This home exteriors walkthrough stays in the order the work happens.
Wondering what color to paint your home exterior to increase value or to sell faster? Read these tips for exterior paint colors to add curb appeal, plus our paint expert’s home color palette picks for whole home exterior and trim colors.
Learn more about choosing an interior home color palette here and see all our paint color palettes and tips here.
(see more of this home: living room, bedroom, kitchen)
Best Exterior Paint Colors
Hi Bekob, Cyndy here from The Creativity Exchange back to talk about picking the right paint color.
This month, I wanted to discuss exterior paint colors that help improve curb appeal and what to look for in exterior colors.
I get a lot of questions about how to choose exterior colors and wanted to share a few little tricks that I use in finding just the right colors.
If you happened to miss last month’s Color Spotlight highlighting Wythe Blue from Benjamin Moore, you can find that post here.
Whole Home Exterior Paint Colors
When it comes to choosing a whole home (main body) exterior color, the lighter and brighter a color is, the more the architectural lines and landscaping details will stand out.
Mid-tone muted neutrals like warm grays are a great way to incorporate a color that’s not white, while still keeping the home lighter and brighter and improving curb appeal.
I always recommend going lighter because with an exterior paint color darker than a mid-tone, details like the landscaping in front of a home and architectural details get lost and blend in with a darker color. With a lighter color, these features really stand out and contrast.
HOW TO TEST A PAINT COLOR
When you’ve chosen the well fitted color (or several) — be sure to test it out before splurging for the gallon of paint!
- Get a sample tester or, even easier, a peel and stick paint sample swatch!
- Use an online paint color visualizer or paint color mobile app to test the paint color using a photo of your room.
- Follow our paint expert’s tips here for choosing and testing a paint color.
Exterior Trim Paint Colors
An straightforward trick for choosing an exterior trim color that will make the most curb appeal impact is to choose a trim color that will contrast the exterior home color the most.
The more a color contrasts the exterior home color, the more the lines of the home, accents and architectural details will stand out.
However, if for some reason you want to minimize the lines and architectural details of your home, choose a trim color that is the same as the body or one to two shades lighter/darker than your exterior whole home color.
Choosing a Trim Paint Color for a Brick Home
If you have a brick home, look to the lightest or darkest shade of your brick for the well fitted trim accent color.
If your brick is only one shade/color, I always suggest the safest route by going either white, cream or black trim accent. It gets very tricky matching trim/accent undertones paint colors to solid brick colors.
Front Door Colors
Front door paint colors are purely subjective. Paint experts will run the spectrum of advice on the ideal home color combination including the front door accent color.
If you’re not trying to sell your home, I always encourage clients to choose a color that they love and that will work with the overall exterior color scheme.
From a curb appeal standpoint, a front door color that contrasts the exterior home and trim colors is ideal.
However, the contrast can vary greatly and be direct as one or two shades lighter/darker or the contrast can really vary to the other end of the spectrum and be a dramatic like a pop of bold color.
Both levels of contrast will improve curb appeal.
How to Choose the well fitted Front Door Color
An straightforward trick to nailing the well fitted front door color that is guaranteed to work with the other exterior colors is to have the paint store mix in 25% of the main exterior paint color with the front door color.
Even if you have a mid-toned gray home with white trim and you want a navy door color, have the paint store mix in 25% of your gray that you used in your main exterior with any shade of navy.
This works wonders and while the door color will still contrast, the undertones will blend with the home.
See our video guide to painting your front door flawlessly.
There are endless possibilities when it comes to choosing exterior paint colors and I know it can be overwhelming. Hopefully my tips today will help you add some great curb appeal.
For even more exterior paint color recommendations and inspiration, you can look at my post here on my blog.
Thanks for stopping by today and if you haven’t had the chance to look at my blog and other paint color recommendations and color palettes, you can find me here.
Cyndy
more go-to exterior painting options &Ways to Improve Curb Appeal
- 18 striking Front Door Colors (+ Pictures)
- Improve Curb Appeal with 25 Handmade Projects
- How to Build Your Own strong Window Shutters
- 12 Real Life Homes Get a Curb Appeal Update
