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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

“I had my wooden kitchen cabinets painted white. Anabal and Danielle were doing the job. I have nothing but praise for them. They came on time, cleaned up every day, were respective, friendly and helpful. If the rest of Jessee's crew are as great as Anabal and Danielle, this company will go far.”

— Anni S.
Oakland, CA

“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

“In September, MBJessee finished painting two sides of our 3-story condominium building (six owners). We were impressed by the professionalism of the company and every one of its workers, Matt Jessee couldn't have been more helpful in planning the project. His painters were well-trained, easy to communicate with and eager to please. In addition to painting the stucco, they made extensive repairs on windows and frames, which will save us considerable money in the future. They finished earlier than anticipated, with as many as five men working on the job, and the scaffolding came down the next day. All of us were delighted with the results. Now my husband and I are looking forward to having MB Jessee paint our own apartment later this month. Matt and Gustavo (who will be our crew leader again) have explained how they will work to make the painting proceed smoothly while we're living here, and they have been endlessly patient with our protracted decision-making process. If you look at their website, you'll learn that MB Jessee is an exemplary company that takes good care of its workers as well as its customers, and contributes public service projects to the community. All in all, we can't recommend MB Jessee highly enough.”

— Jayne W.
San Francisco, CA

“Julie, by the way, I have never been so impressed with the service of a painting job before! It was like magical elves came and painted our walls without us having to do a thing! It looks amazing and just wanted to let you know how happy we are. Thanks”

— Anja
Piedmont

“Charles finished yesterday and did a fantastic job. We really enjoyed meeting Charles and having him in our home. He is a great guy in addition to his attention to detail in his work, the protection of our floors, walls and furnishings, and his overall interaction with us both. I would be pleased to recommend him to any of my clients.”

— Ken Morrison
Oakland

“M.B. Jessee painted the exterior of my Spanish house over 9 years ago, and they did such an incredible job that they are still getting referrals from me today. The paint is holding up perfectly -- there is absolutely no peeling chipping or any other deterioration. I still remember that my final walk-through list consisted of items written on one side of a 3x5 index card (and I'm REAL picky about my house!) However, when Matt and I did that walk-through over HALF the items were no longer an issue, as his team had noticed them first and they had already been resolved.”

— JoAnn Newcomb

“I cannot imagine finer painters--and I have worked with many. They work exceptionally hard. It is a joy to see their workmanship!”

— Alicia R.
Oakland

“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

“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

“MB Jessee just finished our exterior and we couldn't be happier with our experience. The foreman (Pedro) and lead painter (Ricardo) were incredible to work with: they communicated scheduling clearly, Ricardo was a joy to be around every day, the showed up early every day, were incredibly tidy and did great paint work. The final walkthrough experience was incredible. Pedro pointed out items I missed demonstrating a clear desire to complete another quality project. I highly recommend them. As others have noted they definitely aren't the cheapest but you quickly realize that you're getting what you pay for. The 3-year guarantee is also a nice touch since there are likely touch-up items that will show up after the job is done.”

— Joshua J.
Oakland, CA

“Hello Matt,Just another notice of thanks to your wonderful crew, Rigoberto, Javier and John. They did fantastic work, with Rigo providing meticulous and conscientious attention to the details and excellent woodwork finishing, as evidenced by the beautiful fireplace. Javier did a fantastic job in the bathroom especially, it looks "brand new," and John always does quality work, both with the interior and exterior. I can tell they care about what they do. Rigo's "punch out" was very thorough, too. I will call again when I need some more work and will definitely recommend your company and fine crew. I also felt as a homeowner, I could leave my house in their good hands during the day and that took a lot of worry from me, they were honest, prompt and reliable. They were also very kind, respectful and clean in their work, very professional. Thank you.”

— Beth Marx & Melissa Kirsch
Oakland

“The entire MB Jessee team is courteous, efficient and professional. From scheduling and estimating to the crew managers and crew, they all did an excellent job on a small (but complicated) two room project in my house. I'm already thinking about getting them scheduled for the next project in the spring.”

— Cari Cheney