There’s nothing like the look of a fresh coat of paint on your home exterior to give you that feeling of contentment and satisfaction in seeing your project finally complete and the finished product exactly as you envisioned it. Repainting your home can be a hassle, at times, but it can also be one of the most enjoyable home maintenance projects you can undertake, and the professionals at Texas Professional Painting can help you every step of the way. We’ll work with you to find the color scheme and equipment you need to get the clean, exterior appearance you have always dreamed of. Here are six tips to help you begin the process and help you make the right decision.
1. Highlight Your Home's Features
When it comes to repainting your home, it is important to remember to emphasize the colors of your home’s features. The front door, window shutters, foundation, and even supporting or decorative pillars all offer the perfect opportunity to compliment the main color scheme of the home. For example, a white-yellow color scheme on the home exterior can be highlighted with solid white pillars, gutters, and downspouts, and a Colonial Maple mahogany front door.
2. Remember the Landscape
It is important to take your home’s landscape design into consideration when choosing a color scheme for the home exterior. Darker colors on the home, like brown and green variations, help lightly colored plants, trees and flowers with blue, pink, and lavender shades pop out and highlight the home’s exterior features.
By contrast, lightly colored homes with yellow, cream, or peach variations, are accentuated by more solid colored flowers and plants like orange, purple, and sometimes snow white.
3. Use Appealing Trim Colors
The trim of the house can also play an important part in the overall appearance and color scheme of your home. Remember, you want to choose a color that will contrast that of the house, and accentuate the window trim, sills, shutters, and aprons. Generally speaking, aim for dark trim on lightly colored houses, soft trim for dark houses, and a creamy trim for brighter houses. Stone or brick can be complimented with a dark charcoal or chocolate trim to highlight the tones of the material.
4. Consider the Climate
Remember to consider the practicality of your color scheme and the environment in which your home resides. The climate in your area can play a large role in determining what colors are appropriate choices for your home’s exterior design. Houses built in warmer regions are usually painted white, or some other light color, in order to reflect the sunlight and keep the interior of the home cool, while houses in colder regions are usually painted more earthy colors so as to absorb sunlight and help insulate the building interior. Neutral colors, however, like light green, yellow, peach, and salmon tend to work well in any environment.
5. Don't Forget Your Neighbors
One more thing you should do before making a final decision on your home painting color scheme is to consider the houses of your neighbors. You will want to achieve some degree of harmony with your home color scheme in relation to that of your neighbors. Choose colors that will compliment the surrounding properties and avoid those that will cause your home to stick out awkwardly from the rest.
For example, “if you live in a highly wooded area and the majority of the houses there are all painted generally light colors to accentuate the natural greens, you should choose a similar color scheme, as opposed to going with something in the complete opposite direction.” said Dan Michura, President of a Minneapolis Tree Care Service.
6. Test Your Color Choices
Before you go ahead and paint over the whole house, it is best to test your color choices first. Paint large brush-strokes of each color on each side of your house, as well as on the home’s key features like windows, brick, railings, and decks. You can then check out the color appearance at different points throughout the day, and in various weather conditions, to see how they change from sunrise to sunset. Remember, shaded areas will automatically have a darker exterior appearance, while colors that appear in sunlight might look more faded.
