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| Ultimately your color selection should be an expression of your tastes and individuality. Choosing colors for your exterior accents can be challenging and quite a commitment even for the experienced decorator. Here you'll find some tips and suggestions to make the process a little smoother. |
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| Why Be So Particular About Color? Your home's exterior is the first thing any visitors or passer-byes will see and of course you have to live with it. Color can make or break your exterior design. To get the best |
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| Consider Your Homes Architecture Think of your home's exterior as your outdoors room and use color the way you would inside. Color can create balance among your architectural elements or highlight architectural accents. Typically there are architectural characteristics that are specific to different regions. Take this as a cue as to which colors would be appropriate for your home. Although some untypical styles can pop up in any region colors related to a specific architectural style look best. In southern regions such as Florida the homes are varying shades and hues of cream, pink, taupe and gray. Take note of your home's roof if you are in this region. Some homes have siding and trim that match the roof color. Red tile roofs are very dramatic and work best with similarly colored accents or natural tones. Try our White, Wicker, Cream or Clay exterior window and door treatments. You are probably very familiar with the Cape Cod style house, especially if you live along the eastern coast. You will find that most of these homes have neutral colors such as beige, gray or taupe for the siding and darker jewel toned colors for shutters. You'll find our Classic Blue, Bordeaux, Forest Brown, Midnight Green and Black colors great accents for your Cape Cod home. The mid-west is a great place to find many styles of architecture and lots of color. Most of the homes use colors similar to the Cape Cod style but sometime they have very dark siding or brick exteriors. A common way to use color is to choose accent colors that are a shade or two lighter or darker that the siding color. Treat you taupe siding with our Clay accents or blue siding with our Classic Blue accents to achieve this look. |
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| How be an Exterior Designer or at Least Act Like One Here are some easy tips and examples on pulling your exterior accents together with color: * Match the color of your siding for a blended look or compliment it with darker colors like Midnight Blue. * Use the color of you window trim direct your selection. Sunbursts or Window Headers in the color of your window trim unifies the two. Adding Shutters in contrasting colors creates more interest. * What color are your doors? Try matching your Shutter color to you doors. The result is a sense of balance and great curb appeal. * Take a look at the homes in your community. If you see something you like adapt it to your home and style. * Stick to the original style and of your home. This will help the harmonize the color with the architecture.
Inspired? Have fun with your exterior designing. Check out the Exterior Design Center and the rest of the "Learn About" sections on our site for more ideas. |
results of your color selection make sure you have samples that you can take outside in the natural light to compare with your other exterior surfaces. Color can even make your home look smaller when using dark shades or larger with lighter shades. Most importantly color can even add to the value of your home by improving it's curb appeal.