need ideas for this.

maxinedwood Vdidomeneco- This is the color I'm wanting to paint my house! Do you know what it is?

taban We are building a new home and the front of it will be brick. It will have a front porch and I already know I want the tim to be white. I want to get the look of the old fashioned stone houses but unfortunately we can't do the whole house in stone. I can't decide what color siding to use for the rest of the house.

ki2dever There are so many elements to the exterior of a house. Windows , roof style and color,.Also since you have brick and a porch how much of the brick will show and how much of your roof will be exposed. You want white trim and old fashioned stone house feel with the porch so realize the white and brick if it is red will be a big color contrast . Try to choose a warm neutral color for your roof and similar shades for your siding ( depending on how much of it shows in front ,if any ) Camel, khaki ,warm stone gray or taupe, All are possible choices . Be aware also of how much of the sides and back shows when you view your dream house. And how many windows and trim will be part of your total look. Remember , grass and plantings can really help also. I know , one thing at a time but this is a start to think about . DON'T let contractors or your own impatience rush you into a quick decision. IT'S YOUR HOUSE! You're paying for it and living in it for a while so don't let rushing rob you of the look you want . Take your time. Easy for me to say,I know , but trust me , It WILL be worth it if you don't hurry. Bless your endeavors and new home !!

srauseo tan exterior front door color

Christine I own a 1914 Craftsman w/ big front porch in Portland, Oregon. Lots of green landscaping and pink-to-lilac flowers around in spring. I'm dead set on having a shiny dutch green front door (a high-gloss green-black) from Fine Paints of Europe's door kit. We also have permanent storm windows that are dark ebony color. Right now we have white trim and awful beige paint. My idea is to match the trim to the storm window color as the current white / ebony contrast is distracting to the eye. Any ideas for body color? We are not afraid of dark tones. We also want to paint the porch ceiling and perhaps the undersides of the eaves a pale blue.