How do you choose the color to paint your house?

151949 · ‎03-09-2010

When we lived in Pa. our house was red brick, with just a small amount of siding over the garage area that was a sand color. We chose to paint all the trim forest green and liked how it looked. Now we live in Fl. our house is stucco - it is yellow but has faded terribly to an ivory shade from the sun. This winter it will be painted by our HOA. The roof is light brown varing shades. The people where we live seem to be afraid to pick any new colors and are adamant about repainting the same color that the builder painted. I suppose they feel it is safe. I would have liked to see some more modern choices like a light grey offered, but was quickly shouted down at the HOA mtg. when I mentioned it.So how do those of you who have to paint your home chose a color? What do you base it on? BTW - there are 3 co,ors of homes in our plan white with tan trim - yellow with grey trim and taupe with lighter taupe trim.

bonnielu · ‎03-11-2010

This is a tough one since it might depend upon many things.

1. personal tastes

2. surroundings

3. other houses nearby

I live in the woods. My househas natural shake siding that was painted from the get-go by mistake (dark warm brown) Long story- short..builder tried to stain it and it turned bright orange so they had to paint it dark or else take all the shakes off and start over. In any case it has a stone bottom (from quarry in PA.) And my trim is warm beige with a darker beige for accents. Most recently we had the trim repainted and I wanted a bright on trend green door. But as you can see the woods come into play since I did not even consider anything that was not "woodsy."

And I did ask for advice... the contractor, my friends, family.. showed them samples.

I did also look to see what others around me had. Lots of room from house to house but still total look was important to me.

Peaches McPhee · ‎04-19-2010

Style of home: colonial vs. modern has a different color palate available, I think. Other homes around it - you don't want to make your house an exact duplicate of your neighbor (although, with a HOA, you may have no choice!). Your preference. The roof color. Do you have to match any existing stucco or brick trim?

So many things to consider . . .

-- pro-aging --

Rochester, New York

faeriemoon · ‎03-14-2010

@bonnielu wrote:
This is a tough one since it might depend upon many things.
1. personal tastes
2. surroundings
3. other houses nearby

I live in the woods. My househas natural shake siding that was painted from the get-go by mistake (dark warm brown) Long story- short..builder tried to stain it and it turned bright orange so they had to paint it dark or else take all the shakes off and start over. In any case it has a stone bottom (from quarry in PA.) And my trim is warm beige with a darker beige for accents. Most recently we had the trim repainted and I wanted a bright on trend green door. But as you can see the woods come into play since I did not even consider anything that was not "woodsy."

And I did ask for advice... the contractor, my friends, family.. showed them samples.

I did also look to see what others around me had. Lots of room from house to house but still total look was important to me.

I agree with your three guidelines.

To the OP:

Although we are moving in about a week, my current house is in a wooded area, and it is a taupy/putty color. A neighbor down the street painted her house blue, and in my opinion, it looks terrible on her heavily wooded lot.

Our new home is stucco (very unusual here in CT.) The original owner/builder had it painted "Florida pink." It was not a look that we wanted so again we went with a more neutral shade. Although our new lot is not as woodsy, the neutral shade is more suited to our surroundings.

Also, since your home is stucco, you might want to google Mediterranean homes and look at the color palette. I wouldn't stray too far from that because I think stucco (especially with a tile roof) lends itself to certain colors more than others.

JMO, as it's your home to decorate as you like.

~What a terrible era in which idiots govern the blind.~ William Shakespeare

GCR18 · ‎07-03-2013

I've only had the opportunity to paint one house. It was light gray with white trim. It was painted light tan with cream trim. Eight years later, it was painted one shade darker with white trim.

It didn't cross my mind to paint it a totally different color. I liked the lighter color and stayed light. A lot of houses on that street were white.

The current house is light tan vinyl siding.

Gram W · ‎01-22-2013

I have never had experience with an H0A. It sounds like they make major decisions for the whole community. I would look at other similar style homes in the area as I did errands around town looking for homes similar to mine. I would go for colors I like, staying on the neutral side so that I blend in with my immediate community. I would put a brighter/bolder coordinating colored door and make my front entrance the focal point.. I live in a rural area with lots of light neutral colors. The house that stands out the most when driving to town is dark shade of green with a lighter green trim. Neither are the usual greens but they look great together. The front door is a beautiful shade of muted dark red, cranberry, dk orange,etc????? I don't know but it is beautiful and that house great. The colors all work for the setting and the entrance decorations change with each season. This month's HGTV magazine has articles on doors and choosing house colors. Lowe's, etc have magazines with lots of examples. Have fun and good luck. Make it your own.

queendiva · ‎03-12-2010

Went from paint to siding on my first house years ago. What I did was drive around the areas where there were houses of similar style to mine and see what color and trim I liked best that also went with my roof. Most difficult job was choosing a color for the front door. The house and trim were neutral shades. Chose the door color drom a paint wheel- royal blue.

CelticCrafter · ‎03-09-2010

I think roof color has a lot to do with the color of the house too.

It's just my personal preference but I would have to go with the white and tan because of the brown roof.

I don't know that I'd like the gray trim with the brown roof and taupe can be tricky, a lot of times it has a lot of gray in it.

I give a lot of credit to those of you that live in HOA controlled properties. I know I wouldn't like being told what color my house had to be and then be so limited in the color choices.

athenian · ‎03-18-2012

I wonder if you can do computer magic and try out different colors on an image of your house?

151949 · ‎03-09-2010

Unfortunately, the HOA has decided that everyone has to repaint the same color the builder had painted previously. So our house will be yellow if we like it or not. I don't hate the yellow but I think they need to keep up with what colors are modern at the time they are painting - I would not want to still be looking at the 2010 colors in 2030 - if you know what I mean.As I drive around town it seems the prominent colors are light grey with white trim - a light blue/green with ivory trim that is very pretty, and for those who like a dark color a dark rust color with a dark brown trim that is much prettier than it sounds. I feel like since our homes are Spanish in style they should also reflect the Spanish colors - and can do so with out being garish. So I was just interested in how others choose color.