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?
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.
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!
