Color Tips: Choosing Exterior Paint Colors

What are the most common mistakes homeowners make when choosing exterior paint colors?
What opportunities do homeowners commonly miss when selecting and placing colors on their homes' exteriors?
What steps should homeowners take to eliminate surprises and gain confidence with color?
Are there any rules of thumb about color placement on a home?
Why are white and light colors so popular?

Q: What are the most common mistakes homeowners make when choosing exterior paint colors?

A:Assuming that a colorful and imaginative color scheme will cost a great deal more for product and labor. Unless the scheme is a "painted lady" with numerous colors, this is rarely the case.

Accenting unattractive elements such as gutters, downspouts, a protruding garage door, air conditioning units, unevenly placed windows, etc.

Ignoring neighboring houses: your color scheme choice should not clash with the neighbor's house — it's a lose-lose situation. Choose a scheme that blends with the neighborhood or stands out in a subtle, unobtrusive manner.

Landscaping counts: consider tress that change color, flowering shrubs, flower gardens when selection colors, for compatibility. Heavily wooded lots will make colors look darker due to shade; also could camouflage homes, so attention to detail is needed. Greens are not a good choice in this situation.

Q: What opportunities do homeowners commonly miss when selecting and placing colors on their homes' exteriors?

A:Color makes a first impression, an individual statement and can enhance curb appeal and even resale value; a creative scheme versus the more typical white could be an opportunity to make that first impression.

Don't overlook interesting architectural detailing; it can often sparkle with a contrasting or accent color.

Be observant: drive through various neighborhoods, established and new, to see color in action. Make note of appealing color schemes and consider adapting them to your own home.

Assuming no structural work is needed, color/paint is the most cost-effective approach to changing the appearance of a home.

Define the entryway by using color as a "Welcome" sign.

Windows are an opportunity: they give character to a house. Outlining them lends crispness to the color scheme.

Q: What steps should homeowners take to eliminate surprises and gain confidence with color?

A:Consider the colors that can't change (for example, elements such as roofing shingles, and brick, slate, and stone accents or features) and use these elements as color resources because there are numerous shades and hues in building materials. A charcoal gray shingle for example could have flecks of gray-green or gray blue that could be found on a paint color strip or incorporated into the color scheme.

Examine color samples outdoors, at various angles and different times of the day. Consider buying small quantities of desired colors and paint a section of the house where body, trim and accent colors can be viewed together.

Pay attention to geography, specifically the intensity of the sun. Intense sun washes out colors, so brighter colors are suitable in sunbelt areas but might stand out like a sore thumb in northern locations.

Q: Are there any rules of thumb about color placement on a home?

A:A large home on a small lot painted white or a light color - for instance, a tinted neutral - can make the house seem larger and the lot seem smaller. Dark colors can make a home look smaller but more substantial.

A safe and effective approach to color placement is to select two tints or shades from the same color strip a few shades apart. Either the lighter or the darker shade could be used for the body and the opposite for the trim. A contrasting accent color could punctuate the door. Lighter colors on a porch will make a home feel more "approachable" and welcoming.

Height can be scaled down by painting the upper portion of a tall house a deeper tone than the bottom portion (reverse trim color). This is also effective on a small lot or when landscaping is immature. Conversely, a darker color on the lower portion grounds the house to the earth.

Light or white is a good choice for windowsills for reflection of the sun's heat and light. Light colors advance in space; dark colors recede. If a house is placed far away from the curb, painting it a light color will visually bring it forward.

Be judicious with accent colors, but certainly accentuate the positive.

Q: Why are white and light colors so popular?

A:Traditionally, white and light colors were perceived to be safe choices. However, as consumers have gained more confidence with color, and as a broader spectrum of colors have been made available for exterior use, those "traditional" approaches are changing. Today, tinted neutrals that play off landscaping and other building materials are increasingly being used, as are midtone values of neutrals.

Color Tips: Choosing Interior Paint Colors

If your CCQ (Color Confidence Quotient!) is modest but you'd like to boost it by learning more about color placement basics, consider the rules of thumb below, from the color professionals at Sherwin-Williams.

However, if you're sure of your personal style, feel free to break the rules and create new looks that reflect your unique tastes and personality. You'll find everything you need to validate your choices at your neighborhood Sherwin-Williams store!

When creating a warm or cool color scheme, choose one color as the predominant color and then other colors as accent colors.
If you have a long and narrow room, you can consider painting the end walls a darker shade than the long, narrow walls. The darker colors will recede and will create an illusion of width in this instance. Light colors will advance.
Solids and simple patterns reduce visual weight, while bold patterns add visual weight.
Bright and intense colors add visual weight, while muted, neutral colors reduce visual weight.
To make a small room look larger, choose a light-color paint and select furnishings in the same color family. Or, you can paint some of the furniture to match the walls.
Light-color ceilings will attract attention, but dark-color ceilings will direct the eye back to head level, allowing the focus to be on the walls, furnishings and accessories in a room.
Light affects color dramatically. Fluorescent light tends to be cool lighting and brings out more green or blue in a color. Incandescent light — light bulbs — brings more of the red or warmth out in a color. It is important to view colors in daylight or night, because they will appear different.
The location of color within an interior space can make a great deal of difference in influencing the room's character. A color placed on a ceiling, wall or door may elicit many different reactions.
Perception of temperature may also be altered with color. Most design schemes contain more than one color in a space, so if the design includes a color from each group — warm and cool — coordination of the space is still accomplished.

RED

Ceilings: weighty and annoying.
Walls: advancing and energetic.
Floors: confident.

Red is predominantly used as an accent color, but we are currently seeing more of a trend using this color on walls. Large amounts of saturated red create a more complex space, while saturated brown-reds can make a room warm and inviting.

PINK

Ceilings: soft hues delicate and comfortable.
Walls: complementary to skin tones when soft or pale. Dramatic when highly saturated and vivid tones are used.
Floors: for select and special spaces.

ORANGE

Ceilings: energizing and advancing.
Walls: soft peachy tones are warm and glowing. Bright tones are energetic, burnt orange shades are rich and warm.
Floors: creates movement.

While orange is reserved typically for accents, pastel oranges are cheerful and lively. When this hue is close to peach, it has the ability to enhance skin tones and therefore would be a suitable color in a bathroom.

BROWN

Ceiling: dark hues are heavy but work in high, open ceilings, especially to conceal exposed ductwork.
Walls: mid-tone and dark hues can evoke richness, warmth and comfort. Soft hues are natural and create a neutral backdrop for furnishings.
Floors: implies durability, stability and reliability.

The light values of brown are good environments for work or for living. The red-browns have a good use in interiors because they bring warmth and comfort.

YELLOW

Ceiling: light hue, luminous, reflective and glowing.
Walls: warm if a golden hue.
Floors: bright hues are distracting and agitating.

Ideal for safety purposes due to the high visibility qualities, it also appears brighter than white and is useful in poorly illuminated and dim spaces.

GREEN

Ceiling: protective (reflection on skin tone can be unattractive).
Walls: safe, calm, reliable, neutral, yellow based hues create warmth, blue based hues tend to be cool.
Floors: natural up to a certain saturation point (light to dark), soft, relaxing (if closer to blue-green).

Green is an excellent color for interior environments, especially when involving concentration and meditation.

BLUE

Ceiling: soft shades are cool and heavenly, dark hues give the illusion of the ceiling advancing.
Walls: pale to mid-tone shades are soothing, darker hues provide a dramatic backdrop.
Floors: movement (darker hues) to effortless movement (lighter hues).

Blue has a tendency to be cold and bleak if applied to large areas. Medium or deep tones are appropriate in incidental areas. Pale blue is refracted sharply by the lens of the eye, therefore it tends to cast a haze over details and objects in the environment.

GRAY

Ceiling: shaded, creates shadows.
Walls: bland to neutral, cool and neutral.
Floors: neutral. Blends into a space.

Gray is the color, which inspires creative people to become more creative. Gray is a great classifier. It performs the opposite of orange in that it makes things seem more exclusive.

WHITE

Ceiling: blank - creates lightness, reflects light and reduces shadows.
Walls: neutral to empty, clean.
Floors: intimidating.

White indicates delicacy, refinement and sophistication. White may be too harsh as an interior color in some climates. All-white work environments encourage great precision.

BLACK

Ceiling: heavy but works well for an exposed ceiling with open ductwork.
Walls: threatening or dramatic.
Floors: unusual and absorbing. Dark furnishings would get lost placed directly on this floor color.

Black is very dependent on where it is used. Black works as an accent color in either residential or business interiors. It is associated with dignity and sophistication.