Wine & Design: Picking Exterior Paint Colors
Rule #1 of picking exterior paint colors: honor your homes architecture! If you’re thinking of giving your house a fresh coat, tune in to this week’s episode of Wine and Design and read this article below for everything you need to know in selecting the perfect paint color that compliments your home's architecture, and showcases your personal style.
Why Exterior Paint Matters
First and foremost, so you can showcase your home’s architecture!
Stay true to your home’s architecture and select paint colors based on what will compliment it. Look at it like a little black dress – women will buy their tried-and-true little black dress based on how it flatters their figure. So why not select a paint color that flatters your house’s architecture?
Reflect your personal style from the inside out.
We spend so much time curating a space inside our homes that reflect our personal style through art, pictures, furniture, and other interior selections. But consider this – only your closest friends and family actually get invited inside. Most people will only ever see the exterior of your house. By selecting paint colors you love, you have the opportunity to show people who you are through reflecting your personality through your home’s exterior.
Curb appeal adds value to houses.
Fact: the right paint color on your house will increase your home’s value. Now this may seem contradicting from our last point, but make sure you choose paint colors that compliment your home’s architecture vs. solely based on your personal favorite color in order to increase your home’s value.
Where to Start in selecting the right paint color
Lean in to your home’s architecture.
We’ve said it once, and we’re going to say it again and again. Honor your home’s architecture! Look back to the history and true character of the architecture to give you cues to what color you should paint your house. For example, a Spanish colonial house should not be painted navy blue. When you look back, those houses are usually painted in a traditional color palette such as a beautiful rich off-white, with the windows painted a contrasting color such as bronze, or (our personal fave) Robbin’s Egg blue.
How to Pick the Right White
Select your whites based on your home’s architectural style.
Super modern houses can go a lot crisper with whites (i.e. cooler, and more neutral undertones). For more traditional houses, you want warmer undertones. Steer clear of yellow and blue undertones. If you go too yellow, it’s going to look yellow (duh*) and if you go too blue, it’s going to look icy.
Sample your paint colors!
The way the light hits your house is going to make your paint look so different than how it appears on the swatch. Make sure you sample your paint on different elevations so you know exactly how the color will look as the light hits your house at different times of the day.
When in doubt, hire a professional! (insert shameless plug)
Our design packages include paint color recommendations that will address all of the above. Gretchen Ziehe, our Principal Design, can work with you to select the perfect paint color that honors your home’s architecture and reflects your personality.
How You can Bring in Your Personal Style
Select your favorite color, and desaturate it.
If there’s one thing you can take away from this post (outside of ‘honoring your home’s architecture!’), it’s ‘desaturation.’ Something we see happen all too often is people who take their favorite color, pick a paint chip, and go all in without considering that it might be oversaturated. Take a color that inspires you and that you love, and then go to the neutral section of the paint fan and pick a color that has a similar tone or undertone from the one you like. Chances are, you’ll get every bit of the color that you love.
Have fun with your front door!
If there’s one spot to have fun, it’s your front door! It’s easy to change, and makes for a quick, fun transformation. But make sure whatever color you choose for your front door, it makes sense with the rest of the house. Think of your home’s exterior like an outfit – you have your little black dress (AKA your house paint color), then you put on a necklace to compliment it (your front door color). It all has to work together!
Most Common Mistakes
Going too intense for the style of your home
Not honoring the color of your roof (if you have a red barrel tile roof, don’t paint your house grey)
Don’t call attention to your masonry sill by painting them a contrasting color
Don’t paint your house the same color as your windows – you need that contrast!
When homes have too many colors going on. Stick to three-four colors for your house.
Wanna get started on an exterior makeover? Take the first step filling out our ‘Contact Us’ form, and we’ll get in touch to schedule a consultation!