Spring is on its way, although the recent cold snap would seem to deny this fact. In any case, my thoughts keep drifting to the improvements we want to make on the exterior of our home. The outside of our house has so much potential, and I find it charming as-is. But it's also crying out a plea for a little bit of landscaping and character.The above photo is from the listing for our property from a couple of years ago. (Hence not our decor on the porch) and shows pretty much what the house looks like now.
The question is...what color do we want to paint the shutters and door?
The current plan is to do a brown front door with green shutters and door frame.
I'm curious to know what the house would look like if we added shutters to pretty much every window. So of course I had to Photoshop that too. IF we ever did this many shutters on the house, it'd be a far way off. But it's easier to play with accent colors this way.
But green isn't the only color I'm pondering. How about....Blue?
Burgundy?
Purple?
I want to try to dance on that line between creating a house that really stands out from the neighborhood in a way that says "ooh neat" and not "eeeh yikes." Favorites? Thoughts?
Well, I'm colorblind, so I can't help you visually, but I can ask you some questions.
ReplyDeleteWhat color is your roof?
What age is your roof / will it need replacing soon? (if your roof is newish, then consider the roof color when deciding about other trim colors; do you want to contrast with it? Blend with it? If it's old or needs replacing soon, then it's a fresh canvas too, and you'll want to consider what color roof you'll want to go with whatever you do to the rest of the trim, maybe wait till the roof is being discussed to decide on all of it together).
What are the other colors of the neighborhood? Bold, Mild, in-between? Go a little off the beaten track, but try not to clash. Like if the house next door is red, maybe burgundy isn't the right choice for you. If there are other colors of blue or purple nearby, go with a blue or purple that is different, but still goes nicely. Green is nearly always a nice choice, but is fairly common, especially on a roof [ours is dark green and we really like it - all the others around us are gray or blue (according to DH)]. The rest of our house is black and white, so the splash of color up top is nice. :)
I wouldn't go with straight purple unless there are other bold or bright colors in the area. But if there are, then it would probably be *lovely*! Especially if it's a bright, flowery purple! Or royal? Anyway, in our old neighborhood where the houses were older and pretty "normal" colors, an artist decided to paint her house red and purple (two colors I was always told clashed with each other!). The shades (which is all I see) looked rather nice, but I was told by many that the colors looked rather hideous together, and beside the other houses it was kind of obnoxious.
I hope I helped and didn't just make things worse. XD
Acrophile makes some good points. The green works nicely of course. The blue? Not so much for me (but that's just me, and maybe seeing it in person would look different/better than a photoshopped picture). I love the burgundy. The purple could work, but as already stated, it would have to be the *right* shade of purple. I'm sure whatever color you pick, you'll make it work. You're good like that. :)
ReplyDeleteI think Burgundy is the front runner for me aside from green.
ReplyDeleteAnd thank you, Acrophile, you do definitely bring up some excellent points. The roof probably has about 5-10 years more in it, but we were indeed contemplating getting a dark green roof whenever we get it re-done. But that was when we were pretty set on green trim. Now, I'm not sure!
The other houses on my side of the street leading up to ours are all also white, and mostly just have black accents. So any deterrent from that would be rather different.
I had to smile at the title of this post, as we call my kitten Scout 'Skittles' sometimes, and then we whisper, 'Taste the rainbow...'
ReplyDeleteMy fav is dark green (maybe with an eggplant or wine-colored front door) and I also like the burgundy and the purple... perhaps a purplish burgundy? :)