Choosing Exterior Colour
Consider existing elements of your house
When choosing exterior colours for your home, pay attention to significant areas that will not be changing. Use items such as your roof shingles, stone or masonry on your house as a starting point for picking colours that will compliment your home. Look at your landscaping, the trees, shrubs and flower gardens around your property. Use the nature around you for inspiration. Your home should become harmonious with the surrounding landscape.
Do’s and Dont’s of Colour
Try not to pick colours that will clash with neighbouring houses. Express yourself with paint colour in a subtle style. Paint the front door a bold colour. This is where you can make a statement of your own. You don’t want to highlight or draw attention to unattractive features, make them seem to disappear or blend in with the house. These are elements such as eaves troughs, downspouts, dryer vents and other utility boxes.
Attractive architectural details can be painted in different, but complimentary colours to stand out from the main body of the home. Be aware that when painting window sills in dark colours, it can attract a lot of heat and may crack or damage the paint. It’s best to keep your soffits in a light colour as well. This will allow more light to be reflected back into the windows and brighten up your home. Customers are always amazed to see the dramatic difference it makes when we have painted dark coloured soffits back to white or a light colour.
Dark colours can also have a tendency to fade, especially in harsh sunlight. They might not be the best option to paint on large surface areas. As with interior painting, a safe colour combination for the exterior of your home is to choose several shades of the same colour. Do this by picking two or more colours from the same strip at a paint store. Be careful in your decision of how many colours to use on the outside of you house. Not enough colour might leave it boring and flat looking. Too many colours can become overwhelming to the eye.
Keep the style of your home in mind. Southwestern style stucco colours might not look very appealing on a Cape Cod style house. If you have a very old house, you may want to do some research on historical colours. Most paint stores have brochures with colours coordinated for different house styles.
Where To Get Colour Help and Inspiration
Walk or drive to different areas of where you live, take note of houses that have appealing colour schemes. If you see something you like, try to envision if those colours would work on your home. Utilize the paint stores brochures that are specifically designed for exterior painting. They have thoughtfully arranged colour combinations and pictures of homes you can look at.
Many paint companies have websites with excellent decorating information. Some have sophisticated software programs for you to try out colour schemes. You can look at several different house styles and change the colours to see what they would look like. Look through magazines or watch decorating shows for ideas as well.
Applying Samples
When you get your colour choices narrowed down, don’t hesitate to go to the paint store and purchase some of their sample testers. Most companies now offer small sample sizes of their colours. If they don’t have this option, it is still well worth the expense of buying a few small quarts of paint. This will ensure you are going to like the colour once it is applied to your entire house.
Pick a spot on your home where you can see the body colour and an area of trim or where accent colours will be applied. This will allow you to see how the colours will work together. Try out the sample colours on several areas of the house to see what they look like. View the colours at several different times of the day. Changing lighting circumstances will cause the colour to look quite different.
If you are not comfortable in doing the colour sample painting yourself, with our accepted estimates we can offer this service. There will be a fee charged for the cost of the paint. We can also offer some assistance in the way of giving suggestions or opinions on what colours will look appealing on your home.