Exterior Colors As with interior painting, when exterior painting it is advisable to think in terms of groups of colors instead of single colors. However the task is often more complicated because houses tend to be built of a variety of materials that have different textures, such as hardwood siding combined with a natural stone base or a brick building with lumber trim. If you want to emphasize the difference in textures, paint each element a different color.
The Big Picture When picking colors, note that two colors that could work well collectively as a siding and trim blend, may clash with the roof color or various other elements like the deck or landscaping. So when picking colors, be sure you factor in things you can't, or won't change, such as the roof covering material, the nearby landscape and plantings, any masonry work, and the color of your neighborhood friends' houses.
Local Customs When choosing a residence color, consider the local customs in your area. It is increasingly common for cities and neighborhoods to insist on some control over house colors. For instance, in the resort community of Hilton Head, South Carolina, residents must choose external surfaces colors from a limited palette of muted shades and even the stop signs have color limitations, whereas in metropolis of Charleston, there is a well-known region of pastel-colored homes called "Rainbow Row" where striking colors are welcome. Some planned communities may also fine you or force you to repaint your home unless you use one of the accepted paint colors.
Testing Different Color Plans As with the interior color selection process, you can start choosing color position without actually painting anything. Copy or sketch an outline drawing of your home and then make several photocopies to try different schemes. Make use of a pencil or highlighter and color your home’s features and test out several high-lighting alternatives. Determine which features you want to emphasize and which ones you want to hide. The goal here is to make a well balanced whole where no aspect seems to dominate. By "pre-painting" this way you will not only avoid any disappointments you'll be motivated to try some distinctive plans before you pick up the paintbrush.
Some paint stores have computers that will "paint" your house for you directly on the screen. The better systems are outfitted to scan a high-quality picture of your home. Or you can offer a high image resolution digital image. Even if you are not able to get an exact reproduction of your house, these programs will give you a feeling of what sorts or combinations are pleasing and demonstrate ideas of how you might paint.
Given that you have selected the colors for your home it's time to decide which colors should be assigned to specific architectural elements. Usually the siding is painted in one color, but when there is attractive molding above the first floor, a second color siding can be quite interesting. Casings around windows and doors should all be the same color or the house will appear too over done. If there are decorative highlights in your trim and molding, several colors are fine if the style repeats on the whole house. Some Victorian homes can look well-balanced with six colors, so there is no firm rule.
One common fashion is to color the window sash and trim a color that is lighter than the body of the home. Shutters, if present, are usually painted darker than the house body. Obviously, fashions change. For instance, at the turn of the century, gloss black was the most popular choice for the home window sash. But you seldom see gloss dark paint today except on shutters.
Highlight ornate trim work, below left, with eye catching colors.
Here are Some Tips for other Architectural Highlights:
Entrance Create a striking effect with the addition of an highlight color to this important element of your house. For example, a white home with a door colored a bright color, such as red or green, draws attention to the entranceway making the access seem more inviting.
Frieze A historically appropriate treatment for the frieze is to use both the trim and body colors. Allow the trim color to be the prominent one to mark a clear differentiation from the top of the siding. Be careful not to introduce way too many colors; you can finish up with an effect that is way too busy.
Brackets Brackets need to be perceived as part of the overall composition and really should be painted in order to never appear they are "floating free" of the framework. Use the basic trim color. Stay away from too much color. Some painters put in a leading edge of scarlet to these features.
Sandwich Brackets Sandwich brackets are a little different. Because they contain several layers and are more technical than simple corner brackets, it is more satisfactory to work with several colors. Paint the exterior parts to complement the trim and frieze, and the center another color to show off your scroll work.
Verticle Posts/Beams When you have simple rectangular wooden posts on a porch, you almost certainly don't want to emphasize them with their own color. Paint them to match either the overall trim or body paint of your house. However, if your posts have special millwork, such as a chamfer on a square post or a band on a turned post, it is perfectly acceptable to focus on these decorations with a flourish.
Many people like to paint porch ceilings sky blue because they state the color mimics nature. White columns put in a nice contrasting touch.
Railings The rails are essentially extensions of the posts. Therefore, they're usually colored in the same color as the posts.
Verticle Railings Support Try painting the balusters a lighter color than the rails. In the event the posts and rails have been treated in the primary body color, try to use the trim colors to make sure they stand out. Even if you have elaborately worked balusters, don't use way too many colors to show your handiwork. Besides the amount of time that would be involved in highlighting each baluster, the effect will look busy.
Floors and Ceiling Porches are painted certain colors not only for decoration, but as concerns of practicality. Light colored ceilings help maintain a sense of airiness and brightness. Painting porch ceilings blue is a technique that has been used for years and years to suggest the sky over head. It is rumored to keep nesting bugs, such as wasps, from settling in. When the undersides of your porch ceiling rafters are exposed, you might color them by using a combination of the body and trim colors. A dark floor is even more useful because it shows mud and tracks less readily than a floor colored in a lighter color.
Step and Riser The risers of wooden steps are usually painted the trim color, as the treads carry a surface (porch or deck) to the bottom and should be painted in the same color. The handrail and balusters on the steps should be colored to match the porch rail and baluster color scheme.
Concrete Foundations Many houses have a ring of brick or concrete blocks below the siding. While it is fine to have this band the same color as the siding, a darker color makes the home seem solidly planted and can hide dirt. Basement windows are generally decorated the same dark color to de-emphasize them.
A bright accent color, below left draws focus on this door.
Pro tips: There are lots of online paint planning programs. Leading paint manufacturers such as Benjamin Moore (www.benjaminmoore.com), Valspar (www.valsparatlowes.com), Glidden (www.glidden.com), and Sherwin Williams (www.sherwin-williams.com) feature paint color planners online. Simply search "virtual paint color planner" on the Internet for a list.
A great way to check out how colors work together is to see them in fabrics. Fabrics are often created by people who study color and have worked with it for a long time. The microcosm of any couch and cushion combination in a popular catalog may hold the color plan that can make your home look spectacular
Prefab Color Plans Deciding on the precise colors in a multicolor plan is just a little tricky. It is the reason that almost all of the major paint companies have created "combo cards" to help you to pick body, trim, and highlight colors in a single step. These colors are also available in historical shades designed to match the most prevalent color schemes of certain periods. One nice feature of these cards would be that the trim and highlight color chips often overlap the body color, which helps demonstrate a more realistic relationship.
Sound Quality Painting
824 90th Dr SE suite B
Lake Stevens WA 98258
(425) 512-7400
https://sites.google.com/1upserve.com/painter-lake-stevens
