Exterior house colors

[Travel60]

Someone mentioned HOAs - allowed colors should be the first consideration (you agreed to follow those rules when you bought).

Also, certain styles of homes have traditional color palettes - it would be wise to at least consider those. They are traditional for a reason. If there is brick or stone, consider that - stay with coordinating colors. Same with roof color unless you plan to re-roof. Our neighborhood is mostly Williamsburg center-hall colonials. My colors are red brick in some areas medium gray siding, cherry red shutters/front door, white trim and an architectural shingle that is mostly shades of gray but some red. Neighbor on one side is a brown brick, tan siding, off-white trim and dark green shutters/doors, brown shingles.

I would also consider neighboring houses - don't want to match them but don't want to stick out like a sore thumb either (maybe that's just me - some people seem to want to stick out!).

 

[LuvOrlando]

The first time I had my house painted, I consulted with a colorist, there are actually 6 colors, and she worked with my painter. The next time (15 years later) I couldn’t find my palette, she changed the name of her company but I found her, she emailed it to me. It’s green, tan, white, brown, a darker tan, sky blue (wrap around porch ceiling). It blends very nicely with the homes in the neighborhood (most built around 100 years ago by a popular developer with similar features like wrap around porches, ribboned oak floors, heavy chestnut molding..). It was originally brown.View attachment 808384

So pretty!

I LOVE the look when homes have a different color in the trim, it isn't expensive but adds so much charm. We never got around to it but it is on my list. Also love the details with the wood on the ledge & in the columns, also adds a ton of warmth, just lovely.

 

[mjkacmom]

Oh, what a beautiful porch! The house I grew up in (and those around it) was similar to this, too. Really nice living space in the summertime. (How are your bugs? Mosquitos?) My porch is more modern, with Trex, we added it about 25 yrs ago, and screened part of the porch. Bugs around us are horrific, you really can’t sit out there without it. We’ve been spraying for mosquitos (with an all natural company), as have our neighbors, and for just one year - 2022 - it was heaven. We could actually sit out on the porch without getting bitten alive. But because we had a rainy spring this year, they were back again, so no go.

I think I know the colors you’re referring to. We at one time had the dark grey. We’d actually seen it on someone’s house (about a mile away from us) and knocked on their door to ask what color it was. They happily shared, lol. It was Sherwin Williams, I can’t remember the exact name but would know it if I heard it. She knew it right away. (ETA I believe it was Williamsburg Grey Exterior Stain.) That was beautiful. I’m feeling something a little lighter this time since we’ve lived with dark a lot recently. And as a pp mentioned, I think it fades faster. Ours did, anyway, and it peeled, so that was a headache.

We really don’t get a lot of bugs on the porch (NJ), it might be because the porch is high. We have a lot of white wicker with cushions and sit out there often.

 

[Darcy03231]

Ours is grey with white trim. It's a 50's cape and it was this color when we bought it and we've continued to keep it as it fits the house.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Now THAT'S a house.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Oh yeah!!!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

View attachment 808487

Now THAT'S a house.

Haha! Yeah, my daughter would definitely have picked that when she was three!

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Dear HOA. How you like me now?

 

[Moliphino]

You can always go full on robins egg blue like this house in Old Deerfield (paint color dates back to about 1803).

 

[MillauFr]

I was researching best paint. Sherwin Williams always comes up. It’s about $30/can more, but probably worth it, and it says you only need one coat. Experiences?

View attachment 808421

I used Sherwin Williams Emerald Acrylic Latex and Emerald Urethane for the trim. I power washed the entire house, sanded, primed, and then used two coats. Looks great and had several neighbors ask who I used to paint.

 

[1420Elexismc]

So not painting but years back when we owned our house, we put an addition on-meaning we needed new siding. Our contractor(who we later found out was a nightmare) asked what color we wanted. I said I would like a "dark grey". Well the day they did the siding, I drove by and it was more of a light brown. I asked why it wasn't grey...his response was: "Grey? I thought you said Clay"

We think he had some siding left over from a job and utilized that instead of using our money to purchase the color we wanted. We found out (after he disappeared off the face of the earth) that there were many small things he didn't complete(that was fun when we sold the house).

So I would say that whatever you do, get the color in writing LOL. Our house came out fine, but what a mess it was getting to that point.

 

[HeatherC]

I love the green you showed Pea! I think that would look great with white shutters. Do you have cedar on the sides? Is that the part that is natural? I love natural cedar siding! Screams beach to me.

I don’t think shutters are out of style here in New England. Most homes I see still have them.

Have fun choosing! I’m sure whatever you pick will look great!

 

[HeatherC]

Dear HOA. How you like me now?
View attachment 808489

These colorful houses remind me of Oak Bluffs on Martha’s Vineyard!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

These colorful houses remind me of Oak Bluffs on Martha’s Vineyard!

I was thinking the same thing! And thanks!

Yes, we have cedar shingles.

 

[SandyinMonterey]

Lots of house painting going on in my neighborhood. Houses in my neighborhood are mostly brick (red brick and brown brick) or stucco with some stone work. Many homes, not just in mine, are painting their red brick white or off ****e. Others, like the stucco and stone, go for neutral colors and on the light side. Except my neighbor who just finished painting and went with a very dark gray. We were hoping to paint exterior next year but now will have to replace one more AC unit and another furnace. But I was looking at neutral colors, like SW Accessible Beige.

 

[_19disnA]

So I would say that whatever you do, get the color in writing LOL.

Good suggestion. I would have the painter provide samples of the various colors you are considering to choose from and get it in writing on the contract. Both the color name/number and BRAND of paint so this is no confusion or a painter that isn't reputable can't pull a fast one by substituting a cheaper brand of paint.

 

[MommaKetch]

It's a fun topic, and I love reading about it and seeing everyone's color schemes! We repainted about five years ago. When choosing the colors, we drove around and found houses similar to ours and checked out their chosen palates. I also researched online. Since we have an older home, I bought the paint color fan deck for the Williamsburg Collection by Benjamin Moore. Thankfully, that narrowed down the color choices.

Most of our house is stone, but there is a stucco addition on the front I was trying to minimize. It was painted cream; I wanted something to make it fade away and for the stone to stand out. The stone leans warm in tone, vs cool, so we chose warm paint colors.

We needed 3 colors: Trim and Fascia (darkest), Soffit (Medium), and Siding/Stucco (Lightest). I took 2 colors we liked that went well together, (the darker and lighter colors) and blended them together to make the medium shade used in the soffits. The paint store color matched the blend, and the painters did the hard work of scraping and repainting. I blended Tavern Gray and Tavern Charcoal.

https://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-colors/williamsburg-paint-color-collection

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

These colorful houses remind me of Oak Bluffs on Martha’s Vineyard!

https://www.realtor.com/realestatea...uffs_MA_02557_M42996-45624?from=srp-list-card

 

[Pea-n-Me]

We are the painters! (And scrapers and sanders and primers!)

Went and bought the paint today. It was interesting seeing how they did it. They took the base can and the little card that had our chosen color on it. They typed the color into the computer and clicked on the link that came up. They opened the base can and put it on the machine under the computer, then clicked on the linked color. I saw a bunch of thin streams of color entering the can including black, rust and I think yellow? Weird! (Considering I had picked that nice grey/green color.) Once that went in they put it on the machine that shakes it for several minutes, after pounding the cover back on, handed the cans to us, and off we went. We bought a new paint sprayer it should be coming tomorrow. We still have some scraping to do but hopefully we can get to the paint this weekend. Can’t wait till it’s done!

 

[_19disnA]

Virtually every store that sells paint mixes your color to order by adding various colors from a formula to the tint base. They will usually open the cam when done shaking, to insure you ended up with the desired color. If buying several gallons, it is also a good idea to mix them all together to insure a uniform color.

Actually a good thing since the store doesn't have to stock all the different colors and means they can produce thousands of shades of each color.