I’m so tired of grey. It’s been done to death!

a couple houses near me have gone navy with yellow doors - looks fab! I asked one gal what she used:

I believe it was Sherwin Williams “Gentleman’s Grey”. Door was “Confident Yellow “. (Photos below)

I think if u go with a dark grey with the dark grey roof you’ll be fighting it.

a few years back I was going to paint the ugly wood vanity in my bathroom a shade of Navy - I rather liked Ben Moore’s “Blueberry” 2063-30. 2 shades lighter than “Old Navy”.

the world needs color!!!

I love gray but lately I'm seeing a lot of grays that just look too cold. Blue-gray might fall in that area. What about a warmer gray, moving more toward taupe? And definitely don't go too dark.

Very hard to advise without seeing the house in its neighborhood settings and local light (and it will look different in summer) but your roof is a very light absorbing, one dimensional mass of black (that's not a bad thing) and your window trim is sharp white so I think you need a sharp one dimensional paint for the house body. Navy sounds right if you prefer a conservative direction. I probably would have picked a pure yellow, but maybe not if it didn't fit the neighborhood.

Helena Woolsey · More Info

Urban Farmhouse · More Info

Renovations and Additions · More Info

Or even this

Dutch Colonial Paint Colors · More Info

But it aint my house! Wish it was because it has loads of characte and the new roof wll take on character, and a new roof over your head is great to have.

i vote no shutters unless you need them for storm and they are made to be functional

I wouldn’t apply shutters to this lovely home - unless they are practical & work?

Faux ones are like HD eyebrows on a beautiful girl - fake & unnecessary.

I like the SW Peppercorn, only not as saturated - maybe at 75%. Whatever you pick, paint samples on all 4 sides so you can see how it looks at different times of the day. I would also like a cafe au lait color with the black roof. (My theory is that if you can't beat the dirt, match it!)

Painting the window sash charcoal will tie this together regardless of the siding color. Not the window trim, just the sash. Cafe au lait would be nice.

I love the pale yellow. I think it works so well on this home. I also love the idea of some sort of cover over your front door. Dark colors can show a lot of dust. Light colors won’t show dust but will show dirt. This is a really cute house and anything will look great.

FIRST, before you choose a color, think about what direction the front of the house faces. If it's north, be sure to go lighter & warmer. A dark grey like 'Witching hour' will look even darker and so drab and gloomy on a north-facing house. Best go for a mid-tone or lighter color, in the warmer spectrum, like a tan/yellow/mustard, etc.

I like the pale yellow also. Here’ a totally different idea.....a subdued brick red! Make it all cozy and warm with the portico, which would also break up the color nicely. It would go with the roof. You could add some pretty, welcoming lights on both sides of the entrance. Just a thought. Love the house!!

Those dark blues look like black-on-black, which is gloomy and not at all welcoming. Plus, I. Your warm DC summers, wii absorb a lot of heat. The last house posted by ital mover works best with your blue-black roof. Contrast will look so much better than going all dark and you can still use the blue-black colors for trim. Check out terra cotta colors!

The last home I built was completely covered in Hardie planking and Hardie board. Hardie products do come in colors and you might find one you like. If not, Hardie products take paint well, especially when sprayed.

I concur with the comments suggesting a lighter color, rather than a dark color, will look better with the dark roof you're stuck with. Please consider a light-to-medium blue gray with white trim. Whether the door is to be red or natural wood toned, it will all work together well. I suspect that your home will look overwhelmingly dark -- perhaps like a haunted house -- if you pursue the overall dark color scheme.

NOTE: When buying, building or remodeling a home start a 3-ring binder immediately and keep copies of all contracts, agreements, decisions about color, materials (including samples or pics of materials, color chips, swatches ), etc. Carry it with you so you have a easily available, ready reference to use regardless of when/where your contractor contacts you. Yes, you can and should keep electronic records of all this stuff, but they won't help much if you're in your car or at work and your contractor insists you make a decision NOW. Of course, you don't have to make any decision just because your contractor wants it immediately; it's your house, your money, and you're the contractor's boss, not the other way around. : )

Definitely a lighter color, such as the Silver Bullet from Marylee. Could look great but needs testing first.

For what it is worth, I like your black roof.. it is an architectural element pulling its own weight. I realize it has required your rethinking what you thought was a settled plan, and under pressure, but it’s a nice roof.

Can’t resist adding this one, but if you click on it and look at several different pictures you’ll see the yellow tone shifts. Still, I like this warn tone and, again, would only pick it if it looked nice in its entire surroundings, and I might think a dark color looked better based on the neighborhood

Colonial Farmhouse · More Info

Just one thing to keep in mind that is really important... if ur roof is a cool shade go with a cool shade of paint. And if it’s warm go with warm. Most any color will go with any other color - as long as they are both warm or both cool. I rented a place once where the owner mixed a cool blue with a warm yellow in the kitchen and it never sat well with me. Liked both colors, just not together... it think warm shades can also look dirty with age...

If you like green I think this looks fabulous!

Thanks everyone! I am so lucky to have the crowd sourcing - it's excruciating to have to make all these decisions! (If I ever do anything like this again, I'll definitely get a designer - I do research for a living and generally enjoy the process of gathering information to come to conclusions, but this renovation has worn down my powers of decisionmaking!)

I'm fascinated by all the support for yellow here! It never would have occurred to me! @barncatz & @User posted lovely pictures. @Beth G @bec @bethechangeyou & others, I get it.It could definitely work, but for some not-entirely-definable reason, neither my husband nor I are feeling it for our particular house.

BTW we won't have shutters and the white trim is brand new and not going anywhere, so that constrained the direction a bit.

The portico got underway yesterday, along with the new front door, and it's been helpful to see it closer to the final stage for picking the paint color. I got one quick photo this afternoon and went through all 20 of the grays and blues I'd been looking at previously (as well as all the colors in the various BM brochures I have piled up on my desk.) Even the angle de-emphasizes the roof, I definitely see the problem with a dark gray and I even became a little less opposed to the lighter grays. But with the portico and the opportunity to paint the door, I'm now totally sold on a bright-but-dark blue thanks to @Lisa Phillips @Merlyn Corcoran- @Marylee H @doods. I think BM Old Navy is the winner but I also like BM Stunning.

BM Old Navy w/Heritage Red Door:

BM Stunning w/Heritage Red Door:

That will be beautiful! And I agree, way too many choices and we also should have hired a designer. I will be posting my own color conundrum soon. You definitely need to go with what feels true to you. I think there is a balance between being steered away from a terrible decision and being steered towards something you don’t actually like. It will be wonderful! Good luck and post the final. Would love to see it.

Red doors are so traditional and yellow is becoming that way too. I like the door match to the roof and the green house S. Witter posted with trim, door and roof matching.

Love your choices! If you are considering a yellow for your front door, check out BM’s “Hawthorne Yellow.” It has a nice tone. Doesn’t scream YELLOW! Try it out with your visualizer... But the red looks fabulous. A happy color!

i love the images that show a bright colored door. Red, yellow, coral, something to add just a bit of fun to the more somber gray, black & white scheme. Portico is lovely!

I will paint the siding very light yellow or white, and paint all window frames off black. The drag gray color u choose is not going well with the roof color. Paint the siding at least 3 shades lighter then the roof

Absolutely correct, Nicoleta!

First off, I am awed by all your hard work.

That said, I do not find blue vs red color scheme attractive: any designer knows not to combine red and blue primaries.

That blue-gray roof evokes the idea of 19-century buildings in the centre of Paris. https://www.ontheluce.com/paris-from-above/

Notice the light warm stone gray of the walls that--together with the dark roof--gives these buildings a classy European elegance.

For a look that would be worth all your pain, translate this understated Paris style by using and combining only neutral colors.

Another suggestion for a European look is to paint the second floor the same hue but a shade lighter than the first floor. Your house has the right proportions for such structural painting: the front is too high for its width, with only two windows upstairs.

Alternatively, if you absolutely want fresh color so your house looks nice and new, paint it in the lime color but the door should be white.

BTW, I like your old door. It looked so "old money".

Hooray for blue! Loving both the Navy and the Van Deusen Blue.... and the Red Door is absolute perfection - American and Feng Shui rolled into one. Have you done a mock-up with white shutters? This would give more visual weight to the bottom story... I am only half kidding here, but would love to see a mock-up with RED shutters just for fun. Certainly think you are on the right track here.

Agree about the shutters. They are meant to be there. And if you want to apply Feng Shui, you need to know which direction the front faces and paint it accordingly.

Don’t put shutters on if you like architectural statement. Put them on if you want them or want your house to conform to neighbors . I have very often made exterior choices to fit in with the neighborhood and might very well choose to do the same if I bought your house and looked around the neighborhood. But your house is visually beautiful and complete in and of itself without shutters to those unwedded to preconceptions.

However, if you care what the neighbors think and want to add shutters, please be aware that for some of us sensitive souls, seeing non-functioning shutters is like hearing fingernails on a chalkboar.d

What an amazing thread and so many helpful people with design experience. Great color ideas and information Marylee! I thought as an artist in a prior life I knew color but wow, have you ever taken that to a new level! I absolutely know where to go when I need help with our projects on/in a small stone Cape Cod in the MidWest (coming soon). Smalloldhouse_gw, just a novice's opinion here; I really like both Old Navy and Stunning and while my favorite of those two is Stunning EITHER one will be perfect! I also agree with a number of people here and will add in my two cents... NO shutters on your beautiful home (no matter what the neighborhood is doing). PLEASE keep us all updated and share pictures of your finished project!

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/120911/need-creative-help-with-exterior-paint-colors-for-my-craftsman-style-home

Maybe a light blue-green...

https://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/color-overview/find-your-color/color-search?q=storm%20cloud%20&category=color&start=1

Hello everyone,

Benjamin Moore has unexpectedly confirmed the Paris theory.

Your roof color is this BM's Approaching Storm. The colors they suggest to use with it are:

1. Plaster of Paris (!): for the top story, to dilute the solid front and offset the roof.
2. Museum Piece: for the bottom story, to "ground" the house and offset the portico.

Voi-la! The house will immediately look like French heritage real estate. Your original, historical black door would have driven the point home.

Sorry - a bit off-point. I would particularly like to see Museum Piece and Plaster of Paris in one room together. I love them both.

But there’s a lot more to them than immediately meets the eye - as they are Full-Spectrum paint - made without black and containing far more different colours of pigment and from differing Hue Families than the majority of paint colours (usually just 2 or 3).

They are designed to morph and shift in a more sophisticated way, in response to changing wavelengths of light, to add extra atmosphere to a room.Some people thoroughly enjoy the idea and others feel hesitant to try.

Colour Stories colours cannnot be mixed in exterior paint.

(I’ve been working with a Lady this last week who had already chosen for herself CSP-140 Chateau for her exterior trim - but no joy. HC-108S Sandy Hook Gray was a reasoned alternative, based on colour DNA, but it won’t alter and flex to the same degree as Chateau.)

Thanks all - decision is taken, so probably no more need for suggestions. I'm very very grateful to all who helped me step away from the gray and embrace something more colorful. Still debating the door a bit - I want to try @ptreckel's Hawthorne yellow and a few other options before I decide. I'm chuckling a bit about the suggestion that the house does or could look like it belongs in Paris. Lovely thought, but having spent some time in Paris, I'm not seeing it at all and I'm very confident that no one will ever mistake this house for "French heritage real estate"! I'm aiming only for something that is a cut above the teardown it might have been if we'd moved instead of renovating. In any case, I'll post the "after" photo in a few weeks when it's done.

For the record, there won't be shutters - I hated our faux shutters pre-reno. We have a great architect who put a lot of thought into the design, esp around the windows.

Also in case it comes up for others, the roofing is Certainteed Landmark Moire Black. At one point I dug through the archives here and someone else posted about these shingles looking bluish black in certain lights. I'm curious to see how the paint and changing light (esp when spring hits and the leaves are back on the trees) impacts the appearance of the roof.

Can’t wait for your reveal! You have made good choices; you will make good choices! And when you get started on landscaping, flower beds, etc....please let us see?!!!

Susan Witter. Can you tell me the color of the green house you posted? Or where the post came from? That could be the future of my house! :)

So what color did you decide on for the siding?

Black roof anything goes. Great choice. Choose color that pops from the street a shade of medium gray blue. And then choose a pale light light yellow door or a natural wood color door... I can picture this with the right shades. It would have to be shades due to black roof. How fun. Good luck with all your choices!

sunshineinmyheart I found it doing a Google search : house with black roof. Sorry it didn't give the color but I'm sure if you go to Home Depot or Sherwin Williams app you will find something very close. I always get the sample size and paint a couple different large patches to see how it looks on different light. I've made the mistake of purchasing a whole gallon only to find the color is either too bright, too saturated or to light or dark. ☺️

I can't wait to see what you chose. We went from a gray house to painting it to a dark blue and loved it.

Susan- thanks for your response. I have samples painted all over the back of my house! haha! My husband now says he wants blue. I think I'll show him Boxerpal's house :). Good thing we have to wait until summer to paint. Plenty of time...

I wanted to follow up with our choices - BM Old Navy with BM AF-290 Caliente for the door. It’s not as dark as I expected, but it’s a true navy. I’m still adjusting to having such a colorful house! Our project isn’t quite done yet - we moved back in only to have a sewer pipe break on day one. I hadn’t quite appreciated that the star lantern might make it look patriotic, but I can live with that. All in all though we love the end result and I’m so grateful to all the help I got (and am still getting) on this forum!

It looks great. It's also great to be patriotic !!!

I meant to also post the before picture, which may explain why I was resisting a medium-toned gray...

It is beautiful!

Love it! Thanks for sharing, it turned out great. Good job!!!

Congrats! It's a masterpiece. The house does look like a heritage real estate.

It looks really crisp & the front door sings! 🌈

Looks great.