I would think of two alternatives. One would be to go for a very subdued facade like pure white with a grey roof. Accentuate with bright coloured flower or plants in front. The other would be the highly decorative gypsy style with flowers and wines painted on the facade. Give it lots of character and make it more cute and more prominent. You can also get inspiration from "Pakistani Truck Art" http://www.defence.pk/forums/general-images-multimedia/53429-pakistani-truck-art.html.

Some Images I forgot to paste.

You might consider just painting the yellow to match the blue. Then either leave the red trim, or prime it and paint it a white.

I have always been a bit partial to yellow.....Carnival Lights by S. Wiliams was what I had on my home...plus a dark green accent. Then I gave the door a pop of terra cotta.....got more compliments. Good luck on your decision...go with your gut and whatever your eye likes.

I am wondering if anyone has any suggestions as to what I can do to add visual interest to the front of our home. My first thought is to add shutters. Any thoughts would be appreciated!

Funny, I love what you have. Everything now is so builder "usual", sage green, gray, beige. Your house has color and pop. Plant that front strip with some wonderful plants (I don't know where you live) and it will be fantastic. Go for different not the same boring colors.

The color will depend on what part of the country you live in. Dark colors in the house make a house hotter while in the north or northeast they make it more comfortable.


On a house that small I would go with soft neutrals; cream with white trim, greige with white trim, soft gray with white trim.

This shade is a perfect neutral: http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/oc-32
and would work beautifully with the roof and the trees making it feel cohesive.

The top picture in this Houzz article reminded me of yours: https://www.houzz.com/magazine/charm-up-your-house-with-windowboxes-stsetivw-vs~315356
I can see yours with window boxes and new shrubbery along the front. Be sure to purchase dwarf varieties of shrubs.

If you do add window boxes plant annuals in the same color as you paint the front door to make it look pulled together.

Using the same drapery, blinds or shutters on all the front windows will add big impact to the curb appeal of your sweet little house.

Treehugger1...please start a new thread if you want advice on your house.

I agree that you have to go with what you like. It is your house and you are the one who will be looking at it every day. My suggestion is white on the bottom, around the door, and the vertical boards that are burgundy. Then black directly around the windows. This would sort of give it a feel of shutters. Then I would paint the front door bright red for a pop of color. If you are concerned about dirt, I notice the house is close to the road, then probably brown or green neutrals.

The front is an enclosed porch so you dont have much height to work with, I would remove or paint the door columns the same as the body of the house. Put a little wider molding around the widows and the same widow treatment on all the widows. The door does not look like it is 36 inches so a little molding until you can replace it. The problem is that the paint enhances the fact that it was an enclosed porch and not the front of your house. Plants are needed and you should be in good shape.

From the photo it looks like you are surrounded by trees. I'd go for a lighter more cheerful color to make it more inviting, especially given how the roof dominates the structure and the trees dominate the house. I had a house that looked like it was being swallowed by the surrounding woods. I painted it a deep gold with white trim. It looked beautiful against the dark green trees. In the fall when leaves were turning golden it mimicked the natural colors. We had a brown asphault roof with golden highlights that the color picked up. If you don't want it that bold, pick out some other accent colors in the surrounding area.

I empathized with your comment about being over-whelmed when you start to look after different colors. I am in the same process with my older home.

There are many good points on here about how to decide. I found it very helpful to identify the architecture of my home and then go through houzz and pull out photos of homes in my home's style that I liked. I narrowed these down to a 3 color palette and then tried these colors on my house to see what I liked. Seeing a sample on your home really helps.

Good luck!

I like it the way it is.

Thanks for the comments on my house. I wanted to add a flower box, but unfortunately the window is 20 inches from the ground. The wall on the side of the garage looks like it needs something as well as the wall to the right of the window. I like the idea of adding more color with plants....we live in the south so the possibilities are endless! What color of shutters do you think would look right?

Treehugger1...not to be rude, but we are talking about the original house. Please start a new thread if you want advice about your house.

I really like all these ideas and thanks everyone for all your helpful input! I believe I will be going with Creekside Green or Soft Fern by Benjamin Moore and the door in Copper Clay, and the trim in white. Any thoughts? Tweaking colours? You guys are all so helpful!

update: janishill: I love that Tapestry Beige... even the Clydesdale Brown which was suggested in the link would work beautifully on my front door! Thanks! :)

fredm51: You're correct about the door, I believe it's 31 inches. I will be replacing it with a steel door......soon!


I would love to go with a very soft yellow though as well to all who suggested that... my boyfriend is afraid I will just keep seeing the previous yellow in my mind (which I don't like) and wish I had've gone with something else.

I will be adding either one large or two smaller dormers to the roof next year as well as a small peak over the front entrance, all in time! As the house is apparently 160 years old, I have some structural work to be done inside firstly (luckily my friends are in the business & willing to help!)

There was tons of growth in the front when I moved in (hence the dirt) as everything was totally overgrown. It's a clean slate basically now. The inside was my priority in converting the attic/loft into two bedrooms for my 6 & 8 year old. It's now insulated, drywalled, proper lighting & electrical. Now I just need to paint up there, add some wood trim around the peak & decide on flooring... hmmm, hardwood? laminate? I don't want carpet as I don't want to drag a vacuum up. All these decisions!

Your home is simply adorable. The southern colors for this little house is great. I would go with more soothing, calm colors from the New Orleans era housing. It's a tuff decision, but make it your own! You could use a small house length porch in front to complete the southern look.

so many wonderful ideas! since this house is very old, is it in a historical district or zoned neighborhood that would restrict the exterior colors? the suggestion examples pictured are in multiple styles and eras of construction. be sure to pick one style and stick with it for any addition/changes. don't want craftsman mixed with mid century mixed with nola or classical victorian all on such a small front just because you like the individual elements. for example - we lived in a dallas prairie style historical neighborhood. everyone went with exterior colors from that style/era. except one couple that painted the entire house inside and out stark white and attempted to convert it into an ultra modern design on top of the prairie bones and then added craftsman details to try to blend the two. it was an eye sore to the neighborhood.

Can anyone tell me how to start new thread? I am new to this!

You actually sound more enthusiastic about the soft yellow than the colors you're leaning toward, Jenny. :-) I don't think it will remind you of the current color, and flowers look gorgeous against it. Drive around (either literally or virtually) and see which of them makes your heart sing--soft green or soft yellow. Either one is fine, but take your time and get what you love!

Our rental has beautiful laminate and we like it. Since there's a lot of it to clean, my husband went to a custodial supply store and bought a very wide mop head with pads for dry and damp cleaning so he could cover more ground quickly. I don't know how big your space will be upstairs, but it might make housework easier. Your boys would have fun pushing it around. :-)

I'm curious. Are you in Louisiana? A previous post about Cajun plantation colors sent me googling, and it was fascinating. Your house must have quite a history wherever it is located, if it's 160 years old.

Definitely keep the door red ! I would go grege since the roof is dark. lucky you, it is a cute house !

Treehugger, to start a new discussion, go to the top of the page and click on "Discussions". A box will come up that you can fill in and submit. I'll look for you. :-)

agree with top grey option.

Another thought - and its a bit of a downer, sorry - it seems your house is close to a road. Although I really like the idea of white trim, you might think about something off-white or even a light tan. Might help with road dirt - if you have that problem because of the proximity of your house. Maybe that's why the house was painted such dark colors?

I know you are asking about paint colors primarily, but since a number of pictures posted sport window boxes I wanted to share my experience.

Our older home had a number of window boxes, which attracted me to the house. However, it turned out that all of the windows with window boxes were rotted along the sill and we have had to replace a number of sills. If you do want this type of feature for your home, I would choose a method that doesn't attach it to sill.

Your home is great!

Good point, Michelle. We don't know how busy this road is. But the green-grays you are considering, jennyfire, can go well with off white and even cream trim. That's not a huge help if it's a busy street, but it won't show as much as a starker white would.

I kind of like the funky colors and the "Louisiana" and "Gypsy" advice above. To tone is down a little and not spend a lot of money, you could try just painting the columns white to go with the windows. The red door is cute and typical, but the red columns seem somehow Asian to me. Some flowers and plants along the front would add to the charm.

Window boxes would be cute, too, and provide some separation between the blue and yellow.

learn from our mistake. we installed a pergo style 'walnut' floor in the grandkids guestroom and bath upstairs. failed to put in a top of the line sound barrier before installing because the installer said it would require pulling up the plywood subfloor. huge mistake. since you are not putting in carpet with a pad...make sure you have a really good sound barrier. makes for a much happier downstairs and you won't dred when the boys are playing in their rooms!

Gsrtexas, the original poster asked for input on floors in her reply to all the ideas about paint color. :-)

I like the red door! I would paint the trim bold white and I like the idea of the light gray tones whether true grays, tinted green or blue. Red door, gray base, and bold white trim to contrast. Then, of course, play up your house colors with something beautiful in the cute little planter beds. Maybe something simple like grasses and black-eyed susan's. Whatever you decide, have fun! It's the cutest little house!

Beautiful gem in the rough!
Keep the red door.
Go with a light color (say a yellow or light gray) make the trim and posts white
Add flower boxes (possible in the color black like the mailbox)
Maybe add a cover over the doorway.
Hedges on each side of the door way like the picture above are a fantastic idea.
Get a Welcome rug and enjoy!
Also try to use inside the front windows a neutral color woven roll down blind or white shutters in those 4 windows (if in the budget)
Great house (lots of character...)

I would love to see the result!

me too...

A soft green such as Calming Aloe would go well with the gray roof, white trim and punch it up with a French Blue front door. Window boxes in white could be added.

I suggest keeping it warm and welcoming as in yellow and white and adding a tiny porch if possible. Would love to see your progress photos! :)

Oh...I meant to mention that a dark color on the body of your house will make it appear smaller. A light color larger.

There are two color combos I think would be nice: (1) medium gray with white trim and a somewhat bright front door...so much goes with gray -turquoise, red, apple green (visit DIY Diva website to view a gray/white with green door), orange ... and (2) a creamy, not bright, yellow with white trim and, again, a front door that contrasts...gray...apple green, turquoise (or even white stenciled with "Welcome" in black).

Definately go with white trim. The down spout will disappear and the white trim will be so clean looking. Very cute little house :) Good luck, I'm helping my mom with the same dilema - for the past 4 years!!!!

My daughter has a tiny house like this. We painted hers a pale peachy pink with a pale and dark grey and cream trim. After she lived in it for a while, she changed the door to aqua with bright colors, and is in the process of adding a mosaic to her walk. Her neighbors just love it, and now call it the Art House because of all the stuff she has around the yard. (Yes, that's a knit bomb on her porch post.)
You have lovely big windows. In my home, I don't care for curtains, so I have hung stained glass panels in my windows in leiu of curtains. You can put them on the bottom half of the window so you have privacy. Some of mine are vintage from local flea markets and Ebay, and some are from www.stainedglassandmore.com, which has really lovely windows at a good price, and they pack beautifully. In such a small house, stained glass wouldn't take up any room at all, and would deliver a lot of color. You can even fit them under blinds, as I do in some rooms. Sorry for the lousy photos. I took them real quick.

sage green-gray green -moss green- I just stained my deck green gray. It came out great. Different times of day it looks different - just like in nature. its calming I LOVE YOUR HOUSE ITS CUTE!!!

A gray green

A gray green

Love photo posted by feeny! That colour would be a nice option - very calming soft neutral.

Good luck!

I think the gray green would look great

Paint the house a warm taupe. The taupe will blend with the gray roof. Paint the front door red, including the door mouldings. A red door says welcome to travelers. Paint all trim off white.

Paint the house a color that makes you happy, just don't tell me that taupe or grey make you happy! I am so tired of the sea of neutral and safe houses surrounding me in an already bland seattle. My neighbor recently repainted her beautiful pale yellow house a medium grey with red door... so predictable... I almost cried. My house was a beige and dark brown 1919 Craftsman when I bought it, now it is a gorgeous dusty turquoise with cream trim, a koi orange door, and dark putty porch floor and front steps. It makes me smile even on grey days.

Jennyfire...please post a picture when you have the exterior painted. Everyone says they will, but then they don't. i would really like to see how your sweet little house truns out.
Btw...I like the 'Soft Fern' by BM that you spoke of. Perfect color choice.

Thank you for your great comment Deb! As the original "paint it yellow" commenter, I totally agree. :-) Your house sounds beautiful. It would make me smile too.

I'm in a gray rental in a neutral neighborhood, also in the Pacific northwest. One brave neighbor painted her house a beautiful light green with soft periwinkle trim. Love it!

I would like to see it in one light color - either gray or yellow and keep the white trims. The light color will make the house look larger and the windows are fabulous - the house is a real little gem.