who wants to help with exterior colors for my house?

[mominatrix]

sooooo... even though I don't think the paint job will happen this summer, we're starting to plot and plan new house colors (thank FSM, because right now it's the powder blue it was when we bought the house and I hate it with the firey passion of a thousand suns).




The house was built in 1966. Fairly modern-esque but definitely NOT a midcentury modern masterwork. Figure more suburban split-level type. It's distinguished by being VERY set up from the street (probably a two-story rise from sidewalk to top of driveway), a rockery wall along the sidewalk (8' high, probably) that we're trying to load up with brilliantly colored flowers (think purples, yellows etc).  There are also big evergreens on the property, including a massive one right in front of the house. 

We kind of want the house to fade into the background and make the landscaping the star of the show. The exterior design is pretty boring and there isn't much we can do about it without a six figure reno, and that ain't happening. 

One element I'm pretty set on is that the trim (sofits, etc) will be pure, crisp white. We have white vinyl windows, and I want them to look OK, not like an afterthought, and there's no way I'm replacing them with wood or colored ones, as much as I'd like to.




My current first thought is to paint the house a chocolate brown or very dark gray, with white trim, and a very bold door color. Orange. Bright green. Yellow. Light blue...










The front door is actually up a full flight of steps from the front entrance level of the house. There's a big deck (currently painted the same color as the house).  SO I want the bold colored door to draw you up there... 

But what do I do with the deck?  Keep it the house color? If we do trex or similar, we could, but I'd love to have a bit of white there... railing/banister would look whack in white, right???


but this looks pretty good... no?

[miesl]

www.valsparpaint.com/en/explore-colors/painter/virtual-painter.html

It's nifty to see how things might look on a house like your own (I've never tried the pic upload).

Remember - make sure it still looks good with your roof colors! One of our neighbors forgot this... and now have a red-brown toned roof on a grey-blue toned house (it looks baaaaad).

[mominatrix]

May 1, 2014 15:05:27 GMT -5 miesl said:

www.valsparpaint.com/en/explore-colors/painter/virtual-painter.html

It's nifty to see how things might look on a house like your own (I've never tried the pic upload).

Remember - make sure it still looks good with your roof colors! One of our neighbors forgot this... and now have a red-brown toned roof on a grey-blue toned house (it looks baaaaad).

cool!


our roof is black, I think... but because of the way the house is (set way up, sofits) you never ever see it...

[mominatrix]

May 1, 2014 14:59:23 GMT -5 @soudesafinado said:

I need to see a pic of your house, or as much as you feel comfortable sharing, before I can advise.

trying to see if I have one because I'm feeling too lazy to go out and take one.

[pixy0stix]

I think that dark of a house with the bright door and trim is going to do the exact opposite of what you want. You want your house to be a very neutral green or tan to have it fade into the background.

[pixy0stix]

vs

[mominatrix]

I really wanted green or tan... but the house next door to us is green and the house across the street is tan.

And it's one of the unwritten rules that I actually follow that you give some space to the colors of the houses around you.


...the house on the other side of us is pink, though, so I think I'm safe there.

[pixy0stix]

I think unwritten rules are made to be broken.

[ringstrue]

We are house hunting and I can't advise going dark on the main color. Maybe a slate blue or a gray like what Pixy suggested. Brown comes off as dated 70s to me. Those houses have their exterior pics posted LAST in a listing cause they are so un cheerful.

I think a bright door needs to be treated with care, too. I went one color up from the darkest hue for exterior colors when painting our door and it still took 4 coats to not looks crazy bright. If it gets direct sunlight on it ever it's very easy to look overly vibrant.

[mominatrix]

Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk


edit:
part of it is I fucking hate the exterior (even when H hasn't left a ladder on the fucking steps)... it makes no sense to me at all...

the way the house is designed, it's a big block of color... the blue doesn't work, so I worry about other brights... I was hoping that the dark paint + white trim (like the last pic in my OP) would make it all make sense.

[mominatrix]

for sale, honestly, the color of the exterior will matter not at all.

the exterior of the house is really poorly designed, and people will either look past that (for good neighborhood, interior, features, etc) or they won't... the paint color, I think, won't matter at all compared to the attrociousness of the look, no matter what.

[mominatrix]

but I like the dark brown house/white trim look.


no?


mumblegrumblestartingovermakesmecrazy

[mominatrix]

May 1, 2014 15:29:24 GMT -5 asdfjkl said:

May 1, 2014 15:20:58 GMT -5 mominatrix said:

Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk


edit:
part of it is I fucking hate the exterior (even when H hasn't left a ladder on the fucking steps)... it makes no sense to me at all...

the way the house is designed, it's a big block of color... the blue doesn't work, so I worry about other brights... I was hoping that the dark paint + white trim (like the last pic in my OP) would make it all make sense.

I can barely see the house so I still don't have a good idea pa the exterior. It looks clapboard? I actually don't hate that blue. I might go a darker slate blue, with a black door? Not sure though since that tree makes it hard to actually see the house.

right.
from every angle, it's pretty hard to see the house. 
which is good, because the house is a hot mess...

I was thinking dark color = background for bright landscaping (green trees, bright flowers)... yes? no?

[mominatrix]

gis isn't helping me for similar houses.



here's another in my neighborhood. I think ie was built by the same builder at the same time. It's on the lot differently and has a garage (ours doesn't) and the siding is different, but the basic lines are really similar.

The big difference is that because we're set so high up, there's a huge staircase appended to he front of ours.



they're boring 60's houses.

[mominatrix]

May 1, 2014 15:41:54 GMT -5 asdfjkl said:

www.houzz.com/discussions/395327/Color-of-weatherboards

shouldn't I worry about blue-grey in an environment where it's dank and grey 8 months a year?



seriously. that's the sky color at noon half the year.


But I love it and it's pretty. I just don't think it'll work here.

[ijack]

I'm big on grey houses - if you want it to be less noticeable I would do a medium grey color. I really want a navy blue house with white trim right now.

[mominatrix]

maybe navy or slate?

[cattledogkisses]

I also think that dark brown looks dreary. Sorry! 

Our house is a very pale yellow, with white trim and a bright red door.  It sounds weird on paper, but it works and I love it. 

[ringstrue]

What about like a darker tan? Like a toast color? Cappuccino?

[havarti]

What about a nice brick red or a more reddish brown? Sort of forest understory -ish. Or maybe a nice shady green.