Perfect Palette Update Winter/Spring 2008

Exterior House Makeover

It is still winter in New England, but it won’t be long before the crocus is up (ok, another two months) and we’ll be out cleaning up the winter residue from our yards. At no other time of year do exteriors look as dull and drab. You notice the half-dead spruce leaning over the garage, the scraggly landscape, and the uninspired house paint color. It’s all just blah.

Get ready for the exterior house makeover. There is no greater way to create instant curb appeal than to dress the house in a fresh coat of paint. Choosing the paint colors is the first and most difficult step. So don’t wait. Get your colors squared away now, before springtime, and you’ll be ready to go. I can’t tell you how often I get called in just when the painter is about to start the job but the homeowner is at a total loss as to the paint colors. Don’t even think of calling a painter until you have your colors selected.

I had hoped to teach a course on exterior paint color selection this summer. But alas, I have commited to another book project, so that course will have to wait. In the meantime, if you need help selecting just the right paint colors, check out my exterior color tips at sensational color.com. where I serve as a “color maven”. My blog entries can be found at www.sensationalcolor.com. You’ll find additional advice on exteriors throughout my website and of course in my book, The Perfectly Painted House (Rockport Publishers). And finally, here is a little advice for my clients whose biggest challenge is selecting paint colors for their wooden houses with stone or brick elements.

Bricks and Stones Won’t Break My Bones

Many are the clients whose biggest challenge is selecting paint colors for their wooden houses when they are “stuck” with partial brick or stone façades. In my experience, this can actually be a plus. You see, replacing stone or brick is expensive. However, using these fixed features as your color inspiration, or seeing them as part of your overall color scheme, can help narrow down your color choices and make the process less time consuming. Stone and brick have varying “casts” or “overtones”. Some bricks really are mostly red, others mostly beige.

What you may not realize is that certain red bricks have a color cast, such as a blue/gray tone. Others, that look beige from afar, actually have a golden, yellow cast. Stone certainly has many colors within it. The overall effect from a distance causes some stones to appear blue, other varieties appear pale or dark gray, and still others appear sandy brown or golden yellow. The key is to use these existing casts and overtones to help select the “body” colors for the rest of the exterior.

For example, if the majority of your house is shingle and/or clapboard and the entry area is brick, start by identifying the color cast of the brick element. If the brick is essentially red, but has a golden yellow or beige cast to it, find a close color match to that golden yellow or beige for the house body. Voila! You’ve got your house color. The brick or stone element that you felt stood out like a sore thumb now fades into the overall house color.

Next, think about using a complementary color for trim. As we said, your brick is essentially red and the grout is gray. The complement to red on the color wheel is green. Draw the gray tone from the grout and choose a gray/green for the trim around the windows and doors. Using this dual approach (using a color similar to the grout, while complementing the brick) makes the brick appear less dominant and overpowering. Offset your house body and trim colors with an interesting and “weighty” color for the entry doors, shutters and garage doors. Once again, this serves a dual purpose. It “grounds” the house while drawing attention to these elements as accents. Deep eggplant is a great choice. To make your house stand out from your neighbors, use a high-shine finish on these accent elements. This will highlight the details.

I hope that with inspiration from these design ideas, you too will create an eye-catching look for your homes exterior.

Best Wishes,

--Bonnie