paint-colorsYour home isn’t just a place you spend a lot of time. It’s an extension of who you are, and how you live.  Although you spend the majority of your time inside your home, you want the exterior of your home to also be something you can cherish and be proud of. Painting your home’s exterior can certainly be quite an undertaking and can sometimes be a challenge to determine the best color to spread across those exterior walls.  The right color has great potential to improve curb appeal and can affect how you and your neighbors feel about your house. Selecting the right color(s) is really important for many reasons, but it’s necessary to consider a few factors before dipping your brush in a paint bucket.

Color Sets The Tone

Picking the right color for your exterior is important, not just because you will be seeing it every time you pull into your driveway, but also because it affects curb appeal, which is very important when you go to sell your house.

Every color exudes a different type of feeling and ambiance.  Lighter colors such as white, baby blue, and yellows can make a home feel bright, cheerful and welcoming.  Darker earth tones, such as brown and grey, give a feel of elegance. Additionally, darker colors can absorb heat, increasing your cooling costs in summer, and they also tend to fade over time.

Before you begin, it might be helpful to drive around looking at other homes to see what color schemes really appeal to you. Snap a picture of homes you like with your smart phone so you have something to see when viewing paint swatches later on.

Ultimately, there are really an infinite amount of possibilities when it comes to selecting colors that work for your home.  It’s important that all the colors of your home live harmoniously with one another.  Look at the fixed elements of your home. The roof and any stone, or brickwork is a major component of your house’s exterior surface. A paint color that complements them will offer a more pleasing effect.

Lastly, there are the immediate physical surroundings of your home such as plantings, paths, or water features. Depending on personal preference, your exterior color can form a beautiful background or a charming contrast to these aspects.

Let the Painting Begin!

Finally you are ready to crack open the paint and dip in the paintbrush!  Once you have decided on the color and finish, just go for it! Remember, ultimately it is only paint.  If you paint your home and really aren’t happy with how the color turned out, it can always be changed.  Ideally though, you will love how the paint job turned out and the color will be part of your life for years to come!