So, you’ve decided to repaint your home. While the task itself is a pretty large undertaking, one that takes time, money, and professional expertise, choosing the right paint color is just as big a task.
The exterior paint color you choose sets the tone of your home — and it also has a direct impact on its resale value. Much like choosing the right color car, you want to ensure it encourages buyers, rather than scares them away when comes time to sell!
For pro tips on how to choose an exterior paint color for your home, this blog is your go-to.
How to Choose an Exterior Paint Color: Look at Design Details
Repainting your home isn’t a complete renovation task, but it is one that requires attention-to-detail. You need to look at what you’re working with and examine it well.
Paint color has a way of doing justice to your home’s best features, or it can do a disservice. By choosing the right paint colors, you can really highlight your home in the right way. Look at your home’s standout features, including window frames, tiling, stonework, roof shingles, latticework, and other roof details.
Consider the undertones of these key features and the color palette that will match. You want to choose paint colors that blend and harmonize with these features in order to complement them. For example, if your roof shingles have a blue tinge, you might want to complement this color with grey/off-white tones.
Conduct a Miniature Paint Test
If you’re on-the-fence about a certain color, the best way to make a final decision is with a miniature paint test. Any local painting contractor, such as Surfco Restoration & Construction LLC, would be willing to build a basic plywood wall for you and conduct a paint test.
Make sure to position the painted plywood wall towards the street at your home’s front entrance, or where it’s noticeable from the curb. Observe the color during the day, afternoon, early evening, and in sunny and cloudy weather. This is the best way to get a feel for the color and how it complements the rest of your home.
Think About Your Home’s Curb Appeal
Okay, so you shouldn’t choose your home’s exterior paint color based on your neighbor’s color choices, but bear in mind that this counts as the surroundings of your home. Your local area and environment can make a big impact on the color combinations you choose — and it’s also a great place to draw inspiration from.
Take a look at the rest of your neighborhood too and look for color trends. Ultimately, you want your home to fit in in order to ensure a good chance of resale.
Carefully Consider Your Paint Finish
The finish you choose has a huge impact on what a color really looks like once it’s been painted onto your home. Paint finish can make or break your entire aesthetic, so you want to choose wisely. There’s nothing more off-putting than a great color combination, but the wrong paint finish.
There are five types of finishes to think about: matte, eggshell, semi-gloss, high-gloss, and satin. Keep this rule-of-thumb in mind: the higher the paint sheen, the longer it will last.
Honor Your Home’s Character
Sure, you want your home to look like it belongs on your neighborhood block, but you don’t want it to blend in so much that it completely loses its own charm. If your home has a unique character, you want to honor it with your paint color choice.
If you’re not sure how to do that, it’s best to get some advice from professional paint contractors with experience in honoring homes for their uniqueness.
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Remember, you want to choose a paint color combination that does your home justice — not one that screams ”ostentatious”, ”tacky” or ”don’t buy me!”.
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