Choosing Exterior Paint Colors

One of the things I tried to avoid throughout this renovation was making decisions at the last minute. When we renovated our first house 13 years ago, I was so unprepared for finishing decisions that I would have to rush out and buy stuff the moment the carpenter told me he needed it. For example, when he informed me it was time to install bathroom tile, I buckled my baby into her car seat and raced off to the tile store. When he needed the bath tub, I frantically dialed Husband's cell phone and told him to get one on his way home from the airport. We picked out the kitchen cabinets from a lineup at Home Depot and decided on exterior paint colors after half an hour in a paint store. It turned out well enough---it was a 100-year old Victorian two-flat that we rescued from decades of neglect, and for the five years that we lived there, we loved it completely.

This time around, as many of you know, I took the opposite approach: I researched and priced out every centimeter of The Fixer Upper House ... Until now!

The painters are here to do the exterior work. All along I've been planning on a "sand" color for the window trim, but I haven't figured out which of the hundreds of "sand" colors I should go with. I want the shutters to be dark green--but which dark green? I have given not a moment's thought to the beadboard, fasciaboard and all of that stuff. And I totally have disregarded the centerpiece of the house: The Front Door.

So this morning I called Dee, the Benjamin Moore consultant at the store where my painter buys his paint. This is what she suggests:

• all trim to be dove white (this includes the window trim, beadboard, fascia, crown molding and the sidelights and transom around the front door.)
• shutters: chrome green
• front door: cottage red

This veers from my original plan, which is hard to let go of after a year of envisioning sand-colored window trim. Miguel and I have been talking about that since we began the job. But the painter tested it out on the old part of the house, and it doesn't look so great against the red brick. And if we paint the window trim a sand color, will it look like too much if the beadboard and fascia are dove white?

Per Dee's suggestion, I like the idea of all of the trim being the same color, and I love red doors (we painted the front door on our NJ house red, and loved it). But if the trim on the addition's windows are white, I'm worried they will disappear against the white stucco. Will I then need to put shutters on the back-end and sides of the house to brighten things up...keeping in mind that no one can see the back of the house unless you're standing in our garage (and also that we have no budget for shutters)?

It doesn't feel right making this decision on the fly after so many months of sleepless nights about everything else. And it's not like this is a low-visibility decision!

What do you think? Here are some more exterior shots of the house:

Another:

Another:

And another:

Comments

[Meagan]

Could you use sand as the stucco/body color? I've seen lots of Dutch Colonials with a taupe/sand/butter yellow body, white trim and green shutters. It looks like it's the traditional paint scheme. =)

[Rox]

We painted our shutters Chrome Green, and I have to heartily agree that it's a "just right" shutter green. I also love the red door idea (and love that it'll remind you of your red door back here in NJ!). Good luck!

[Kathy from NJ]

My husband always made the color decisions for everything because I have ZERO talent in that department. I always loved his decisions. So if it was me, I would trust the Benjamin Moore expert. I have always loved red front doors - they seem so welcoming.

[Dilly]

If you have a little time you could post on Gardenweb's home decorating forum. There are some extremely helpful folks there and they will often use photoshop to try out a variety of options.

[Cynthia]

I love that color scheme! What will the body of the house (stucco?) be?