Considerations for Painting the Exterior of House
Painting the exterior of your house and selecting paint colors can be a tricky proposition. More often than not, people make their paint selections based on colors they like. There are a few rules, however, that will help you achieve a unified look.
The suggestions below target the majority of homes that are single-family dwellings. Historic homes require research into homes built during that time period. They tend to be multi-color and have intricate architectural elements that would need to be addressed individually.
Of course, if you are painting to sell, keep in mind you want to appeal to the masses. It’s best not to get too crazy with color. Neutrals are best in this case.
Choosing a Paint Color for the Body
When you choose paint for your home’s exterior, earth tones are best. In Florida this would include grays, browns, ivories, greens, blues, and yellows as these are the colors in our environment. Although I’ve described some possible colors for Florida, you want to select colors indigenous to your area. A palette of lighter colors (tints) tends to not hold heat. Darker colors (shades) hold heat. A good example to demonstrate this effect would be black cars get hotter in the summer sun than a white car. This is because lighter colors reflect the heat and darker colors hold the heat. This is certainly a consideration when living in Florida.
For 2023, navy blues, forest greens, dark browns, and maroon will be the color choices to mimic nature. In that we live in Florida and darker colors hold heat, I recommend the use of darker color choices for trim work.
That will get you started for the body color, or where the bulk of your house accepts paint.
Choosing a Paint Color for the Trim
Now onto trim colors: When choosing a trim color, look at the other elements you see from the front of your house. Do you have brick, shingles, or a tile roof? Have you created a trendy wood or stone accent? What colors do you see in these elements? Your favorite color of what your house already displays would be your trim color. This way, when you paint your trim, shutters or bands, it will tie back to another color already dominant in your architecture giving the exterior of your home a cohesive look.
Perhaps you like the color of your roof and don’t want to paint the body or trim this color. How about going with light neutrals and then bringing the color of your roof onto your front door?
There are many options for choosing a paint color for the trim of your house. Always try to relate two or more colors in the appearance of the house’s exterior.
Exterior Paint Color Examples
For other ideas of trending exterior paint colors for a house, visit Southern Living. Sherwin Williams has a Color Snap Visualizer tool if you want to “try on” color on a photo.
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