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Right Exterior Paint Colors For Home
When it comes to your home’s curb appeal, exterior paint colors can make all the difference, especially if you are trying to sell. Exterior hues – unlike interior colors – can affect the entire street, and this puts a lot of pressure on the homeowners when it comes to choosing a palette. The most public design decision that you will ever make is the color of the exterior of your house. Additionally, a number of factors such as landscaping, roofing, hardscaping and more come into play, that you do not have to deal with on the inside of a house. Outdoor paint color plays an important role in how potential buyers will perceive your house, given the fact that it will add beauty and value to your home. However, it can be a difficult task to choose the right color, with thousands of exterior paint colors available. Here’s a list of tips that will help you choose a color scheme that works both for your style as well as your home’s surroundings.
Choose a Shade
When deciding what color you want to paint the exterior of your home, the first thing you will want to do is choose a shade of color first. In this context, the word ‘shade’ means to ask if what you want is a light, mid-tone, or dark color on the exterior of your home? At this point, all you have to focus on is the color shade that you want. While choosing a shade is an easy decision for some people, many are not sure about the shade that they want and could use some help making that decision. Searching Pinterest might be useful if you are looking for some inspiration to determine what shade would look best for your home.
Consider the Roof Color
You will need to consider the color of your roof, before you can go much further in your color decision-making. You don’t have to worry as much about color clashing, if your roof is a neutral gray or black. However, you will for sure need to factor in your roof color if you have a roof with red, tan, green or blue gray undertones in your shingles. You might want to stick with a true neutral main body color for your home to play it safe, if you have a dark brown roof with shingles that have a red undertone. You have a little more leeway if you have shingles with green or blue gray undertones. You will prevent color clashing if you choose a color that either has a slight hint of your shingle color, or a color that is neutral. This will ensure that the hue blends with your roof color.
The Light Factor
You will need to factor in the impact light has on exterior paint colors – which is unlike choosing colors for interiors – after you have considered your roof color and decided on the shade. Sunlight/daylight will drastically transform your color into a cool/blue shade, because that’s what happens to a paint color when there is an abundance of light. To get to a balanced color that won’t lean towards cool or blue, you will need to go at least 2-3 times warmer on your exterior color. It is important to choose a warmer white if you want a white exterior, otherwise your home will have a blue cast.
Find Inspiration
You will need to decide on an actual color for the exterior body of your home, once you have narrowed your shade down, factored in the roof color and understood that you’ll need to go warmer because of the abundance of exterior light. To get a feel for the possibilities and search for inspiration, it always helps to look for similar home styles. Derive inspiration for color ideas from your travel memories, vacation homes and use nature as a backdrop. Social media platforms like Pinterest abound in creative ideas for exterior house colors.
Ask for a Sample
After you have decided on a color, there are many variables that come into play when it comes to the impact of colors on exteriors including how much shading your home has and which direction your home is facing that it’s impossible to safely choose a body color without sampling and looking at your samples at morning, mid-day and at dusk. It’s critical at this point that you sample colors either directly on your home or on a poster board to get to play it safe and get the exact color that you will love for years to come. Now that you’ve chosen your color, here are a few steps that might further help you arrive at a decision:
Plan around the elements that are difficult to change
Surfaces such as tiles or roof shingles, stonework, pathways and driveways will remain in place unless you’re doing a complete renovation. As you select exterior colors, take these into consideration.
Take help of a paint visualiser
You can use a color visualizer to find that perfect color, once you get the basic idea of what you want for the exterior of your home. Many major companies including Benjamin Moore, Sherwin Williams and McCormick Paints offer this tool with exterior options.
Decide the visual effect you want to create
If your house sits back amidst a cluster of glowing, large trees or from the road, you might want to make it stand out with a slightly brighter or lighter color. Conversely, if you want to make it recede, a darker hue can be used.
Don’t just rely on the paint chips
Exterior shades can vary significantly from the way they appear on the chip, just like interior colors. You’ll want to get them right the first time because painting an exterior is a bigger undertaking than simply painting a room. Test a quart of paint on an inconspicuous area of your home. Study it under different weather conditions and at various times of day.
Home Exterior Paint Colors: Conclusion
Remember that paint is just paint, so somewhere down the road if your preferences change or if you find you don’t like the color, your house can always be repainted. Painting your home is an opportunity to really get to know where you live. So take your time, be creative and make the most of it!
