Selecting the appropriate color for your home’s exterior may be an entertaining process but, at the same time, tiresome. The colors you choose affect the looks of your home in terms of the exterior aesthetics and how it will blend with the environment. Follow this guide to help determine the perfect exterior paint scheme for your home.
Think About the House’s Architecture and Style
The first of these steps is to select a style that you want your house to have and then take into account the details of the building, which the outside colors should blend with.
Colonial Style Homes
If you are living in a colonial-style house. In that case, it is advised to choose paint colors that will highlight its geometrical shapes and modest ornaments. Neutral tones like tans, whites, grays, and pale yellows work well. Another way to add some contrast can be to paint the shutters black or make the front door a bright color.
Victorian Style Homes
In Victorian homes, perhaps you will find a door with carvings, windows with different designs, turrets, columns, and so on, and the wood used in Victorian homes was well carved. Accomplish the beautiful detailing with three or four somewhat associated colors. For example, use a deep hue like navy blue or hunter green for the primary siding color, a warm neutral shade for the trim, a glossy black for the front door, and an earthy tone for the roof shingles.
Contemporary Style Homes
Modern houses are not very complicated and are even quite minimalist with large windows. He suggested a monochromatic design for a more stylish and elegant appearance. This is best done with non-aggressive and light colors such as gray, beige, light brown, or slate blue. Use texture instead of color to add visual interest.
Consider Your Home’s Surroundings
There are also some exterior paint colors which must be chosen depending upon the surroundings of the home and color scheme.
Woodland Settings
If your home is located in a natural setting that boasts of lots of trees, you may want to consider painting your home earth green, brown and terracotta red that are all in harmony with the green landscapes. Perhaps soft sage or moss green could be used; the background of trees would set the perfect tone.
Urban Environments
For houses in the city that are surrounded by other buildings and concrete, bright, cheerful colors help your home stand out. Some possible colors for your house are sunny yellow, bold red, or serene blue-gray. This is because glossy or metallic paints also provide an excellent reflective surface for the contrasting materials found in urban areas.
Beachfront Properties
Beach houses need calm, marine, and fresh blue and green colors that remind of the sea and sky.
Soothing hues like sky blue, sea foam green, or sandy beige are ideal exterior color choices. Also, do not forget that the paint on the house will be affected by the salt air and sunlight in different ways later on.
Test Paint Color Samples
After deciding which color or shade best complements your house’s exterior style and the environment it is situated in, apply the paint sample to your walls before making the final choice.
Paint Large Swatches
Use large sample swatches of 2 to 3 foot squares of one to two colors rather than miniature paint chips. Seeing large swatches on your home’s surface helps give you a better idea of how the shades will look.
Check colors from across the street
Walk to the houses across the street and look back at your home to mimic the curb appeal view. Some of them may seem to be too weak and may not stand out when viewed from a distance. Similarly, make sure to use the same color scheme for your house as the one used by your neighbors across the street.
To choose the best trim color, you need to select complementary color tones for the trim and accents. In addition to the primary siding color, you’ll want to choose complementary shades for exterior trim, shutters, doors, and other accents.
Use a Color Wheel
The color wheel shows which hues are suitable to combine. This is because if one has to choose the most appropriate combinations of colors, then referencing one makes it more accessible. Complementary colors that are placed side-by-side on the wheel – blue and green are perfect examples – work splendidly. Colors opposite each other create a striking contrast.
It is advised to select accent colors that have a tone intensity level that is comparable to the leading tone. A very bright door can dull the look on a home with a sage green color of siding. For a red shade on the front door, the primary color should also be vivid, such as Royal blue or dark green.
Trust Your Instincts
If you have a feeling that your interior needs an intense accent color, don’t hesitate to choose a deep and saturated one. Just make sure to sample the color first before slathering it all over your home’s exterior. If you appreciate a specific combination of colors and tones, you would not be wrong to think they will look fantastic on your house.
The choice of the exterior paint colors that you settle on for your home are very crucial in as much as the aesthetic appeal is concerned and in ensuring that your home has a harmonized look. Follow this step-by-step guide when choosing exterior paint colors, from assessing your home’s architecture to testing color samples to selecting complementary hues. But remember one thing, it is also wise to trust your personal color preferences.
