I like the white. However, I would paint the downspouts the same color as the house --you don't want to highlight those. Especially love the red doors with the color scheme.

Since "Midnight Surf" is a medium/dark grey from what I can see (Gentek?). The colour shown on your mockups above appears to be considerably darker - almost black. If you Google "midnight surf siding" and select images, you'll see many examples of houses with the siding and white trim - in fact, that's what they all had. I think it looks fine. Assuming you have a real sample, compare that to what you're seeing in the mockups. Is the roof staying green?

Paddy: I suppose my big concern is whether or not the white exterior corner trim makes the house look too busy. I should have specified - white *will* be the window/door trim and the column colour. So my decision is really around the exterior corners.

The roof is staying green for another season or two. That is on the list to be replaced in the next few years. The porch will be refinished either this year or next year.

I think it looks great..... looked up the actual color and yours does appear darker as mentioned. I agree with above... all I would do is have the downspouts painted the color of the home. Leave all the rest white... it's very nice and love the red doors.

Blue trim for sure and blue spout.

I much prefer the blue trim on the ends and agree with painting the downspouts the blue color as well. Let the window and porch trim be the star, not all the edges.

ocuinno, there usually isn't any border/trim on the bottom of the walls (you've got that in white in the mockups, which I think confuses things).

Paint the downspouts grey - or not. We have a medium blue house with white trim and the softs, gutters and downspouts are all white. We do have white trim on the corners too - but our house is a little bigger than yours and we don't have any windows really close to corners like you do (the one on the ground floor). If you do have trim in white, it should be wider than you've shown - similar to the overall width of the trim around the windows, and only do the outside corners - you've got a white bit running down the middle of the front wall in the first floor for some reason. Also, there can be trim along the top of the walls - frieze board.

One advantage of having corner trim is in the installation and final look; whether that corner trim is white or the same as the house body, is up to you. See: http://www.finehomebuilding.com/2002/09/01/vinyl-siding-done-right

Again - if you Google gentek midnight surf and look at the images, you'll see some houses with the corner trim and frieze boards, and a few without. Yours could go either way, but I'd suggest you talk to your installer/contractor for more input.

Paddy - thanks again for all the information. I am in the process of revising my mockup to remove the white trim around the bottom. The white trim running down the middle of the front is actually an exterior corner too. The front entrance was an add-on at some point in the history of this house, and it was made *slightly* larger. If I go with the white trim, do you think it would be awkward to put blue trim on this corner in question? I personally would prefer this addition to blend in with the house.

Front - No white exterior corner trimSide - No white exterior corner trim

Front - With white exterior corner trim
*Note: there are two exterior corners in this view that I did not add the white trim to (under the porch). They do not line up with the exterior corners on the second floor, and I worry that may look odd. Opinions?

Side - White white exterior corner trim

I think the two corners under the porch would be ok with the blue/gray but the corner on the right front side should have white corner trim.

I prefer the blue corner trim. I think outlining the house makes it look choppy and smaller. You have nice wide trim and large columns. IMO, that's enough white.

may i ask what did you ended up choosing? white trim or blue trim like the body? i have the same dilemma.

That looks amazing! Perfect colors! Thanks for sharing! May I ask what persuaded you to choose the body color instead of the trim color for the corners?

I like the white trim.

It looks great with the white trim, and I'm glad you didn't do white vertical trim outlining the house, creating a boxy feeling. Would still like to see the downspouts painted to fade away against the dark siding.

Yeah omg omg
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decoenthusiaste - downspouts/power thingy to be painted this summer. Along with tidying up the deck.

RP - I consulted a number of people and got a 50/50 response. Split decision among the household. In the end I decided on the blue because we have a lot of white on the house (porch + window trimming) and because I thought it stood out more against the yard (background).