No one can give you an answer without seeing the house and seeing the colors you are thinking about.

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Bayberry Farms Residence · More Info

We are going with dark brown and white trim on our house. I like the contrast. I like the earthy colors, as well. Not sure what climate you have, but here we have cold, white and grey winters. I think it'll look lovely against that backdrop. We will have shake and regular siding with a natural stone. Lodge/Rustic look. They delivered our siding yesterday. No turning back now. ;-)

Consider the color in the context of your site, your roof (dark, but is it brownish? grayish?), any stone, brick or other exterior selections. I would suggest taking all of your samples to your property and sit and stare at them for a while. To help visualize, maybe take a photo and overlay with your elevation, and then use colored pencils?

No brick, or facade. I will have white trim windows so that sets the soffit and other trim colors to be a white color.

There are no other houses nearby. The ones I can see in a distance are all tan, clay, or brown. I was hoping the blue would still fit into an 'earthy' feel of home. If it seems too bold I want to hear it!

"No one can give you an answer without seeing the house and seeing the colors you are thinking about."

you have still only answered one of the two questions asked in the first reply.

Sorry, just asking about the colors in general. Good shades?

The shades of the color all depend on the house and where it is. Show us an elevation. Give us an idea of what part of the country you are in and we can give you an informed opinion. Color can never be decided on its own. It depends on too many other factors.

Plus the color on a screen may look nothing like the color in real light. You got good advice to bring it to the site. Let me give you an example.

When I wanted to paint my condo in FL, I said to the GC that I loved the tan color I had used in my house in NY. In NY the color had a nice yellow/green cast to it and it worked perfectly. Well I got a small can of the exact same color and painted a large swatch on my FL wall. Guess what? The light in FL is much warmer and it turned that sample into a red/beige color and looked horrible.

Another example: I did a drawing of peach roses a few years ago. I had to tone down the peach color as it was too garish looking. Then I took the drawing back to NY, unpacked it and wanted to cry. If I had left it and not toned it down, it would have looked perfect in NY. However now the peach color appeared too dull. Why? The light in NY is different than the light in FL.

Your home looks nothing like your inspiration. Choosing to go dark on dark will just emphasize the institutionality of the design. If you keep the dark roof, a lighter color, like a cream or yellow could help to make it seem more friendly and approachable. Avoid grays at all costs.

I think this is as close to my inspiration as I can get on my colors. (White Trim, Dark roof, blue siding)

Lake George Retreat · More Info

I don't think Green was talking about your inspiration photos. I think what Green is saying is the style of your house you are building looks nothing like any of your inspiration photos including the fact that your house is on a flat, treeless lot. What will your house look like? Do you have your elevation drawings?

I don't know what my inspiration photos are though? I didn't post any...just the one with the siding color a few hours ago...sort of puzzled! Another person posted *THEIR* inspiration photos, which are not mine. I am strictly going for siding color here, not the house design. I don't have any elevation drawing, just doing what other builders do around here and design as I go because my house is a simple rectangle, no additional architectural features that will effect the price of the build.

Then it's going to look like a storage shed in those dark colors on such flat ground. Especially if it has absolutely no architectural details. Personally I have never heard of anyone building a home as they go without house plans and elevations.

-Shrugs- A lot of houses are built like mine around here. Guess I will look elsewhere for siding color information.

Just to answer your basic question of blue vs the brown you posted, I would vote for blue with the white trim you are envisioning. I assume your roof will be a grey perhaps? Of course that is just purely based on liking the blue colour better than the brown you posted -- so it is an out of context vote.

Carol

You have a large expanse of foundation showing on the lower level...how will you be treating that? That may help you decide what color to go with.

I second Carol, I think the blue will look nice.

Neither blue nor brown. Dark roof and dark siding on a square box is beyond ''institutional'' as Green said above. It's prisonesque. You need something much lighter. If you like blue and brown, a light blue or a light tan instead of navy or bark.

Doing the roof as a plain gable instead of the hip, adding a bay window and a simple cross gable dormer or two would also go a long way towards adding some visual relief to the flat plane and elevate the look of the home by quite a bit. It wouldn't add terribly much expense wise either.

How did you get building department approval without plans????

Is there a reason you removed the photos of your property and the house being built so that now Greens and my comments sound out of context? If you ask for advice and don't like it, you don't have to take it, but to pull a part of the thread for that reason isn't helping anyone. Maybe someone else could have given you advice too. However if you don't want to hear advice from people with more experience (not me although I do have a ton of color experience, Sophie, Green, etc), then you'd best advice is to just throw a dart at the two colors and see where it lands.

Do you even have an interior layout?

An A or B choice of blue or brown will make no significant difference to the appearance of the home. You DO care about your home's appearance to others and to yourself, or you wouldn't have asked. So please accept the advice on how to make the home more visually pleasing.

Color is only one element of design. There is also form and flow to consider. Good design does not have to be expensive. It would be easy right now during framing to make the home more attractive.

Are you set on the dark roof? I think a lighter color would look nicer with either color of siding, maybe a gray metal roof? Since it would take a long time to develop a tree canopy, another way to look at it might be to have your roof relate to the sky rather than the ground. Or if you are focused on connecting to the earth, maybe a red metal roof with the brown.

Since your house will be very exposed, if it is not too late to change might it be nice to have wide roof overhangs for additional sheltering/shade?

Good luck!

I think that sums it up DLM2000, thanks. I may not be thick skinned, so my experience with this topic so far has lead me down a path of negativity and insults, even if they were not insults that is how I perceived them. I just sort of gave up on my question, I guess I was doing something wrong by just asking about the two colors and not giving more information, but after doing so I was just questioned more on my intent and building behavior... I appreciate the input and 2 cents of everyone, but I got my toes stepped on and don't feel comfortable explaining myself further about details that are not even related to color or exterior design. I removed my two photos of framing because they were not good enough for those who have already commented, and it did not make the decision on color any easier. Instead, I was told my place will look like a shed, it will be institutional, and the colors are too dark, and that I am doing everything wrong. There were better ways to convey that message in my opinion, but that's what the internet is for. :) I will keep my color decision to myself and take in what I have heard here. For what it's worth...I do plan on going for a lighter shade of color after discussing this with others.

Nicpedia, what you've experienced here is precisely why I will never post any of my house plans on this forum. I've been coming here for about three months -and have found good information and ideas- but it is becoming more and more difficult to find constructive advice/help as opposed to opinion/criticism.

DLM2000...well said. I've been here on and off for over ten years and this board has never been this unfriendly or critical. The monthly progress thread has turned into the "safe" thread for lack of a better word.

Oaktown, I think the roof color will be Thunderstorm Grey by Tamko. It's dark but not black. It has bits of grey and lighter grey to keep it neutral for just about any siding I opt with.

No one was insulting you personally. Remove yourself from your objects. Frankly it's one of the first things we artists have to learn. Not to take it personally. And it wasn't an insult. If you took it as a personal insult, then I apologize. It was meant as a comment on how your house would look painted a dark color.

This comment was said after many attempts, including my explaining why we needed to see the surrounding area as to why you need to give us more information. Color doesn't work in a vacuum and even after explaining it you posted your one inspiration photo which would look nothing like your home in your setting. You posted a home with lots of surrounding vegetation when your home is on a flat, treeless lot. That affects how the color would be viewed.

Additionally, designing a home is not take a piece from here, and a piece from there and hope it all goes together. It reminds me of the beginning art students who go in and do the main subject first and then come onto art boards to ask, "I finished my main subject, now what should I do for the background." The problem with that way of working, like with a house is that all elements have to work together. So now anything they choose for the background will affect all the work they have already done and it will change how their subject looks.

That is why we asked for your elevation drawings. For example, I would not paint a rustic house in the woods looking out on the mountains in Colorado yellow. However that rustic home would look fabulous in the brown you posted. My sister just painted her home in the mountains of NC green and it fits into her landscape beautifully.

While I think your advice above is accurate (e.g. colour advice can't be given without knowing the background/sorroundings), I was upset that Nicpedia's house under construction was referred to as "prisonesque" "instituational" or would look like a "storage shed". I think those terms went too far.

Carol

P.S. Comments edited above for accuracy as a comment was misrepresented before (the shed comment).

no I said it WOULD look like a storage shed IF she painted the house in those dark colors. Notice the difference. I didn't say her house looked like that currently. That is the difference between reading the intent vs taking it and immediately thinking it's an attack.

I agree with your above statements, cpartist. I am sure you were simply trying to help and loan the OP your artist background. I have edited my comments above.

Carol

I want to add that I think all comments above (even the ones with strong analogies (prisonesque, instittuational, would be shed like) were all from well meaning posters who have a good background in colour, design etc. For those of us who have been on this board for a while it is easy to see that and appreciate the advice is not only meant well, but honest and from skilled posters. Nevertheless, words can be hurtful and I think a message can be conveyed more gently and still get through especially for the newcomers to GW/houzz.

Hopefully we can all move on and everyone can get the most beautiful and functional home for their needs.

Nicpedia, I liked the blue direction. Maybe or maybe not that exact shade, that would depend on the light and the setting. I don't think you have to find an inspiration photo with your exact house shape, elevation and vegetation in order to ask a question, though.

People here, as elsewhere on the internet, will write with advice that sounds harsher than they'd ever say to your face. Even if it's meant well. In a conversation, someone can see the look on your face in response to a comment, and tone it down or ask clarifying questions that lead to a more productive conversation.

(And yeah, that's why you don't see pictures of my plans or my house here. I don't care now, because I know it turned out great, but I was essentially told I was an idiot and doing the "wrong" thing a time or two in response to a question.) So I just used the good information I got, which was abundant, and ignored the rest.

Between here and family I received the memo that the color I originally was considering would be really dark once it was on the house. Since then I have leaned towards some lighter colors. I am looking into a blue-grey or light blue color for now and will go from there with my own decision. :P Thanks

Color is tricky enough even with real samples at the actual location with the actual lighting. Any thing you can do to simulate the final will be helpful, even if it means buying some samples or quarts, painting some boards, and hauling them to the site to look at on all 4 sides. Ideally at different times of day! But yeah, I've gotten that phone call that says "need this decision tomorrow" when I foolishly thought I had weeks to ponder!