Exterior Trim--bold, middle ground or neutral??
The weather is finally warming and our painters are hoping to paint within the next two weeks. I've had some color help from SW online and local paint store staff to determine our color scheme. We are painting body of house BM Iron Mountain and roofline will be BM Onyx. Cedar shake shingles above front door, porch in back and deck will be stained a light-medium brown shade (TBD) to reduce orange tone currently.
My dilema is with the back of the house (poll photos). The back windows and sliders are dramatic and I am trying to decide if I want these highlighted with the Onyx, and how much, or just use body color of Iron Mountain everywhere. I have also gone back and forth with painting window trim and downspouts Onyx or body color (Iron Mountain). Front of house windows are smaller and I wonder if trim in Onyx on front of house looks too busy?? I welcome any and all suggestions while I narrow this down.
Comments (15)
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Comments (157)Wow! It looks so gorgeous. The dark door is just the right blue. It’s such an elegant home and I’m glad you used classic colors. All your holiday decorations will stand out too. These are adorable. Happy ending!...See Morepaint faux brick exterior?
Comments (204)CC There should be covers for the base of posts. (newel post). the covers hide the screws/fsteners at the base. Maybe call the supplier of the railing or the hardware store, big box store. I will try and find a photo for you. Thompson's will last for a year and is easy to apply will roller. The benefit is it doesn't build up and a quick sand with a drywall pole sander will have it ready to seal. I wouldn't seal the parts that haven't greyed down. It will peel if it is not ready. it appears that whoever built the railing forgot to finish it. They snap on and finish the job. do you know where he purchased railing supplies. below is an example https://www.homedepot.ca/product/railblazers-aluminum-railing-post-base-cover-in-black/1001006802 https://www.homehardware.ca/en/search?query=aluminum+post+base+cover...See MoreSeeking Exterior Color Suggestions
Comments (32)If it were me, I'd use the same color for the house and the garage so they look like they belong together and visual attention is not drawn away from the house Example: A log house in our neighborhood had a garage of another material and was painted a different color. They never seemed to belong together UNTIL the garage was painted to match the colors of the logs and trim. Now they seem to belong together. If you like the red, add it is a pop on the front door. so the eye is drawn to the house rather than to the garage. You could also incorporate splashes of red in plants and yard art, concentrating on the front door area.. Trees will be fine. Once they grow, trim the lower branches and the house will be visible through the trunks. (Make sure to choose wisely. You don't want understory trees that will hide the house when mature; and plant them far enough from the house so roots don't disturb the foundation and branches don't hang over the roof... (20-30 ft depending on the type of tree and the natural mature size of it's canopy). You could also plant them so a visual line of sight remains to the front door, maybe with a nice decorative walkway to pull the eye to the front door... so the tree trunks will come to frame the picture rather than covering it up....See MoreI have no taste! Need help to improve house's exterior appearance!
Comments (17)Thanks so much for all the comments! They have been great at helping me think of options I had not considered at all. You all are great to share your thoughts and ideas! I've been trying to get more pictures in better light, which has been challenging. I am also posting a few pics of the side and back of the house. There are shadows in the pics, but they seem unavoidable. The brick is interesting - depending on the light, it can look quite different Sometimes it takes on a pinkish hue, while other times it is more terra cotta and other times more brownish in color. And the brick is darker closer to the ground and lighter higher up. Based on your great ideas, I am now leaning towards a conservative approach and considering changing the paint colors only for now and see how that works (and still replace the roof, which is a necessity). I realize that if painting and making other changes doesn't turn out the way I would like, I can always go back and reconsider more major approaches like painting the brick and/or enlarging windows. I had been riding around town, looking for houses with painted brick, trying to get ideas. I'm including here a picture of a house I saw and liked. While it is a far different (and more attractive!) style than mine, I noticed that its' color isn't too different from our brick. That has lead me to consider the possibility of painting the area between the windows to be almond, matching the windows, and also to use the almond color in all areas that are currently painted the color that was trying to match the brick. And then use black for the trim where I currently have teal If I were to just change paint colors (and not paint brick or change windows), I am thinking of something like the picture below. I would really like to have more of the accent color on the front of the house. I originally felt I couldn't have shutters because of the window placement, but now I am wondering if it is a possibility after all. I would love to hear your thoughts on possibly adding some shutters after all. Sorry that the colors aren't great, but I was trying to best be able to try on some various Sherwin William colors. I'm including one more picture - this one before we took down the foundation shrubs a few days ago. We anticipate having a new substantial foundation planting, just not as straight across as this was and not as overgrown. We will have a variety of different plant types and different plant heights also. I realize that the plants will make a big difference. We do plan to remove the vines currently growing on trellises on the house, once we get the new planting done. Left them up just for now. I really appreciate the suggestion to move the planters down (getting rid of all our big shrubs makes things look very different!) And I like the idea of adding a flower box on the areas to the side of the entrance, but they would only look good here for about half the year, I'm afraid. That did get me thinking about the possibility of having a rectangular accent piece of scrollwork in those areas instead. I would appreciate any thoughts you have about these possible paint colors (without painting the brick, at least for now) as well as possibly adding shutters. Also possibly adding scrollwork pieces on the two sides of the entrance. Again, thanks so much for all of your great input! It is so much help to me!...See MoreStephanie
11 days ago
Current image of back--was looking for a more modern style addressing the white "cross" and brown paint. If home was a log cabin, which is common to the area, brown would be fine. Was advised to avoid white/light colors due to the maintenance being in a heavily wooded area (spider webs/debris etc.).
Stephanie
11 days agoStephanie
11 days agoStephanie
11 days agolast modified: 11 days agoThese are a few inspiration photos for style/look that might work with our house...
Stephanie
11 days agoStephanie
11 days ago
This is the current version of front of house. Also very busy/choppy. Thinking we need to paint/stain the cedar shakes above garage doors the same color as the body to blend this area and disguise fact that previous owners did not trim bottom of the windows over garage... Cedar shakes to be stained a little warmer brown tone but waiting on sample colors from painter to see how it will take. Like the variation of cedar wood with grey and black paint but I don't think all areas where they have cedar shake need to be wood tone. Maybe just over front door and possibly right window.??? Windows on front of house are fairly small and I think if we trim these in the Onyx black it further accentuates that choppy vibe--
PROBeth H. :
11 days agowhy not just match the back,
the same way as the front?
Do the roofline w/the onyx, every thing else in the iron mountain. (check out Wrought Iron as well)
This one is actually Iron Ore, another nice choice
similar to yours. notice the trim around the windows and the garage doors
https://www.brickandbatten.com/review-iron-mountain-benjamin-moore/
Stephanie thanked Beth H. :Stephanie
11 days agoStephanie
7 days ago
Beth H. :