Building a house involves hundreds of decisions. Even if you only have to pick new siding or roofing, it’s complicated because the colors that make up your home’s exterior have to work together.
So we decided to pull together resources to help you discover the best colors for your home’s exterior. These tools work equally well for indoor colors, although the links shared here focus on outdoor home features.
We’re not making any color recommendations. We’re not artists and if you want help, there are interior designers and decorators that will come to your home for a color consultation. It’s a smart investment, given the cost and how long you’ll live with these color choices.
How Many Color Decisions Are There?
Have you ever seen a house that doesn’t look quite right? It’s probably because the homeowners picked colors and accessories without considering how they’d look together. For example, when picking your front door, you want to consider how it will look next to the siding, light fixtures, and nearby windows and trim. You also want to consider your home’s style, and neighborhood colors. That is, unless you want everyone talking about the purple house, the one that sticks out from all it’s neighbors.
So let’s review all the exterior features on a house that involve color. There are more choices when building a house, although builders limit the color choices to make it easier for you and to insure a cohesive and attractive neighborhood. It gets more interesting 10 or 20 years later, when homeowners start replacing their roofs, windows and siding.
Roofing choices include color and texture – some solid colors, and others with lots of variation.
Siding varies in style, color and textures – wood, brick, stucco, stone and newer siding materials like vinyl and composites that simulate natural materials.
Windows and window trim – which you can leave white, paint or wrap with aluminum.
Exterior doors and trim – offer opportunities to use colors that give your home personality.
Decorative trim like columns – can be painted the same color as your siding, or an accent color for more appeal.
Tools To Help You Pick House Colors
It’s unusual for a house to be one color, as it will appear flat and boring. So you get to pick not one color, but 3 or 4 colors to give your home great curb appeal. Some of the best tools to discover these complimentary colors are found on painting websites. Here’s an example of Benjamin Moore’s color picker. It let’s you play with house features you can paint – siding, doors, columns and other trim. Lots of manufacturers (roofing, siding, etc) have similar programs and don’t worry, using their tools doesn’t require you to buy their products.
Maybe you want to look at, or touch, samples in the store. Go ahead but realize that higher end products may only be sold at building supply companies that aren’t open to the public. A smart phone app like Color911, comes in handy when you’re checking colors at a store. Even decorators are using it because Architectural Digest said you”can’t live without this decorating app”. Now you’re ready to capture information anywhere, so we’d love some feedback because we’ve been too busy to try it out.
Okay, you’d like to pick your colors the old fashion way. There are many books with tips on picking the best colors for your house. Check out the ones we found on Amazon or visit your local library (Barnes & Noble) to scan their home magazines. And just maybe if you’re reading our newsletter, you’ll take a few minutes to visit Pinterest or Houzz, which have thousands of photos to scan.
Good luck picking your exterior house colors and don’t be afraid to ask for help. You’re investing a lot of money so make sure you’ll enjoy your home’s curb appeal for many years.
East Coast, FL Home Builder Stanley Homes – Jason Stanley, OWNER Stanley Homes is one of the areas fastest growing new home builders. We specialize in affordable custom homes on the East Coast of Florida in areas including Melbourne, Fl., New Smyrna Beach, Fl., Suntree, Fl., Viera, Fl., Rockledge, Fl., Malabar, Fl., Titusville, Fl., and throughout Brevard & Volusia County, Fl. Call us 321-369-9160
