Exterior paint help please

[boiler717]

First time picking exterior paint colors and I'm stressing. I'd love some input from the D&R girls.

The top pic is our inspiration pic. We'll have more stone and less siding, and the lighter color will be on clapboard and the darker shade on the siding (see next post for a pic of the front of the house that shows where the colors will go). I'd like the shades to have contrast with each other, the stone, and the white trim. Our stone is in the bottom pic, and the brick on the top will be turned 90 degrees and just a brick butt between the stone and siding.

I'm worried that the dark color is too dark and will look black. The lighter color is two up on the color swatch and what I'm planning for the clapboard. In the next post there is a picture of the color in the middle of the two, which is one up from the dark, and IMO too similar to the stone to show contrast. But what do you ladies think? Should I try a 75% tint of the darker color?

[magdala9]

Grey on grey has very little contrast. Wouldn't you like more contrast? The dark grey of the inspiration picture works well because of the white trim.

[boiler717]

Here's our house:
- yellow part (wrap and center section) will be stone
- siding: darker gray
- clapboard (top left peak and peak on the right side): lighter gray
- trim: white

The pic below has three options that are in a row on a color swatch

[boiler717]

Here's our house:
- yellow part (wrap and center section) will be stone
- siding: darker gray
- clapboard (top left peak and peak on the right side): lighter gray
- trim: white

[boiler717]

Jul 16, 2012 7:01:24 GMT -5 magdala9 said:

Grey on grey has very little contrast. Wouldn't you like more contrast? The dark grey of the inspiration picture works well because of the white trim.

Sorry, pro board wouldn't let me post more than one pic in a post. There is a lot of white trim on our house.

[kaylie]

I don't think the dark color will look black, but it might be overwhelmingly dark. One of the houses we looked at had siding that was a similar color as your darkest one and it kinda looked like a super villain's lair. They didn't have any lighter gray to break it up though, or any stone so I think you're ok. Are you going to have shutters?

[boiler717]

Jul 16, 2012 8:06:38 GMT -5 kaylie said:

I don't think the dark color will look black, but it might be overwhelmingly dark. One of the houses we looked at had siding that was a similar color as your darkest one and it kinda looked like a super villain's lair. They didn't have any lighter gray to break it up though, or any stone so I think you're ok. Are you going to have shutters?

The center top window and the three windows on the garage will have white shutters.

The front and back are pretty much all windows/clapboard so there is very little siding there. The sides have a lot more siding.

[FoxInFiji]

First to insert an image into the post you use [*img] url here [/img].
To resize use [*img width=300 height=300] url here [/img]. Take out the *s.

Looking at your inspiration picture the colors you have picked out don't seem to have the same undertones. The inspiration picture has a blue gray undertone and the colors you have picked have a purple undertone. The light gray is reading very periwinkle on my screen (I wish I was on my home computer which is calibrated!). It's a very common issue when picking gray. Try comparing the lightest swatch to other gray strips. The human eye can more easily discern undertones in light colors than dark ones. But if IRL it doesn't look anything like what I'm describing well ignore my observation.

Another thing to consider is your inspiration picture has only a small portion of the house covered by a porch. Your porch is much more substantial and all of that shade will make the color look even darker. You might want to go a shade lighter to keep that area from looking like a black hole. A bright white ceiling on the porch would also help make the space feel a little brighter.

Before you make your final decision you should paint a small swatch on your house so you can see what it looks like in the light, on a vertical face, and far away. It can look very different in those conditions than on a small swatch you hold up. Since it will be getting painted over it shouldn't be an issue.

I'm not sure where you're located but I would avoid dark colors like that on a home in a hot sunny climate because that can send your air conditioning bills skyrocketing. I think you're in the Midwest though so that shouldn't be an issue. Another thing to consider is how shaded your lot is. It looks like you have some trees around possibly on a wooded lot. From the street is there a clear view of your house or are their trees in between? When we redo the exterior we're going with a stone and siding combo with white trim similar to you. But because we're surrounded by trees we're going with a light olive green color and tan siding. Our house is very shaded so a dark color would disappear. We want to be able to see the house but also not stick out like a sore thumb by using non-natural colors you wouldn't normally see in a wooded setting like white.

[boiler717]

Jul 16, 2012 9:56:59 GMT -5 FoxInFiji said:

First to insert an image into the post you use [*img] url here

[/img].
To resize use [*img width=300 height=300] url here [/img]. Take out the *s.

Looking at your inspiration picture the colors you have picked out don't seem to have the same undertones. The inspiration picture has a blue gray undertone and the colors you have picked have a purple undertone. The light gray is reading very periwinkle on my screen (I wish I was on my home computer which is calibrated!). It's a very common issue when picking gray. Try comparing the lightest swatch to other gray strips. The human eye can more easily discern undertones in light colors than dark ones. But if IRL it doesn't look anything like what I'm describing well ignore my observation.

Another thing to consider is your inspiration picture has only a small portion of the house covered by a porch. Your porch is much more substantial and all of that shade will make the color look even darker. You might want to go a shade lighter to keep that area from looking like a black hole. A bright white ceiling on the porch would also help make the space feel a little brighter.

Before you make your final decision you should paint a small swatch on your house so you can see what it looks like in the light, on a vertical face, and far away. It can look very different in those conditions than on a small swatch you hold up. Since it will be getting painted over it shouldn't be an issue.

I'm not sure where you're located but I would avoid dark colors like that on a home in a hot sunny climate because that can send your air conditioning bills skyrocketing. I think you're in the Midwest though so that shouldn't be an issue. Another thing to consider is how shaded your lot is. It looks like you have some trees around possibly on a wooded lot. From the street is there a clear view of your house or are their trees in between? When we redo the exterior we're going with a stone and siding combo with white trim similar to you. But because we're surrounded by trees we're going with a light olive green color and tan siding. Our house is very shaded so a dark color would disappear. We want to be able to see the house but also not stick out like a sore thumb by using non-natural colors you wouldn't normally see in a wooded setting like white. [/quote]

Thank you! I didn't even think about the porch being an issue, and the front of our house faces WNW so it won't get direct sun until later in the day. The back of the house in the inspiration pic is facing due east and it was taken in the morning with direct sun.

I agree with you about the undertones. Our colors have more of a taupe undertone but I agree with picture looks like purple undertones and my inspiration pic has blue. Do you (or anyone else) have any suggestions on colors? I'm thinking I may need to just switch color strips. The pictures taken of the swatches have the dark and lighter colors painted on the house directly (garage area on the right), but I think we need to paint under the porch too.

The porch ceiling will be white. As of right now there aren't any trees in the front part of the lot, but we'll be planting one shade tree and a few smaller trees. The woods in the back are about 100 ft from our house but our lot does go all the way to them.

[FoxInFiji]

Jul 16, 2012 10:24:22 GMT -5 boiler717 said:

Thank you! I didn't even think about the porch being an issue, and the front of our house faces WNW so it won't get direct sun until later in the day. The back of the house in the inspiration pic is facing due east and it was taken in the morning with direct sun.

I agree with you about the undertones. Our colors have more of a taupe undertone but I agree with picture looks like purple undertones and my inspiration pic has blue. Do you (or anyone else) have any suggestions on colors? I'm thinking I may need to just switch color strips. The pictures taken of the swatches have the dark and lighter colors painted on the house directly (garage area on the right), but I think we need to paint under the porch too.

The porch ceiling will be white. As of right now there aren't any trees in the front part of the lot, but we'll be planting one shade tree and a few smaller trees. The woods in the back are about 100 ft from our house but our lot does go all the way to them.

Taupe undertones aren't bad at all I just wanted to make sure you didn't end up with a periwinkle house when you weren't going for the that look LOL. If you like the color stick with it. But if you prefer the inspiration picture colors you might want to find another strip to go with. I don't have a color off the top of my head. You could pull a few colors you like and take a picture of the paint strips right next to each other for us to vote on/discuss. That might give you more feedback.

The only dark blue/gray house that lists their paint color online I can think of off is this one:


But that's probably too dark and too navy for you.

[boiler717]

Jul 16, 2012 11:16:12 GMT -5 FoxInFiji said:

Jul 16, 2012 10:24:22 GMT -5 boiler717 said:

Thank you! I didn't even think about the porch being an issue, and the front of our house faces WNW so it won't get direct sun until later in the day. The back of the house in the inspiration pic is facing due east and it was taken in the morning with direct sun.

I agree with you about the undertones. Our colors have more of a taupe undertone but I agree with picture looks like purple undertones and my inspiration pic has blue. Do you (or anyone else) have any suggestions on colors? I'm thinking I may need to just switch color strips. The pictures taken of the swatches have the dark and lighter colors painted on the house directly (garage area on the right), but I think we need to paint under the porch too.

The porch ceiling will be white. As of right now there aren't any trees in the front part of the lot, but we'll be planting one shade tree and a few smaller trees. The woods in the back are about 100 ft from our house but our lot does go all the way to them.

Taupe undertones aren't bad at all I just wanted to make sure you didn't end up with a periwinkle house when you weren't going for the that look LOL. If you like the color stick with it. But if you prefer the inspiration picture colors you might want to find another strip to go with. I don't have a color off the top of my head. You could pull a few colors you like and take a picture of the paint strips right next to each other for us to vote on/discuss. That might give you more feedback.

The only dark blue/gray house that lists their paint color online I can think of off is this one:


But that's probably too dark and too navy for you.

I think that's a little too dark and navy for the stone, but I LOVE it with the cedar! I'll take some pics of the paint strips and see what people think, thanks!

[boiler717]

Here are three swatches where I like the grays in them. From L to R, they are SW swatch 1 (top color: snowfall), K (top color nebulous white) and D (top color: elder white). I have the third color down on swatch 1 painted in our bathroom and I feel that it has very slight purple undertones. K appears to have some blue (but not as strong as in SW Online or colors on swatch L), and D appears to be true gray (SW mindful gray is the 3rd color down).

I need two colors on the same swatch, the lighter needs to contrast with white trim and the darker needs to contrast with stone. They also need to contrast with each other. Any suggestions?

[boiler717]

Jul 16, 2012 12:28:31 GMT -5 asdfjkl said:

Have you tried the Sherwin Williams paint tool? It's not perfect, but it can give you a pretty good idea of what colors will look like together and on your house.

Yes, I did -- great suggestion! The original colors we picked from the buider are Porter so I could try those out on there. I'm trying it with these now and I'm having a hard time seeing shade differences on the picture I have of my house, but it may be bad photo quality on my part causing the problem.

[FoxInFiji]

Oh I am really liking the middle strip! It has the blue undertones like your inspiration picture but is still a nice neutral undertone (no baby blue!). How many up from the bottom were you thinking of using for the main paint color? The third one up or the fourth one up from the bottom would be inline with the look you were going for and then you can go 2 shades up for the accent color.

How do those colors compare to the original colors you were looking at?

BTW I've always loved gray blue houses with gray stone and white trim! Such a beautiful color scheme. DH doesn't like blue houses for some reason though so it was a no-go for our house.

[boiler717]

Jul 16, 2012 12:54:03 GMT -5 FoxInFiji said:

Oh I am really liking the middle strip! It has the blue undertones like your inspiration picture but is still a nice neutral undertone (no baby blue!). How many up from the bottom were you thinking of using for the main paint color? The third one up or the fourth one up from the bottom would be inline with the look you were going for and then you can go 2 shades up for the accent color.

How do those colors compare to the original colors you were looking at?

BTW I've always loved gray blue houses with gray stone and white trim! Such a beautiful color scheme. DH doesn't like blue houses for some reason though so it was a no-go for our house.

The middle strip is my favorite too

I am thinking I'd go three up from the botoom (Cityscape SW7067) and then two up from that for the accent color (Argos SW7065). I'm afrraid if I went one up (Gray Matters, SW7066 on the siding and Passive, SW7064 on the clapboard) that the Passive would blend in too much with the white trim.

I did find this pic on Houzz that uses colors on the same strip. It uses Passive and Gray Matters (2 down from the the top and 4 down from the top). It looks gray gray without a lot of blue so maybe I need to go for more blue.
www.houzz.com/photos/237372/Linden-Hills-Contemporary-contemporary-exterior-minneapolis

Sorry I can't PIP. Houzz is weird with their URLs for pics.

[FoxInFiji]

I like Cityscape and Argos as well. But yeah that picture in Houzz makes them look very gray. So does the SW online look up. I think you're on the right track though. Go one shade bluer and you should be good.

[FoxInFiji]

I think there is a strip or two probably between the Cityscape strip and this one but this has the blue gray color we used in our main bathroom:
www.sherwin-williams.com/homeowners/color/find-and-explore-colors/paint-colors-by-family/SW6222-riverway/

We used Tradewind and it provided a nice contrast with our white wainscoting and trim. Even at the second lightest color on the strip it still had contrast next to white. It is probably more blue than you're going for though.

[boiler717]

I went over to the inspiration house. Here is the cityscape/Argos swatch next to it (on the right) and the swatch that is one bluer on the right. It looks like cityscape might be a better match even though the house looks more blue in the first pic I posted.

[boiler717]

Jul 16, 2012 14:41:08 GMT -5 boiler717 said:

I went over to the inspiration house. Here is the cityscape/Argos swatch next to it (on the right) and the swatch that is one bluer on the right. It looks like cityscape might be a better match even though the house looks more blue in the first pic I posted.

[FoxInFiji]

LOL that was a house you live near?! I thought it was just a random inspiration picture you found online. Well you should just leave a note on the door "Excuse me what is the color of your house? Thanks, Boiler."

I like Cityscape the best. It's not a perfect match to their house but it's a yummy mix of blue and green and gray.

[boiler717]

Jul 16, 2012 15:28:58 GMT -5 FoxInFiji said:

LOL that was a house you live near?! I thought it was just a random inspiration picture you found online. Well you should just leave a note on the door "Excuse me what is the color of your house? Thanks, Boiler."

I like Cityscape the best. It's not a perfect match to their house but it's a yummy mix of blue and green and gray.

Yup! Different neighborhoods though. I knocked but they weren't home.

Here's Cityscape and Argos with our stone on the right. Online and Software are on the left. I'm thinking Cityscape might be a little light, so I'm going to try one down, Grizzle Gray. And I'll get Gray Matters too just so I have all four in a row

[boiler717]

Jul 16, 2012 15:59:44 GMT -5 boiler717 said:

Jul 16, 2012 15:28:58 GMT -5 FoxInFiji said:

LOL that was a house you live near?! I thought it was just a random inspiration picture you found online. Well you should just leave a note on the door "Excuse me what is the color of your house? Thanks, Boiler."

I like Cityscape the best. It's not a perfect match to their house but it's a yummy mix of blue and green and gray.

Yup! Different neighborhoods though. I knocked but they weren't home.

Here's Cityscape and Argos with our stone on the right. Online and Software are on the left. I'm thinking Cityscape might be a little light, so I'm going to try one down, Grizzle Gray. And I'll get Gray Matters too just so I have all four in a row

I

[FoxInFiji]

Gosh you're fast! I'm loving the combination on the right but I agree one shade darker for each I think would look better. The Argos is looking kind of light in that picture which might not give you the contrast you were hoping for with the white trim.

Why is no one else responding to this post? Where are our color gurus?

[wawa]

i'm awful at this game, but I agree that argos is too light and won't contrast with the trim enough.

I'm kinda hopeless with undertones, but I think the pair on the left in the most recent picture is a better match for that stone.

[boiler717]

Okay! Two more options. Here's option 1, Grizzle Gray and Gray Matter. Option 2 is in the next post.

[boiler717]

Option 2, network gray and web gray

[boiler717]

Jul 16, 2012 17:07:26 GMT -5 boiler717 said:

Okay! Two more options. Here's option 1, Grizzle Gray and Gray Matter. Option 2 is in the next post.

)))proboards(((

[FoxInFiji]

Dang I don't know they both look really good in the darker color! That's a tough choice. I really don't think you could go wrong with either of those! The only thing I'm not liking it the fact that the Web Gray is reading pale blue more so than gray. But the Network Gray next to the stone looks really good so it's hard to rule that one out.

[boiler717]

Jul 16, 2012 17:44:05 GMT -5 FoxInFiji said:

Dang I don't know they both look really good in the darker color! That's a tough choice. I really don't think you could go wrong with either of those! The only thing I'm not liking it the fact that the Web Gray is reading pale blue more so than gray. But the Network Gray next to the stone looks really good so it's hard to rule that one out.

I do agree that Network Gray looks the best against the stone. Neither my mom or DH felt that Web Gray looked blue in person but I think it's a tiny bit more blue than DH would like. I think gray matter / grizzle gray is a little dull in comparison.

[sierramist03]

I'm liking your last choices I was f really a fan of your first dark dark options