I'm having difficulty identifying which color combo will look the best on our house. I've done a lot of pinning, but the colors that I am going for are closest to a retro camper than a modern house. Here's an inspiration image:
The roof is staying Polar White, so I want a cool-toned paint for the exterior walls (NOT grey!). Also, while I love the idea of a yellow house, there are already 3-4 on our block, whereas there are no green houses. Go figure.
Here's three different permutations of a fresh, but vintage exterior. Each house starts with trim in white (Alabaster) and walls in green (Burma Jade - All colors by Sherwin-Williams since it's their app):
Choice A leans into the golden yellows, with a pop of light yellow on the front door and the porch swing. The darker yellow on the concrete floor of the porch contrasts with the cool jade walls. Our orange-flowered bushes would like this warm-cool combo.
Choice C is bright and simplified, with one less color. I switched the door color to white, just to make it fit in better with the window colors (there is a screen door that could go from black to white, and I could keep the yellow on the wooden door behind it). I brought that light yellow to the porch floor to better define that area.This is probably the freshest of the three, but I'm worried about the glare from that bright yellow porch.
Why is our house brown? Short answer - it was a super-cool color in 2009. I was reading a lot of Apartment Therapy, and all the cool kids were using light blue and chocolate brown. Remember "Put a Bird on It?"
Longer answer - Originally (in 2009), our house was white with red trim, which is still a popular pairing in our neighborhood. I found it so boring...
The white paint made the whole house look like a white box. You just couldn't see any details around the windows and the doors. It looked dusty and sad.
Back then, we had two enormous Aleppo Pine trees that made our house very shady. I took a risk by going from the lightest color to almost the darkest. My next door neighbor said it looked like my house was black and white!
However, with the dead pine trees removed and the yard opened up, the dark walls now absorb too much heat and light. Our house is soooooo dark and hot on the South and West sides.
My next move, after painting the exterior, is to continue developing an alternative pathway to the front door (the current one is very narrow and is too close to some trees) across that vast expanse of desert in the front yard. I'd like to put a porch rail across half of the front porch to add some charm and detail. Maybe a tiny yellow-striped awning for that exposed window? It definitely needs more shade.
The roof is staying Polar White, so I want a cool-toned paint for the exterior walls (NOT grey!). Also, while I love the idea of a yellow house, there are already 3-4 on our block, whereas there are no green houses. Go figure.
Here's three different permutations of a fresh, but vintage exterior. Each house starts with trim in white (Alabaster) and walls in green (Burma Jade - All colors by Sherwin-Williams since it's their app):
Choice A leans into the golden yellows, with a pop of light yellow on the front door and the porch swing. The darker yellow on the concrete floor of the porch contrasts with the cool jade walls. Our orange-flowered bushes would like this warm-cool combo.
Choice B has the highest contrast between shades of color and the darkness and lightness of the hues themselves (I think I used all of those words correctly!). The dark red of the porch floor was a match to the original stain on the stoop. This might be the closest to what our house looked like in 1952.
Choice C is bright and simplified, with one less color. I switched the door color to white, just to make it fit in better with the window colors (there is a screen door that could go from black to white, and I could keep the yellow on the wooden door behind it). I brought that light yellow to the porch floor to better define that area.This is probably the freshest of the three, but I'm worried about the glare from that bright yellow porch.
Why is our house brown? Short answer - it was a super-cool color in 2009. I was reading a lot of Apartment Therapy, and all the cool kids were using light blue and chocolate brown. Remember "Put a Bird on It?"
Longer answer - Originally (in 2009), our house was white with red trim, which is still a popular pairing in our neighborhood. I found it so boring...
The white paint made the whole house look like a white box. You just couldn't see any details around the windows and the doors. It looked dusty and sad.
Back then, we had two enormous Aleppo Pine trees that made our house very shady. I took a risk by going from the lightest color to almost the darkest. My next door neighbor said it looked like my house was black and white!
However, with the dead pine trees removed and the yard opened up, the dark walls now absorb too much heat and light. Our house is soooooo dark and hot on the South and West sides.
My next move, after painting the exterior, is to continue developing an alternative pathway to the front door (the current one is very narrow and is too close to some trees) across that vast expanse of desert in the front yard. I'd like to put a porch rail across half of the front porch to add some charm and detail. Maybe a tiny yellow-striped awning for that exposed window? It definitely needs more shade.
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