Exterior Colors As with interior painting, when exterior painting it is best to think in terms of sets of colors rather than single colors. However the process is often more difficult because houses are often built of a variety of materials that all have different textures, such as real wood siding paired with a stone base or a brick building with timber trim. If you want to emphasize the difference in textures, paint each element a different color.
The Big Picture When picking colors, note that two colors which could work well alongside one another as a siding and trim mixture, may clash with the roof color or various other elements including the deck or landscaping design. So when picking colors, be sure you factor in things you can't, or won't change, such as the roof material, the close by landscaping and plantings, any masonry work, and the color of your friends and neighbors' houses.
Local Customs When deciding on a house color, consider the local customs in your town. It is increasingly common for towns and neighborhoods to insist on some control over house colors. For instance, in the resort community of Hilton Head, South Carolina, residents must choose external surfaces colors from a limited palette of muted colors and even the stop signs have color restrictions, whereas in the location of Charleston, there's a well-known district of pastel-colored houses called "Rainbow Row" where striking colors are welcome. Some planned communities may also fine you or force you to repaint your home if you don't use one of the accepted paint colors.
Trying Different Color Strategies As with the interior color selection process, you can start choosing color location without actually painting anything. Copy or sketch a line drawing of your residence and then make several photocopies to try different schemes. Employ a pencil or highlighter and shade your home’s features and experiment with several high-lighting alternatives. Determine which features you want to emphasize and those you want to hide. The target here is to create a well balanced whole where no element seems to dominate. By "pre-painting" this way you will not only avoid any disappointments you'll be encouraged to try some distinctive strategies before you pick up the paintbrush.
Some paint stores have computers that will "paint" your home for you right on the computer screen. The better systems are prepared to scan a high-quality picture of your house. Or you can provide a high image resolution digital image. Even if you cannot get a precise reproduction of your house, these programs will provide you with a sense of what kinds or combinations are pleasing and demonstrate some ideas of how you might paint.
Now that you have selected the colors for your home it is time to decide which colors should be assigned to specific architectural elements. Generally the siding is done in a single color, but when there is ornamental molding above the first floor, another color siding can be quite interesting. Casings around windows and doors should all be the same color or the house will seem too busy. If there are ornamental features in your trim and molding, two or more colors are fine if the design repeats on the whole structure. Some Victorian homes can look well-balanced with six colors, so there is no firm rule.
One common fashion is to color the window sash and trim a color that is lighter than the body of the structure. Shutters, if present, are usually colored darker than the home body. Naturally, fashions change. For example, at the turn of the century, gloss black was typically the most popular choice for the home window sash. Nevertheless, you seldom see gloss dark-colored paint today except on shutters.
Highlight ornate trim work, below left, with eye catching colors.
Below are a Couple Tips for other Architectural Highlights:
Entrance Create a dazzling effect by adding an accent color to this important element of your home. For instance, a white home with a door colored a bright color, such as red or green, draws attention to the door making the entry seem more appealing.
Frieze A historically appropriate treatment for the frieze is by using both the trim and body colors. Allow the trim color to be the dominating one to mark a clear differentiation from the top of the siding. Take care not to introduce way too many colors; you may finish up with an impact that is way too busy.
Brackets (Corner) Brackets have to be regarded as part of the overall framework and should be painted so as to never appear that they are "floating free" of the framework. Use the principle trim color. Stay away from too much color. Some painters put in a leading color of scarlet to these features.
Brackets (Sandwich) Sandwich brackets are just a little different. Because they contain several layers and are more technical than simple corner mounting brackets, it is more suitable to work with several colors. Paint the exterior items to match the trim and frieze, and the center another color to show off your scroll work.
Verticle Beams/Posts When you have simple rectangular wooden posts on the porch, you almost certainly don't want to emphasize them with their own color. Color them to match either the entire trim or body paint of your house. However, if your posts have special millwork, like a chamfer on a square post or a ring on the turned post, it is quite acceptable to highlight these designs with a flourish.
Many people like to paint porch ceilings sky blue because they say the color mimics nature. White columns add a nice contrasting touch.
Rails The rails are essentially extensions of the posts. Therefore, they are usually colored in the same color as the posts.
Verticle Railings Support Try painting the balusters a lighter color than the rails. In the event the posts and rails have been treated in the primary body color, try to use the trim colors to make them stand out. Even if you have elaborately worked balusters, avoid way too many colors to demonstrate your handiwork. Besides the timeframe that would be involved in highlighting each baluster, the result will look busy.
Ceiling and Floors Porches are painted certain colors not only for beautification, but as concerns of practicality. Light colored ceilings help maintain a sense of airiness and brightness. Painting porch ceilings blue is a method that has been used for centuries to suggest the sky over head. It is rumored to keep nesting bugs, such as wasps, from settling in. In case the undersides of your porch roof rafters are exposed, you might paint them by using a combination of the body and trim colors. A dark floor is even more sensible because it shows mud and tracks less readily than a floor colored in a lighter color.
Risers and Steps The risers of wooden steps are usually painted the trim color, as the treads carry a surface (porch or deck) to the bottom and should be painted in the same color. The handrail and balusters on the steps should be colored to complement the porch rail and baluster color scheme.
Cement Foundations Many houses have a band of brick or concrete blocks below the siding. While it is fine to paint this band the same color as the siding, a darker color makes the house seem firmly planted and will hide dirt and grime. Basement windows are generally colored the same dark color to de-emphasize them.
A bright accent color, below left draws attention to this door.
Advanced Tips: There are various online paint planning programs. Leading paint manufacturers such as Benjamin Moore (www.benjaminmoore.com), Valspar (www.valsparatlowes.com), Glidden (www.glidden.com), and Sherwin Williams (www.sherwin-williams.com) feature paint color planners online. Simply search "virtual paint color planner" on the Internet for a list.
A great way to check out how colors interact is to see them in fabrics. Fabrics are often designed by people who research color and have worked with it for a long period. The microcosm of any couch and pillow combination in a favorite catalog may contain the color design that can make your home look spectacular
Prefab Color Layouts Deciding on the specific colors in a multicolor scheme is a little tricky. It's the reason that the vast majority of the major paint companies have created "combo cards" to help you to pick body, trim, and accent colors in a single step. These colors are also available in historic shades made to match the most widespread color schemes of certain periods. One nice feature of the cards would be that the trim and accent color chips often overlap the body color, which helps demonstrate a far more realistic relationship.
Sound Quality Painting
824 90th Dr SE suite B
Lake Stevens WA 98258
(425) 512-7400
https://sites.google.com/1upserve.com/painter-lake-stevens
