Anyone want to help pick exterior paint colors?

[neatfreak]

So we just bought a house a few months ago (yay!) and it desperately needs a paint job. We live in Northern California in an area that is desert-y but is certainly not desert (i.e., we have grass and deciduous trees). I'm not comfortable posting a picture of the outside here-but I have one posted on FB for those so inclined. I can't seem to find anything online that is super close...picture a late 60's california ranch house with some roof interest

We have a big olive tree outside and our neighbors are a white house with blue and a sage green house with cream.

My problem is that in the area most of the houses are warm color schemes which I think work well with the climate. But I have a very true light gray roof which is as cool of a color as they come-so I really can't do a warm scheme.

I am thinking Benjamin Moore trout gray (medium true gray) with white trim, and a plum (BM Grappa) colored front door to add a bit of interest.

But I am open for ideas. Anyone like the scheme I picked? Have suggestions?

My painters were supposed to come in a few weeks but they called yesterday and said they are coming on Monday instead so I need to decide SOON!

Thanks as always.

 

[packrat]

Grey is actually a pretty neutral color, so if you don''t want to do grey, you could do blue..yellow looks good w/grey..browns..greens..

Have you played w/the color tool on the BM website? They have exterior pictures you can pick to simulate your house and then click around to pick colors to see what looks good.

For what it''s worth, I dig grey and plum together!!

I love messing w/that tool..I might have to mess around with it later and see if I can find some cool combos for you.

 

[packrat]

Ooo they changed the color viewer. Everythings all different.

I went to the exterior choices, and chose the..aw crap I can''t remember the name of the house I picked. It''s the only ranch type..bungalow I think it was. And, I kinda dig the color scheme it automatically shows. It''s got a grey roof, and Nantucket Grey body, trim is Philadelphia Cream and accent is Purple lotus. The Nantucket grey is kind of a greeny grey color.

K, now I''ll actually play with it and find the colors you mentioned above.

 

[neatfreak]

Thanks packrat! I love that tool too-but my complaint is that the colors NEVER look that way in real life. On my screen trout gray looks so blue-but IRL it is a really true gray with no blue. So weird.

The color combo you mentioned is lovely on screen-but I''ve seen nantucket gray in person and I don''t like it IRL! I wish the colors on the viewer were more realistic.

 

[packrat]

Did you know that if you register online and say you're a designer (don't need to provide proof hehe) they'll send you free BIG color swatch papers? That's what we did when we did our kitchen and living room.

The funny thing is, I was playing with our kitchen colors on the outside of the bungalow house..and they don't look anything like they do in our kitchen..AND I think the colors were truer to life before they changed the color tool. Dumb.

What about trout gray as the body, grappa the accent and lightning white as the trim? It's more a yellow white than a stark white. I like yellow and gray together. I tried switching it so the house was the lightning yellow, and the grappa still the accent, and I liked it, but I didn't find a trim color to work yet..

 

[neatfreak]

Date: 9/26/2009 3:22:16 PM
Author: packrat
Did you know that if you register online and say you''re a designer (don''t need to provide proof hehe) they''ll send you free BIG color swatch papers? That''s what we did when we did our kitchen and living room.


The funny thing is, I was playing with our kitchen colors on the outside of the bungalow house..and they don''t look anything like they do in our kitchen..AND I think the colors were truer to life before they changed the color tool. Dumb.


What about trout gray as the body, grappa the accent and lightning white as the trim? It''s more a yellow white than a stark white. I like yellow and gray together. I tried switching it so the house was the lightning yellow, and the grappa still the accent, and I liked it, but I didn''t find a trim color to work yet..

Thanks! I did know that-that''s how I got my million gray and purple swatches that I picked these from.

I''m pretty set on the white trim-with my reasoning being that designers say that you need to match the window trim to what colors the windowsills are. Which I agree with. Our windowsills are a stark white-so a cream would look really off against them.

Thanks for the yellow suggestions-but no yellow house here. I love yellow but not on the exterior of houses...it almost always isn''t the right color and looks weird (my neighbor''s house across the street is a perfect example of this.

). It would be too stressful to me to try and find the perfect yellow this weekend-it''s such a hard color to get right.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

I like medium/darker house colors. I also try to go opposite of what my neighbors did. I love a darkish gray with bright white trim and black accents.

 

[packrat]

I would say then that the trout gray, grappa and white would be the way to go! I messed around w/some other grays but I didn''t like any of them as much as the trout gray. I think you''ve got a great combination there!

Our house (we just got it sided a couple weeks ago-finally!) is a taupey brown with dark brownish bronzey trim and red-burgundy doors. The windowsills are all white but there''s white around all the doors too, so the dark trim looks good. I''m the opposite of designers-they''d probably pull their hair out in frustration with me! (hahaha my dad was utterly horrified at my choices but then when it was done he was like, oh hey, yeah, that looks great!)

Hehe, the yellow color..I think that has to be THE hardest color ever, to get right! I''d never do it either..it just looks pretty on the screen!

 

[decodelighted]

Hmmm. You''ve got me thinking now. I was literally at the paint store today picking exterior colors to go on a cape style cottage with a light gray roof. So you''re thinking a warm color like Hawthorne Yellow won''t "go". Gah! I''m testing the yellow wall/ white trim combo in a bathroom & doing large swatches to see it in exterior light before we decide. Our alternative is just to keep it white & change the shutter color - or drop the shutters entirely.

Gray on gray sounds a little drab to me, even with the Plum door. Would you ever consider Blackberry with a Teal door? Blackberry is my dream color but I think it would be too strong a statement on our little house - but a ranch house might handle it better? Or bold red?

I guess I''m liking bolder colors with a light gray roof myself. Can''t wait to see what you decide. Its so nerve wracking, right??

 

[radiantquest]

I know that you just bought this house, but I watch those DIY shows all the time and if you ever want to sell they say that yellow houses sell the most often.

I think that blue would look nice with the gray.

 

[packrat]

If my husband comes home and sees me messing on this dang color tool again he''s going to wring my neck. It''s just so fun!

Deco, yellow and gray go together very well, I think. Yellow is just a hard color to pick the "right" color in. London''s room is yellow (which I hear is a big no no in a bedroom but I loooove yellow) and it took me forever to find the perfect color. All those fancy technical terms come into play..tone, saturation, hue etc, and it''s enough to make your head spin.

I''m gonna go play w/your Hawthorne yellow now!


Ohhhh and the house I chose was Hometown, not Bungalow or whatever I said. Do you like orangey brown, Neat? (I''m a nut for fall colors-our living room is a rusty orange color) Try that Hometown house with body color of Georgian Brick, trim of Oklahoma Wheat and accent of...hm..Bear Creek maybe. Oh wait, I forgot you wanted white trim..well, try white trim w/those and see how it looks.

 

[neatfreak]

Packrat: I think your colors sound great! I looove nice browns-I am so annoyed that our house has such a light gray roof.

Deco: Now you've got me thinking...I LOVE that blackberry color-it's gorgeous. Not sure DH will go for it but I am going to try. I don't know that I could do a teal door with it with my house style (too many colors on a ranch/bungalow house just seems to look odd). But you'd loooove my dining room which is BM Galapagos Turquoise.

I love Hawthorne yellow as an interior color-not sure about exterior. My issue is that I don't think LIGHT yellow and LIGHT gray look good together. But if you have a darker gray or a darker yellow in the mix I love the combo. I'm weird-so don't listen to me-yellow is a great color just a hard one to get right.

 

[neatfreak]

Date: 9/26/2009 3:34:18 PM
Author: Tacori E-ring
I like medium/darker house colors. I also try to go opposite of what my neighbors did. I love a darkish gray with bright white trim and black accents.

You can see my house-I love a great gray but don''t you think that gray/black/white might be boring on my house? I feel like it needs some color but I do love that combo...

 

[packrat]

Neat, our roof right now until it gets shingled next Spring, is gray! It''ll be brown when it''s done, but you know, the gray doesn''t look bad at all. Gray goes with a lot more than people think!

I did the Brick color w/white trim and trout gray door and it looked nice! Blue and orangey colors look good too...just a thought.

Deco, I like the Hawthorne yellow and that Blackberry wine color a lot! What a fun way to spend an afternoon..or am I weird?? hahaha don''t anybody answer that please.

 

[Ara Ann]

Date: 9/26/2009 5:04:21 PM
Author: packrat
If my husband comes home and sees me messing on this dang color tool again he's going to wring my neck. It's just so fun!


Deco, yellow and gray go together very well, I think. Yellow is just a hard color to pick the 'right' color in. London's room is yellow (which I hear is a big no no in a bedroom but I loooove yellow) and it took me forever to find the perfect color. All those fancy technical terms come into play..tone, saturation, hue etc, and it's enough to make your head spin.


I'm gonna go play w/your Hawthorne yellow now!



Ohhhh and the house I chose was Hometown, not Bungalow or whatever I said. Do you like orangey brown, Neat? (I'm a nut for fall colors-our living room is a rusty orange color)

Sorry for a quick thread jack, but LOL Packrat, our colors are very similar! Our house is taupey siding (with a black roof) and a red door! And I just repainted our whole first floor in 'autumnal' colors, rusty gold, golds and my DH chose a burnt orange for an accent wall in his office! I am ready for fall!

And I love the Benjamin Moore color thingie too! That's what helped me to choose the gold I have in our open foyer...love it!


Neatfreak, I hope you can find some great colors! What has been suggested sounds good, so I won't interfere!

Thread jack over!

 

[packrat]

Ara Ann, how funny! Yay for house color twins!

Neat, so I''m back at Trout Gray body and using Oxford White as trim..for a color pop you could do..Deep Royal, Old Navy, Red Rock, Plum Raisin or Arroyo Red..if you wanted a blue or redish. I dig the purple you picked tho too. Or teal..those darker tealy colors look awesome w/gray, and I think they''re more unexpected.

haha when you started this thread did you think you''d end up w/a million choices?

I''m still partial to the Georgian Brick myself.

 

[PinkTower]

My tiny house is made of tabby, which is a sort of stucco type material with ground oyster shells and charcoal added for color. We live in the Deep South, and it is common here. People use a lot of interesting accent colors with the grey stucco. Some use a coral, which looks great with grey. Dark green also looks nice, and quite Meditteranean.

I just used white trim and a blue front door. I used a different brand, but if you were using BenMoore, a close color is the one called Jamestown Blue. It is sort of a French Blue.

I also love your idea of the Grappa front door. My husband''s sister has a grey bungalow, and she used an Eggplant color on her front door. It is gorgeous.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

okay, I am looking at the pic. I still would do a dark/medium gray for the body. White for the trim and maybe add color with the garage door and front door. I would also plant some flowers and blooming bushes. That can really help add some color. Anything goes with gray, red, green, blue...also maybe I would paint the side fence another color just to brighten it up. I was watching "buy me" and they had a light yellow house (I know you don''t want yellow) with a dark lime green door and white trim. I would have NEVER chosen the green but LOVED the combo.

 

[Skippy123]

what about white or cream and the shutters black or grey?