How to Pick Your Exterior Colours
Is the exterior of your home looking a little worse for wear and in need of some tender loving care?
The hardest part of this is often choosing the right colour schemes. But it doesn’t have to be such a difficult decision, there are things you can take inspiration from to help you when choosing exterior paint colours.
Consider the Architectural Style
When choosing a colour for your home’s exterior it is important to consider the age and style of your home.
It can be jarring to see an older or historical house painted in bright colours, such as pinks and purples. This is not to say you can’t or shouldn’t take the creative liberties if you want to stand out, but it’s important to know that doing this will make your house stand out.
If you have an older house and want to stay true to its history you can research historically accurate colours and use them as inspiration.
If you have an ultra-modern house with lots of glass then it will generally look best in neutral colours, such as in shades of white with dark accents.
Let Your Surroundings Inspire You
A great way to find inspiration is to take a trip around your neighbourhood and look at your neighbours colour choices.
This is not only a great way to find inspiration, but by copying or attempting to match in with the other houses nearby you will ensure that your house fits in and doesn’t stand out like a sore thumb.
If you want your house to stand out in a good way you can opt for a deeper colour that compliments your neighbouring houses. For example, if the houses around yours are shades of white and grey then you could opt for a navy blue. This allows you to make a statement without clashing with your neighbours.
Your surroundings are not limited to the other houses either, you can take inspiration from anything nearby, including your mailbox, plants, statues, anything with colour that you can see can be used as inspiration for your house colour.
Make it Cohesive
Just as looking around your neighbourhood can provide inspiration, so can your own house. Unless you are looking at a major renovation where you plan to repaint everything, you can use some of the existing colours as a guide.
If you have a brick or stone foundation, painted window frames or tiled roof then you may choose to use similar hues when repainting your exterior.
Your home’s interior can also act as inspiration. Matching your interior colours to your exterior can help your colour palette feel continuous from the outside to the inside.
Be Aware of Sunlight
The impact of light is extremely important when deciding on your exterior colours as your house will be exposed to the sun more often than not.
Bright colours can fade quicker and start to look slightly different under the harsh Australian sun. For this reason, you may be better off to choose neutral colours such as white or beige when having your home painted.
Choose Multiple Shades or Colours
When choosing a colour for your home’s exterior you will likely have to choose more than one colour or shade. The colours of your window trims, accents and front door are all as important as the base colour of your house. These accents will ideally help the base colour pop.
You can choose your colours in either order, you can let your accent colours inspire your base colour or vice versa. Whichever order you choose it is important to ensure that your colours complement each other.
If you opt for white trims then you could choose any colour for your house, whereas if you opt for a white exterior you may want slightly pale or muted colours for your accents.
Test, Test, Test
Wherever you find your inspiration and whichever colour you choose it’s important to test it. Paint cards may not be enough, as they may not be entirely colour true especially for your exterior under the sun.
Paint cards are a great place to start but once you’ve narrowed down your options to just a few colours it may be beneficial to paint a test patch on one of your exterior walls and see how it changes and looks after drying and at different times of the day.
Once you’ve chosen your exterior colours, you can start to get the real painting job underway.
At Painting Perfection we can help enhance your home’s aesthetic and curb appeal with our comprehensive exterior painting services. Visit our website or contact us to arrange a quote and let us help you transform and refresh your home’s look.