You’ll be thrilled when your house has a fresh, exciting new look! Who said watching paint dry is no fun? Plan ahead, be bold in your color choices, and try colors on the house first. Many paint companies have online paint selection programs that suggest proper color combinations – some even allow you to preview colors on photographs of real houses, or on a digital photo of your own home. They’re available at paint and building supply stores and many are very well done. Many paint manufacturers have produced pre-selected color palettes arranged by architectural style or color range that specify compatible field, trim, and accent colors. Whether you’re comfortable with choosing colors or not, you have several resources that can make the decision much easier. The larger the area you paint, the easier your choice will be! Look at the color in sunlight and in shade, morning and evening. Leave the colors samples up on the wall for several days before you choose. Here’s why: Colors that look great on the color strips don’t always look so great on the walls - and you’ll never know until you try them out! Often, darker colors look much lighter on the house, so always get a quart of colors at least one tint lighter than your first choice (“tinting” makes a color lighter “shading” makes a color darker.) Narrow your choices down to two or three paint schemes, then buy a quart of each color – AND a quart of several other colors that are nearby on the color strips. Get a couple of paint decks (those color wheels that fan out) from a couple of paint manufacturers to get started. Final CoatĮvery color choice must be tried out on the house – don’t ever buy a gallon of paint from the color chip alone! Most paint stores offer quarts of paint at reasonable prices so you can try out several colors or color combinations before you commit to a scheme. Also take cues from the other houses in your area – a house should have its own personality and style, but houses don’t look good in “party dress” all the time. There are TONS of resources available for seeing examples of historically-accurate house colors – take advantage of those. The current popularity of the style is making more homeowners consider richer color schemes for their homes. The Craftsman style of the early 20th Century sported a darker, earthier color scheme using deep browns, greens, and reds. But a similar effect can be had with as little as three colors if they’re well placed on the house. Making that look good today takes the services of a color specialist and a lot of time. Victorian homes – often referred to as “painted ladies” – sometimes showed off six or more colors of trim and accent.
Combined with prominent red brick chimneys and a brick or stone base, the effect is a three-color scheme. Often they were painted in a single color for the field and trim, with a second color for an accent. Original Colonial and Colonial Revival homes were often quite colorful on the inside, but less so on the exterior. Historic architectural styles, for example, look best in their original color schemes, although these can vary quite a bit. The two most important considerations in choosing a color scheme are the architecture of the house and the neighborhood context.
Windows painted with accent and trim colors together can be the most interesting part of the composition. The front door, shutters, and the windows frames (not the trim) are good places for accent colors. It’s a tool to give life to an otherwise muted color scheme and draws attention to the important features of the house. Once you’ve chosen an attractive combination of field and trim, make it “pop” with an eye-catching accent color. The accent color is where the excitement is. Gutters, downspouts, and similar elements should usually be painted the trim color to help them “disappear” into the background. Keeping the trim lighter than the field is almost always a safe bet. Darker trim – especially around the windows – can cause a “frame” effect, where the windows look like pictures hung on a wall. Painting the trim the same color as the field can work in some cases, but it can also give the house an “unfinished” or “wedding cake” look. Lighter colors can also make a house look visually flimsy, while darker colors can give it a strong, solid appearance.īut it’s the trim color that can make or break the scheme. Field colors make up the majority of what you’ll see on the house and will lead you to the choice of trim and accent.Īre you trying to make your house look a little more prominent on the street? A lighter field color will make it look larger a darker color will visually shrink it.