Exterior Colors Much like interior painting, when exterior painting it is advisable to think in terms of groups of colors instead of solitary colors. However the process is often more complicated because houses are often built of a number of materials that all have different textures, such as wood siding combined with a stone foundation or a brick building with solid wood trim. If you want to emphasize the difference in textures, paint each element another color.
The Big Picture When picking colors, remember that two colors that may work well collectively as a siding and trim combination, may clash with the roofing color or various other elements such as 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 material, the close by landscaping and plantings, any masonry work, and the color of your friends and neighbors' houses.
Local Restrictions When choosing a residence color, consider the neighborhood customs in your area. It is ever more common for cities and communities to insist upon some control over house colors. For example, in the vacation resort community of Hilton Head, SC, residents must choose outside colors from a limited palette of muted colors and even the stop signs have color constraints, whereas in the location of Charleston, there is a well-known district of pastel-colored homes called "Rainbow Row" where strong colors are welcome. Some designed communities can even fine you or force you to repaint your home if you don't use one of the accepted paint colors.
Testing Different Color Plans As with the inside color selection process, you can begin choosing color placement without actually painting anything. Copy or sketch a line drawing of your residence and then make several photocopies to try different schemes. Employ a pencil or highlighter and color your home’s features and test out several high-lighting choices. Determine which features you want to emphasize and those you want to hide. The target here is to make a well balanced whole where no factor seems to dominate. By "pre-painting" this way you will not only avoid any disappointments you'll be motivated to try some distinctive strategies before you pick up the paintbrush.
Some paint stores have computers that will "paint" your house for you right on the computer screen. The better systems are outfitted to scan a high-quality picture of your house. Or you can offer a high resolution digital image. Even though you are not able to get an exact reproduction of your property, these programs will give you a sense of what sorts or combinations are pleasing and demonstrate some ideas of how you may 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. Generally the siding is painted in one color, but when there is ornamental molding above the first floor, another color siding can be very interesting. Casings around doors and windows should all be the same color or the house will seem to be too over done. If there are attractive highlights in your trim and molding, two or more 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 paint the window sash and trim a color that is lighter than the body of the house. Shutters, if present, are usually coated darker than the home body. Certainly, fashions change. For instance, at the turn of the century, gloss black was the most popular choice for the window sash. But you seldom see gloss black paint today except on shutters.
Highlight ornate trimming, below left, with eye catching colors.
Following are Few Tricks for other Architectural Highlights:
Entry Way Create a stunning effect by adding 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, pulls attention to the entranceway making the entry seem more appealing.
Frieze A historically appropriate treatment for the frieze is by using both the trim and body colors. Allow the trim color to be the dominating one to mark a clear differentiation from the top of the siding. Take care not to introduce too many colors; you could finish up with an effect that is too busy.
Corner Brackets Brackets need to be regarded as a component of the overall framework and should be painted so as to not appear they are "floating free" of the structure. Use the principle trim color. Avoid using too much color. Some painters put in a leading edge of scarlet to these features.
Brackets (Sandwich) Sandwich brackets are a little different. Because they consist of several layers and are more complex than simple corner brackets, it is more suitable to make use of several colors. Paint the exterior portions to match the trim and frieze, and the center another color showing off your scroll work.
Posts When you have simple rectangular wooden posts on a porch, you almost certainly don't want to emphasize them with their own color. Color them to match either the overall trim or body coloring of your home. However, if your posts have special millwork, such as a chamfer on a square post or a band on a turned post, it is quite acceptable to point out these designs with a flourish.
Many people like to paint porch ceilings sky blue because they state the color mimics nature. White columns add a nice contrasting touch.
Railings The rails are essentially extensions of the posts. Therefore, they are usually decorated 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 way too many colors to show your handiwork. Besides the timeframe that would be involved in detailing each baluster, the result will look busy.
Floor and Ceilings Porches are painted certain colors not only for beautification, but as concerns of practicality. Light colored ceilings help maintain a feeling 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 bees, from settling in. When the undersides of your porch ceiling rafters are uncovered, you might paint them by using a combination of the body and trim colors. A dark floor is even more useful because it shows dirt and grime and tracks less readily than a floor painted in a lighter color.
Risers and Steps The risers of wooden steps are usually painted the trim color, while 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 decorated to complement the porch rail and baluster color design.
Cement Foundations Many homes have a band of brick or concrete blocks below the siding. Although it is fine to paint this band the same color as the siding, a darker color makes the house seem solidly planted and can hide dirt and grime. Basement windows are usually decorated the same dark color to de-emphasize them.
A bright accent color, below left draws focus on this door.
Pro tips: There are many 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 look at how colors work together is to see them in fabrics. Fabrics are often designed by people who research color and also have worked with it for a long time. The microcosm of any couch and cushion combination in a favorite catalog may hold the color plan that can make your home look spectacular
Prefab Color Layouts Deciding on the precise colors in a multicolor design is 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 historic shades designed to match the most prevalent 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
