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sarah_sahraoui

help with exterior accent colors

last year

We have a beautiful limewashed brick exterior with shades of grey, blue and cream. The current accent color provides low contrast and makes it appear drab and boring. We’re doing some exterior renovations (changing the front door, shutters and siding) and I’m looking for help in deciding on color options to bring our exterior back to life. We’re going to be opening the entryway of the house and adding a more dramatic shaker style 5 lite double door (see mock up below), but I really would love your help in choosing the right colors and even the best door hardware, and exterior light fixtures to make our home more handsome and add more bang for our buck. Thanks in advance!

Comments (7)

  • last year

    Edit: requesting paint color options for front door, window trim, shutters, garage door, and siding (located on upper side and back of house). As well as hardware options for door and exterior lights. Thanks again!

  • last year
    last modified: last year

    Oh, I think the proposed door is not a good idea. It looks jammed inside the narrow space. The row of small windows above the current door is odd but there must be a better solution. Even just repainting the current door would be better IMO.


    Any outdoor lighting should follow Dark Sky Principles:

    • The uplights on either side of the entry door should be removed; there is no reason to illuminate the brick.
    • If lighting is needed between the garage and front door, use one or two low-voltage path lights (example).
    • I'd remove the second-floor ceiling light and install a wall light (example) closer to the top of the entry door.
    • Replace the wall light at the right of the garage with a dark sky-compatible model (example).
  • PRO
    last year

    Edit: requesting paint color options for front door, window trim, shutters, garage door, and siding (located on upper side and back of house)


    You're lucky because the brick is really pretty but I can see why figuring out colors feels hard.


    I see the colorway of the brick challenging to deal with in person and making a guess online would be a complete shot in the dark.


    It's challenging because there are a lot of colors.


    Odds are all of them are from the same, single hue family.


    BUT... that's something we need to know for sure.


    The only way to do that is to measure the colors.


    With handheld devices like the Nix Mini 3, the paint store is now portable and easy for DIY use. For our work, we rely on spectrophotometers that are more powerful than what they have in the paint store because this is what we do every day.


    Measuring colors and using the resulting data values to inform color choices is totally DIY doable but it is a process.


    But so is the visual gymnastics of shuffling paint samples, eyeballing color and guessing.

  • last year

    I think your proposed new door is too contemporary for the house, and will clash with its traditional features. I would keep the old door or replace it with a more traditional one with more glass and sidelights, because a double door will look cramped between the tall brick columns. For the siding and garage doors I would pick a color that matches or blends in with the brick as closely as possible (the light gray above the door appears to blend pretty well). And for the front door and shutters, I would use a high gloss paint, the color is up to you, but perhaps a darker gray or a lighter navy. And finally, the best bang for your buck would be some landscaping! You could use a small tree to frame the house on the left, and the planting bed should extend all the way over to the front sidewalk.

  • last year

    I would keep the door you have, unless, of course, its damaged. It fits the style of your house. I also like the idea of a slate blue rather than gray, and you definitely need landscaping.

  • last year

    Thanks so much for the feedback!