Never thought of white. Here's the catch about white, however......most often, we have cattle and they made a mess out of my nice yellow barn before.......can't imagine what they would do to a white barn. BTW, the roof on the barn is green (which would look great with white but not so great with many other colors!).
Thanks for your input!

Hi......Take a look at BM Stonington Gray, I know how impractical white would be, too bad.....

Benjamin Moore Cornwallis Red, I think, is a nice barn color.

Since your blue is a good blue-green, and roof brown, while the roof is a green, lets try a softer cocoa gray tone to echo the / harmonize wih the house roof - like rockport gray or river reflections - or one lighter hue - bm thunder

Your blue siding looks like a blue from Williamsburg! Chiswell Blue. Maybe something historic. From the Benjamin Moore Williamsburg Paint Collection web page:

Cochineal Red - Grown-up and glamorous, this aristocratic shade of deep red was created with red pigments available in the 18th century.

Carriage Red - A robust, deep red, this gracious shade was used on the exteriors of Williamsburg homes in the 18th century.

Nicolson Red - An earthy deep red, this shade frequently graced the exteriors and interiors of Williamsburg homes, particularly in the first half of the 18th century.

Reid Brown - Striking the perfect balance between trend and tradition, this deep, dramatic brown, circa 1790, was discovered by paint analysts at the George Reid House.

What ever you chose I am sure it will be great because you did a fab job on the house colors!

To be honest, I never thought of gray.....I guess just because of the green roof. I do like the shades of brown that are suggested and I suppose they would tie the house in with the barn. You can see the house and the barn simultaneously, so this might work.

I so appreciate the suggestions of actual colors, even the red ones! Starting from scratch is a bit scary. :)

The red above, upper left, is a nice option, too.

can you post a pic of the barn?

Will you come back and show us whatever you did and how it turned out?

What state is your residence located?

Its all depends- where you live ? what colors you like ? and add the practicality of its country dirt etc., need go to darker red shade ( if its in America barn ) in Europe its a very dark shade almost as black or just natural wood preserved

I just asked a painter the other day how much paint does it take for a typical barn, and he said about 40 gallons! They make special paints for barns, and just the typical 5-gallon colors from Fleet Farm or someplace might be worth checking out (white, brown and red) or possibly a mixture of these colors (one white to two browns or one red to three browns or such).

Benjamin Moore is great paint but doing a whole barn in it would cost a fortune!

I have noticed that barns of another color are becoming more popular these days, and grey is one of the "new" colors that work well.

based on the photo, a lighter shade probably will work best as it seems, again based on the look/feel of the photo, that a dark shade makes the home feel heavy/closed off where a light/bright shade will open up the home and make the feel more inviting

I like the idea of a grayish brown. Brown would tie in nicely with your roof & make the cow mess go un-noticed. Since the barn roof is green, I don't think red would work well on it. I do love red barns though. Is there a chance you will need to replace or paint the barn roof in the next few years. If so, go with red if you that's what you want.

I like the idea of adding a pergola at some point & painting it blue to match the house. If that's not practical with your working barn, just put up a large grapevine wreath with a blue bow. I love wreaths on barns. It makes them look so homey & loved.

I really love the blue of your siding. I've seen a few houses in this color recently & they are so nice & fresh compared with all the plain colors on most houses. Great choice!

So many thanks to everyone giving their input.

We live in a suburb of Indianapolis (Zionsville). Very Midwestern feel surrounds us....lots of cornfields/bean fields/barns & farms.

I am attaching a photo, albeit not a most favorable image of my barn, it likely gives off the "feel" of the barn the best. It IS a working barn, complete with 5 stalls, a hay loft and a tack room. Although right now we are not hosting any steer (they were currently in our freezer!), we will be having new guests come Spring.

I also changed my Profile picture to our most recent family photo which includes the other side of the barn in the background.

Chrisinky - love the idea of a wreath with a blue bow, as I've always tried to make the barn look "homey" but have failed as of yet.

Victorianbungalowranch- thanks for the idea of the Fleet Farm paint----- not a bad plan considering the cost of the new siding and windows on the house nearly wiped us out!

I like the dark brown suggestions the best, I believe. My biggest worry with this would be the mix of all four colors in such close proximity (blue/white/brown/green).

I'm wondering if I should just paint it to match the house? Would that blue look AWFUL with the green roof (which is in fine shape and doesn't need replacing any time soon).

Thanks again for the input. Invaluable!

I see a lot of working farms in white--perhaps you could do white with dark brown for the trim, posts and barn doors where the cattle will mess it up. Or brown body and white trim to lighten it up a bit.

Fleet Farm paint is pretty inexpensive--might be worth checking out, and pick up some Halloween candy while you are there! Painting season is coming to an end to get there quick, or think about it over the winter. You might have more time for good surface prep and priming (oil based is best) in the spring anyway. Surface prep is the key to a longer-lasting paint job. Without good prep, don't invest in expensive paint. Even with good prep,, scaping and painting is good on a regular basis.

BTW, dark colors fade faster, don't cover as well (can look streaky) and are harder to match for touch-ups later. That makes white and grey practical choices.

How about a tan/taupe color to bring out some of the light colors in your house roof? That would also look good with the green roof. Sorry, but I don't think the blue would look good with the green roof.

I actually live on a working farm, and white is nice... but you can't keep it that way without a fleet of farm-hands. I would go with color flattering to your house...

Do you like this?
http://houzz.com/discussions/454727

You know, looking at your barn with the yellow...it wouldn't look much different if it was white. From the picture I don't notice it looking bad from the abuse of the cows. Maybe you should re-think using white. You could repaint the worst parts every couple of years maybe.

Judy M......
Hmmm.....almost looks black, although I realize it isn't......may be a tad bit too dark?

Chrisinky -- HA! The barn looks good right now because we just power-washed it to prepare it for painting.....which is also why all of the paint is off the side. :) Before the power-washing, it was coated in a nice brown mud color.....about cow height. :)

Which is why we can't do a lighter color.

I totally understand! You did a great job with the power washer--I hope you were wearing safety glasses & kept your mouth closed! Ha Ha!!!

Not to rain on your parade, but you may need to let the wood dry out for a good long time after power washing or the paint is going to peel. Power washing really drives the moisture down into the wood, especially raw old weathered wood. How much so depends on how powerful your washer is. Perhaps it would be just as well to wait until after the snow melts and before you get the new cows for the new paint job.

There is quite a bit advice out there about power-washing before painting, and obviously the surface has to be clean, but it is safest to let it dry out really well before painting or you will have problems. If you really blasted it, that could be a month or more in dry hot weather. Otherwise as was posted in the comments section on this blog (which has pictures of typical paint failure):

http://www.familyhandyman.com/painting/tips/painting-preparation-making-paint-last-prepare-the-surface/view-all :

"Having done a lot of siding replacement work, I caution against the use of pressure washers on exterior siding, especially wood or composite (e..g masonite). I've seen a lot of houses with rotted or damaged siding from using pressure washers. Some homeowners pressure wash the house every year to "clean" it. The article says to avoid spraying upward and don't use a ladder. Unless you have a cherry-picker handy, there's no way to avoid spraying upward.
My choice is to spray with a garden hose with a solution mixer (attaches to the end of the hose) and use a stiff brush on a long extendable pole to scrub the siding. It's more work but gives better results without damaging the siding."

Here is a variety of opinions on the matter.
http://forums.finehomebuilding.com/breaktime/construction-techniques/painting-dry-time-after-pressure-wash

I tend to err on the side of caution though, especially with old structures. Stain, which soaks into the wood, rather than paint, which lies on top, may be the way to go with farm buildings if at all possible. Modern paint creates a hard surface that traps moisture which eventually causes the paint to fail. Old fashioned whitewash and milk paints (barns were coated with a mixture of lime, clay, milk and blood, hence the red color) allowed the wood to breathe and the moisture to evaporate, and soaked into the wood.

Old fashioned linseed oil also was used to soak into and protect the wood, especially when it was covered with true oil based paint. Modern oil based paints are synthetics, and don't seem to soak in as well as the old-time treatments did. And a good scrape or sanding can be a good idea before you prime. As long as you aren't dealing with lead paint.

Brown at cow height sounds practical for whatever color you choose.

Color is called French Roast, a deep coffee color.

Your home is beautiful! I would consider a darker shade of your house blue. Also red would be a nice contrast and classic. Look at Benjamin Moore HC- 61 or HC- 65. I always stick to the historical colors for exteriors as they are timeless. Don't go too dark because the darker colors tend to fade.

Finally finished!! We chose a dark brown (SWilliams Java). Hubby loves it. I believe it will grow on me. At least it's new paint, doesn't clash with the green roof or our house and won't change colors once the new steers arrive in the Spring.
Thanks to everyone who helped with suggestions!! Would love to hear what you think (although it's too late to change!!!!).

I like it. I'm sure it will take some getting used to since its such a darker color than what you had before. Seems like a good color to blend with the roof of your house too. Also the perfect color to not show what your cattle will be adding to it. Nice!

WOW it looks like a completely different barn, looks nice....great job.

I like it and I think the contrasting paint on the crossbuck doors is a nice touch. Dark brown will fade with time, so when it is time for touchups you might need to either match the faded color or paint an entire section or tape off a clean edge and paint the lower part where the cows scraped it.

What is the color of your siding? It is beautiful!