Selecting colors for exterior painting for a house can be daunting. It’s easier to choose colors for interior painting because you can easily repaint it again if you ever tire of it or are not satisfied with it. With exterior paint, however, it’s a much bigger investment. Prepping the surface to remove old paint is already a tedious job so once you’re settled on a color, make sure that is what you really want. Getting lots of samples, sampling it out on the house in little swatches and looking at the color in different times of the day will help prevent future heartaches.
Finding the Right Color for Your House
White, a true classic
White is made for exteriors. No matter what type of house you have, be it traditional, modern or contemporary, or whatever region you are in, white simply works. Even materials and architectural features work well with white. It’s a classic and safe color choice for all houses and will instantly give a tired looking house a fresh, clean look.
Possible color combinations: Anything! You can choose from light to dark complementary colors or play with different variations of white if you want to maintain the color all throughout. Creamy whites that have a bit of yellow tint to it are a stark contrast to lush green trees and blue skies. Even in winter, when blankets of snow surround your house, it will still stand out. Paisley Painting makes it easier to give your home a complete home makeover without any hassle.
Color inspiration from house materials
If your home is made up of stone, brick or a material that isn’t painted, look for color inspiration in those materials. Something gray, beige or brown is great but other colors like, sage, pale teal, red and navy blue would add punch to a neutral colored house.
Look for colors that complement graying wood elements. Alternatively, you can paint some features you want to highlight in a striking complementary color to make it more evident.
Planning around house features that are more permanent, like shingles or a stone facade, will help make it easier for you to choose a color.
Knowing your house’s era and architectural style will also help you choose better colors for your home. Most paint manufacturers offer historically accurate colors for a certain style of house. You don’t have to copy the exact same colors but staying close to those hues should be safe.
Primary and Secondary Colors
Don’t just stick to whites and safe earthy neutrals. If your home is more modern or contemporary, why not try drawing the eye in with some rich reds, deep blues and purples, and lively yellows, oranges and greens? Doors, for example, could be a focal point with a bright lively color such as yellow. In a more contemporary house with two or three main colors, you can use eye-catching colors for trims and rails.
These colors don’t have to be limited to modern houses. Traditional houses can use some color too. If brighter and richer colors are too flashy for your traditional house, use a muted or pale version of the color.
Two-tone and three-tone palettes
Sticking to a two-tone palette gives you more freedom to go bolder with color. Using two complementary colors with one color as the accent will make it easier for you to pick your options.
A three-tone palette, on the other hand, would consist of using your already existing material as your first color. For instance, the color of your roof is gray. You are now left with two more color options to work around the gray roof.
Traditional houses would greatly benefit from this simple scheme. Exchange bolder colors with neutral ones instead or go for a monochromatic scheme and choose varying shades of a single hue.
Keep in mind the major parts of an exterior scheme: the field color is the main color that dominates the whole of the house, the accents are colors used for doors, shutters and other areas that you want to highlight and trim colors are used for railings, edgings, window and door casings and other visible trims.
Choose a contrasting color to your landscape
If you’re still looking for ideas, look to your house’s surroundings. If you have a natural landscape, you can either pick shades that will recede your house and make it blend in with the background or pick a contrasting color to show off the style of your space. Pastel and light colors for instance would stand out against a lush green landscape.
Aside from your landscape, take a walk through various neighborhoods for example. See what’s on trend. Exterior trends tend to last longer than interior trends.
Use numerous color swatches if you must or color visualizers to help you see if that color fits your house. If you’re still undecided on what color to choose, try to get the help and services of paint contractors or color consultants.