Exterior Colors Much like interior painting, when exterior painting it is best to think in terms of groups of colors rather than solitary colors. But the job is often more complicated because houses tend to be built of a variety of materials that have different textures, such as wood siding combined with a stone foundation or a brick building with solid wood trim. If you wish to emphasize the difference in textures, paint each element some other color.
Seeing the Whole Picture When picking colors, remember that two colors that could work well together as a siding and trim blend, may clash with the roofing color or some other elements like the deck or landscaping design. So when picking colors, be sure you consider things you can't, or won't change, such as the roof material, the nearby ground coverings and plantings, any masonry work, and the color of your friends and neighbors' houses.
Local Restrictions When choosing a house color, consider the local customs in your area. It is significantly common for cities and communities to insist upon some control over house colors. For instance, in the holiday resort community of Hilton Head, SC, residents must choose outside colors from a restricted palette of muted tones and even the stop signs have color constraints, whereas in the city of Charleston, there is a well-known area of pastel-colored houses called "Rainbow Row" where vivid colors are welcome. Some designed communities can even 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 begin choosing color position without actually painting anything. Copy or sketch a line drawing of your house and then make several photocopies to try different plans. Utilize a pencil or highlighter and color different features and test out several high-lighting alternatives. Decide which features you want to emphasize and which ones you would like to hide. The goal here is to make a well balanced whole where no component appears to dominate. By "pre-painting" this way you won't only avoid any disappointments you will be encouraged to try some distinctive strategies before you pick up the paintbrush.
Some paint stores have computers that will "paint" your home for you directly on the screen. The better systems are outfitted to scan a high-quality image of your house. Or you can offer a high quality digital image. Even though you are not able to get a precise reproduction of your house, these programs will provide you with a sense of what kinds or combinations are pleasing and demonstrate some ideas of how you might paint.
Now that you have selected the colors for your home it is time to decide which colors should be assigned to specific architectural elements. Usually the siding is painted in one color, but when there is decorative 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 home will appear too busy. If there are attractive highlights in your trimming and molding, several colors are fine if the style repeats on the whole house. Some Victorian homes can look healthy with six colors, so there is absolutely no firm rule.
One common fashion is to paint the window sash and trim a color that is lighter than the body of the structure. Shutters, if present, are usually painted darker than the house body. Needless to say, fashions change. For instance, at the turn of the century, gloss black was the most popular choice for the home window sash. Nevertheless, you almost never see gloss dark-colored paint today except on shutters.
Highlight ornate trim work, below left, with eye catching colors.
Following are Few Tips for other Architectural Highlights:
Entranceway Create a stunning effect with the addition of an highlight color to this important element of your home. For instance, a white house with a door painted a bright color, such as red or green, pulls attention to the entranceway making the entrance seem more inviting.
Frieze A historically appropriate treatment for the frieze is by using both the trim and body colors. Allow the trim color to be the dominant one to make a clear difference from the top of the siding. Be careful not to introduce too many colors; you may wrap up with an effect that is too busy.
Brackets Brackets have to be regarded as part of the overall composition and should be painted so as to never appear that they are "floating free" of the structure. Use the basic trim color. Avoid using too much color. Some painters add a leading edge of scarlet to these features.
Sandwich Brackets Sandwich brackets are a little different. Because they consist of more than one layer and are more complex than simple corner mounting brackets, it is more appropriate to work with several colors. Paint the exterior items to match the trim and frieze, and the center another color to show off your scroll work.
Verticle Beams/Posts If you have simple rectangular wooden posts on the porch, you probably don't want to emphasize them with their own color. Color them to complement 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 highlight 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 painted in the same color as the posts.
Verticle Railings Support Try painting the balusters a lighter color than the rails. If the posts and rails have been colored in the main body color, try to use the trim colors to make them stand out. Even though you have elaborately worked balusters, don't use too many colors to demonstrate your handiwork. Besides the amount of time that would be involved in highlighting each baluster, the effect will look busy.
Ceiling and Floors Porches are painted certain colors not only for adornment, but as concerns of practicality. Light colored ceilings help maintain a sense of airiness and brightness. Painting porch ceilings blue is a method that has been used for years and years to suggest the sky overhead. It is rumored to keep nesting bugs, such as wasps, from settling in. When the undersides of your porch ceiling rafters are open, you might paint them by utilizing a combination of the body and trim colors. A dark floor is even more functional since it shows dirt and grime and tracks less readily when compared to a floor painted in a lighter color.
Steps and Risers The risers of wooden steps are usually painted the trim color, while the treads carry a surface (porch or deck) to the bottom and really should be painted in the same color. The handrail and balusters on the steps should be decorated to match the porch rail and baluster color plan.
Masonry Foundations Many properties have a ring of brick or concrete block 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 will hide dirt and grime. Basement windows are generally painted the same dark color to de-emphasize them.
A bright accent color, below left draws attention to this door.
Expert’s 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 tend to be designed by people who research color and have worked with it for a long period. The microcosm of any couch and cushion combination in a favorite catalog may hold the color design that can make your home look spectacular
Pre-made Color Strategies Deciding on the precise colors in a multicolor plan is a little tricky. It's 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 historic shades designed to match the most common color schemes of certain periods. One nice feature of the cards would be that the trim and highlight color chips often overlap the body color, which helps demonstrate a far 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
