7 Best Insider Tips for Choosing Exterior House Paint

My stucco house had not been painted in a lo-o-o-o-o-o-ng time!

I think that, at one time, my house may have been yellow? Or yellowish-beige? Who knows, the house was build around 1999, and I have been here for less than three years.

The interior had definitely been painted. Some of the rooms had been painted very creatively, to say the least! Evidence of prior color fads (jewel-toned, dijon mustard, and apartment-beige walls) existed under light switch covers. I should know; I painted every interior wall of that house when we moved in.

The exterior, though, was a different story. Our house sits on a lakefront property with a LOT of southern sun exposure. Over the years, the stucco had been patched, and the paint used to patch small cracks did NOT match the original paint. The old paint was also dingy, with mildew and baked-in dirt that seemed resistant to pressure washing. The color faded with sun exposure, but not uniformly on all sides of the house. We knew we needed to paint, but we were stressed about choosing the right color.

My insider steps for navigating the paint selection process–with success!

Tip 1: Do your online research!

I literally spend hours on Houzz( http://houzz.com ). The Houzz site has a photo database with millions of photos of homes, design ideas, furnishings, and home makeover projects! If you have not yet discovered that site, you must visit them! Go to the “Get Ideas” tab, and locate the space or project you want to see. From there, you can narrow the results by categories including popularity, style, and color.

Tip 2: Do a reconnaissance mission in your neighborhood

You drive past other houses all the time, but have you really paid attention to the trends? Look for similar houses to preview your ideas. Be on the lookout for other homes that have been painted recently–what color trends do you notice? Do you like what you see? Also, pay attention to the houses on your own street. How will a new paint color look in the context of your neighborhood? Will that teal accent paint look strange among the traditional red brick homes on your street?

Tip 3: (Most important!)–Get samples!

Do not–I repeat, do NOT–skip this step! Think about the size of your home. Even a modest home has a large visual footprint, so compared to the tiny paint sample chip from the paint store, when the color goes onto your home it will have an exponentially larger impact. If you are unable to procure a small sample of the paint you want, order a large sample from Sherwin-Williams, your local paint store, or from an independent supplier like Samplize.com. Seeing the larger sample of the paint color you are considering will help you to visualize how it will look over a much larger area.

Tip 4: Visualize the large sample in multiple locations around your home, in different types of light

Is this a process that will be done in an afternoon? Probably not, but that’s OK! Hopefully, when you select the perfect color for your home, you won’t need to re-paint for many years, so take your time and get the color right the first time! I took large, stick-on samples of my potential paints, and I viewed them on every side of our house, and under the shaded deck to look for strange undertones.

I am so glad that I did, because the color that originally looked so incredible on the front of the house, looked absolutely LAVENDER in the shade! Was I sad? You bet! However, if I had chosen the paint that had the lavender undertone, it would have bothered me every day. Not to mention, re-painting would have been cost-prohibitive.

Tip 5: Choose the right color for the body of the house, then worry about trim & accent colors

The main color of the house is the most important color to choose, because it is the color that everyone will notice first. It has the most visual impact, so take your time and choose carefully. You should base your decision on the exact trim and accent colors based upon what you choose as the main paint for your house. After all, the undertones need to match, or the paint will look discordant.

Tip 6: Get samples of trim & accent paint, then look at all samples together for context

Context is extremely important in choosing paint colors! The biggest mistake people make is to choose their colors in a vacuum, choosing them one at a time, but not looking at the colors beside each other. Look at the colors in the location where they will be–for example, if you are painting your front door, stick the large paint sample on the front door and stick the main house color beside the door. Stand back and believe your eyes. If you don’t like what you see, know that the result will be magnified when the whole house is painted.

Tip 7: Finally, double-check your color samples against the exterior elements that you are NOT painting

Can you imagine how disappointed you would be if you chose a white paint for your window trim, but it clashed with the gutters beside the windows? Trust me–just like there are numerous options for grays, blacks, and beiges, there are also more white shades than you can shake a stick at. Who knew? You should also compare your selected paints with your porch or deck, garage door, front door, gutters, roof, and any other exterior details that will not be painted. The roof, in particular, is important to consider if you can see it from the road, because even the roof has an undertone.

After a month of painting, we are finished!

Yes, I know that a month sounds like a long time for an exterior paint job! (It was!) My painter was extremely meticulous and paid attention to every detail. We had the porch ceiling, body of the house, exterior columns, wrought iron railing, garage doors, trim detail, and soffits to paint–and we refinished and stained the front door. There were a few rainy days during that month, delaying some of the work. My painter was also working very short-staffed.

After all of that time, though, I am ecstatic about how wonderfully the house turned out! The paint transformed our house from frumpy and run-down, to modern and uplifted!

I can honestly say that, after having my house exterior painted, I genuinely love my house now!

For more information about choosing the “right” white paint…

Follow the link to my article, “Demystifying Paint: Which White is Right for You?” https://gatecitydesign.com?p=255 I explain the process for deciding on the right white paint. Although the article is geared toward interiors, you can use the same process for your home exterior as well! (since so many people have white trim, I thought it would be helpful!)