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Choosing an Exterior Paint Color You Can Be Excited About

Choosing an Exterior Paint Color You Can Be Excited About

There is nothing quite like the feeling of pleasant surprise when your home has received a new coat of exterior paint, especially when you apply a fresh color scheme! However, the sheer number of possible colors and combinations can cause anxiety when it should bring joy. Row upon row, rack after rack, the color cards present us with infinite potential. How do you break through the paralysis to pick exterior paint colors you will love?

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Consider Your Neighborhood

Within a given community, there is generally a certain style or feel that is predominant. While you want your house to stand out in the crowd, you want this to be in a good way. Take a careful look around your neighborhood, and try to choose a category of colors that will harmonize well.

Another neighborhood factor to consider is whether or not there is a Homeowner’s Association. Often, an HOA will impose certain limits on the color choices for your exterior paint. You definitely want to know if this is the case beforehand, so that you don’t discover it after you have already made the investment.

Ponder the Style

Here in the San Francisco Bay area, we have an amazing variety of classic and modern architectural styles. When you choose your exterior painting colors, you want to have the architectural style in mind. Color schemes that make a Victorian home look gorgeous might look horrendous on an Art Deco style home. Likewise, the Southwestern colors that are so engaging in Spanish Eclectic homes would be supremely out of place on a Tudor Revival home.

To get help with narrowing down the potential paint color schemes for your house, there are a number of ways to inquire:

  • Perform an online image search for homes in your architectural style, and look for color schemes you like.
  • Talk to a residential painting company that has a lot of experience in your community. They will have a very good idea what colors work well on homes like yours.
  • Visit a quality paint store and ask for a color expert. Don’t try the nearest big-box home improvement or department store, but rather a store dedicated solely to premium paints.

Keep Things in Proportion

Most decorators recommend a 60-30-10 ratio for determining an exterior paint color scheme. Here is a breakdown of what that means:

60% of the home exterior is a single, dominant color. This would generally include the house siding. It is best for this to be a color that fits well with your neighborhood and matches easily with a wide variety of other colors. Save your adventurous ideas for the next two categories.

30% of the surface of your home should be a second color, and this one can be a bolder choice that contrasts yet compliments the color mentioned above. This may be your roof color, or the garage doors, the shutters, or some other significant feature of your home exterior.

The final 10% of the exterior painting surface includes the attention-grabbing details that get another contrasting color. This may be the front door, or the window shutters, a gable vent, or another similar architectural feature.

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Paint Color and Application Experts in the San Francisco Region

For expert help with choosing the perfect exterior paint colors for your home, MB Jessee is the company you can trust. We have been painting fine homes in the Bay Area for well over 20 years, earning a reputation for fine service and excellent results.

MB Jessee is based in Oakland, CA. We provide premium house painting services, including exterior painting, interior painting, plaster repair, kitchen cabinet repainting or refinishing, and much more. Contact us today for a free estimate!

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Customer Reviews

“We just wanted to let you know how pleased we are with the work of MB Jessee Painting and your employees. Everything turned out beautiful. Our foreman was great! He was punctual, professional, neat and very accommodating ... and went the extra mile. We will definitely recommend you to our friends and family.”

— Michelle & Rivers Gee

“I can't say enough about how courteous and professional my foreman was. He was on time every morning and arrived cheerful and ready to go. He is highly organized and very thoughtful. He was extremely careful and respectful when moving my belongings - a mature professional.”

— Nora Robinson

“The painters at MB Jesse are top notch! Cesar's team was super friendly and helpful. They were very polite and accommodating. Their expertise in everything painting related was evident in their attention to detail and efficiency painting tricky spaces. The apartment looks brand new!”

— Adam Swisher

“Matt, We are very happy with how all of the painting worked out. We were extremely impressed with the quality of the work in the bathroom. I liked working with Victor, he and Marvin were extremely conscientious about doing a great job, not just the minimum. I know the front door took a lot longer than you'd expected. But they did it PERFECTLY. We never thought it could turn out like that! Thanks again for the great work. We'll be calling you again in the future!”

— Craig
Alameda, CA

“Awesome work by highly experienced, professional painters. They were: Conscious about the amount of time it would take. Ours had a lot of pre-work and took 3 weeks. Accommodating when we added a few last-minute changes Understanding when a heatwave hit and we remove some of the plastic sheeting over windows, which they had to put back up the next day. Accessible, especially the on-site crew (Hi Jose & Victor!) -- always answering questions and checking in. The end result is a perfect paint job that makes our 94-year-old house look brand new. I would definitely hire MBJ again”

— Stacey R.
Oakland, CA

“Thank you for the support you have given the Women's Cancer Resource Center over the past year!”

— Margo - Director Women's Cancer Resource Center

“Our paint crew did a great job and the foreman, Gersson was exceptionally great to work with. He was always available to answer questions, good at problem-solving, very patient, kind, and highly professional with great customer service. We definitely recommend this company, and Gersson and his crew.”

— Andrea Y.
Berkeley, CA

“Julie,Just to let you know I am very appreciative of your crew catching the plumbing/mold problem. It was very astute of them. I wanted to let you know that again your crew has done excellent work here, please pass this along to Mr. Jessee. There are some bumps in the road here, but the painting and your crew has not been one of them. Their work is the only thing going right currently, and this crew is very nice and respectful. It is much appreciated. Thank you again.”

— Beth
Oakland

“Matt, Julie & Ricardo, I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank the three of you for the wonderful job you did in hosting the SFBA NARI Chapter Meeting on Wednesday evening. Everything was perfect from beginning to end. Members and guests alike walked away with a truly positive experience. The "painter for a day" and the cookies in the paint cans were an absolute brilliant touch and received rave reviews. What a wonderful way to do such positive marketing. Thanks again for a truly memorable experience for our members and guests. You are valued as a NARI member.”

— Judy Tufo, SFBA NARI Executive Director

“Richard and crew have been great, for sure. As much as I look forward to having the job done and my house back in order, I really enjoyed having them around. You should feel really good about how they represent your company.”

— Jessica Dodson

“High quality work from a pleasant and qualified staff. Thank you!”

— Paul Markovich

“I highly recommend MB Jesse Painting to anyone looking for a professional team that does an impressive job. They are on time, efficient and clean up well each and every day they are on site. They pay attention to detail and listen to the needs of their clients. In addition, they give back to the community. A Five Star team all the way around.”

— Erin Troy