How to Choose Paint Colors for Your Entire House

STEP 1: CHOOSE YOUR SHADE FIRST The first thing you will want to do when deciding what color you want to paint the exterior of your home is to choose the shade of a color first. When I say 'shade', I mean do you want a light, mid-tone or dark color on the body of your home? At this point, you don't have to consider anything else except to make a decision if you want a light or white color, a mid-tone or medium shade, or do you want a dark color. For most of you, choosing a shade is an instant easy decision and you immediately know that you want a light or dark colored home. However, some of you may not be sure and are open to any shade and need a little help making that decision. It will help if you search Pinterest for exterior homes for inspiration to determine what shade would look best for your home. For example, if you have a ranch style home, search 'ranch style home exteriors' in Pinterest search to see all the different color options to inspire you. STEP 2: CONSIDER YOUR ROOF COLOR Before you can go much further in your color decision-making, you will need to consider the color of your roof. If you have a black or neutral gray, you don't have to worry as much about color clashing. Unfortunately, I have a dark brown roof with slight red undertones, so colors like shades of green or blues wouldn't work for me and would clash. For those of you that have a roof with red, tan, green or blue gray undertones in your shingles, you will for sure need to factor in your roof color as you choose your exterior paint color palette. If you have a dark brown roof with shingles that have a red undertone, you will want to stick with a true neutral main body color for your home to play it safe. If you have shingles with green or blue gray undertones, you have a little more leeway and you will prevent color clashing if you choose a color that's either neutral or has a slight hint of your shingle color in it to blend and compliment and not fight. If you have a black roof, you can pretty much do anything. If you have stone or brick on your home, you will need to also factor in any strong undertones found in your brick or stone. If your home is full brick and you just need to choose a trim color, I will match either the lightest, mid-tone or darkest color found in the stone/brick and use that as a trim color. If your home is not full brick/stone and is either half stone/brick or you simply have brick/stone accents, you have a lot more wiggle room with color choices for the exterior body color of your home. As long as your body color has a very slight hint of the brick/stone undertone color, you shouldn't have any clashing issues. For example, if your brick has a warm undertone and you want to go gray on your home body color, choose a light warm gray instead of a cool gray. That way, the warmth in the gray is what will tie/blend the new body color to the brick. STEP 3: FACTOR IN LIGHT Next, after you have considered your roof color and decided on the shade, you will need to factor in the impact light has on exterior paint colors, which is unlike choosing colors for interiors. I'm going to save you a lot of time by telling you that daylight/sunlight will drastically turn your exterior color cool/blue, which is what happens to a paint color when there is an abundance of light. As crazy as this may sound, you will need to go at least 2-3 times warmer on your exterior color to get to a balanced color that won't lean cool or blue. Let me show you what I mean. When it came time to paint the exterior of our pool house outdoor kitchen, I had to choose a color that was actually about 3 times warmer than what I wanted in my desired end color. I wanted an end color that looked like Sherwin Williams 'On the Rocks' but because of the abundance of light that impacts exterior paint colors, I had to choose a color that was 3 times warmer to offset the color from going blue or cool. STEP 4: FINDING EXTERIOR COLOR INSPIRATION As you narrow your shade down, factor in roof color and know that you'll need to go warmer because of the abundance of exterior light, next you will need to decide on an actual color for the exterior body of your home. It helps to look for similar home styles to get a feel for the possibilities. I have a Pinterest board here that is all exterior paint colors on homes that can really help you to visualize a color.