Whether you’re choosing the first paint color for your newly built home or refreshing the exterior paint on your existing or new-to-you residence, choosing a paint color is an important decision. Not only is it costly to paint an entire house, but it’s not an easy fix if you don’t like the outcome. So what considerations are important when choosing your paint color, and what do those decisions convey about you?

 

Color Theory

Color has three dimensions: hue, saturation, and value. Hue is the dimension most commonly associated with color, and refers to primary (red, yellow, and blue) and secondary (orange, green, and purple) colors. Saturation is the intensity of a color. Value is the lightness or darkness of a color. And because color is both light and energy, it is in motion and can be affected by its surroundings. Dark colors, for instance, recede, while light colors come forward. This is why ladies who worry about their weight gravitate to a darker colored wardrobe. Likewise, dark colors can make a house seem smaller, as opposed to light colors, which can make a house appear larger. Additionally, darker colors can create a heavy effect, while lighter colors can give off a lighter feel. The importance of color theory is that if you dig deeper into how a color, or multiple colors, can play off of surfaces, as well as emotions, then choosing the right color for your home becomes very intentional.      

 

Architecture and Color

Another consideration when it comes to selecting paint is your home’s architecture. It has been proven that certain colors actually complement particular angles, styles, and surfaces. For example, wood can be used to warm up the look of a façade, and wood typically looks best when paired with medium to dark colors. Dark green shades, however, are one of the least popular colors for exterior residential paint, yet these shades look great on craftsman style architecture, particularly if a lighter tan or yellow hue is used for the trim. Victorian architecture is often painted white with contrasting dark trim, and while there are no requirements to use this combination, it always looks classic and elegant. Contemporary homes with sharp angles often look best in monochromatic colors from the same family of hues—think dark gray or glossy black trim against a steel gray backdrop. In other words, paint color can absolutely enhance a home’s design.

 

There Goes the Neighborhood

If you live in a neighborhood governed by a homeowners’ association, you may be restricted in your color choices, but that doesn’t mean you have no choice at all. If you want your house to stand out in a sea of medium blue homes, for example, then choose a very light or very dark shade that still fits into the neighborhood, yet stands apart from the other homes. Homeowners with no restrictions should still be cognizant of the neighborhood and how a chosen color scheme will fit with the surroundings. It’s okay to be unique as long as the look you are going for is tasteful. Choosing wild colors for the sake of being different can prove detrimental in the long term, particularly if you want to increase the value of your home or sell it at some future point in time.

 

 

Colors That Help Sell Your Home

It is a fact that certain colors do positively impact a home’s resale value. Just as homeowners are advised not to infuse their personal style into the interior of a home that they are trying to sell, the same advice holds true when choosing an exterior paint color. Neutral colors are the safest when trying to sell your home, with “greige,” a combination of gray and beige, being the top exterior paint choice when looking for top dollar on your home sale.

 

Conclusion

Choosing an exterior paint color really comes down to either following conventional wisdom or throwing caution to the wind, which ultimately reflects the personality of the paint selector. If one is willing to keep in mind a home’s architecture, the surrounding neighborhood, a little color theory, and perhaps even the climate, then finding a color scheme will be both interesting and rewarding.

 

As the premier designer and manufacturer of high-quality adjustable louvered structures, StruXure Outdoor offers five standard color options for its products: white, beige, adobe, gray, and bronze. These colors were engineered to enhance almost any architecture. However, with the powder coating technology used, there are thousands of additional custom colors available upon request, even woodgrain options. For more information about our louvered products, please contact us at www.struxure.com.