I'd just keep all the trim white including the beams and then paint the exterior walls a soft blue gray to give it a cottage feel.

I was going to fiddle with the color a bit to help with visuals but the photo is too small. Can you repost a picture with a larger resolution?

I like lukkiirish's idea of white trim and a soft blue gray body .. or maybe a soft green. A larger picture, including the hues of the stone work on the front of the house would be really, really helpful for picking out colors.

I don't want the inside of the front porch any color other than white. It will make the porch too dark otherwise.

Oh, honey, you need to get out of the only-white-is-bright mindset. I agree that gray was not the best choice for that house, but there are so many colors you could add to that area and make it feel warm and inviting and bright.

Of course, now you think I am about to come up with a brilliant recommendation and I don't have one to offer. Exterior paint choices are better made by people who are familiar with your region of the country.

My concern about painting the trim with a contrasting color is that it will "press down" on the house and emphasize the flatness of it. You might want to keep the color on the horizontal trim similar in color to the exterior and save your accent color to jazz up the porch area. Maybe a white house with silver-gray trim? In some parts of the country, the porch would be alive with color, but I don't know how that would play on a MCM style in your area.

I love MCM houses. I peeked at your album. You have a great house to work with. If you are looking to keep with an authentic MCM look, there is a guy on the internet who is a color expect who will recommend a palate of colors to work with. I would have to track down the link - I know it has been posted on the Old House forum. He charges a lot, but considering what it costs to paint a house, you want to get it right the first time.

Keep the trim in one color -- white.

Then paint the body of the house in the olive green.

Add plants with colored leaves -- maybe a Japanese maple (not sure about your plant zone requirements) or other plants that would suit your planting zone.

Perhaps a line of brighter colored pots with annuals around the stairs.

Maybe a "rock" type or architectural fountain (with slate or even copper?)

Add address numbers on a wood plaque to make them stand out.

Just some thoughts -- hope you don't mind!

Jan at Rosemary Cottage

I hope graywings can find that link for you. If it were mine, I would try to be true to the MCM feel. I am linking to some house numbers that would match your home style, I think. I will also post again with a link to a MCM house that is white with pale blue accents just as an idea. I must admit, I do love MCM architecture and wouldn't try to change it into something it's not.

Here is a link that might be useful: neutra house numbers

You can google Mid-century modern houses and come up with tons of images, but since you mentioned white, here is one example.

Here is a link that might be useful: image of house

Retro Renovation is the best blog for this style of house. She's a good writer, has lots of ideas, and if you search, you can probably get some inspiration.
I agree that white isn't your only choice to warm up and brighten up the exterior. I'd go for barn red, but that's me.

Here is a link that might be useful: Retro Inovation

I agree that a white body won't provide the brighter look you're craving. It will only fade into the grey skies. I'd go for more color and use white on only the trim. The soft blue suggested above or a pale yellow would look nice against the grey skies and green trees behind the house. I really like the suggestion of a barn red, although that wouldn't really fit in with the MCM style.

I would like to avoid painting the body of the house a dark color. It's all wood siding, which will last longer if kept a light color.

I had not considered that a dark trim might press down on the house but I see what you mean. The photo 'cyn427' posted above is an excellent starting point. I like what was done there.

I have considered hiring a color expert for this but I'm afraid my husband would scoff at that idea.

I have additional photos on my blog page.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mid Century Modern Makeover

Well the resolution in all your pictures is too low. I need the pics to have higher resolution so I can make them big enough to work with.

If you click on the photo within the blog it will become huge.

Why will wood siding last longer if painted a light color?

Ok, so here are some colors I just picked off the cuff to give you a visual. To be honest, I think darker colors give it more pop.

BM Corriander & Tamarind

BM Carribean Teal

BM Wolf Gray

BM Webster Green

BM Tyler Taupe

BM Tate Olive, Quincy Tan

BM Sandy Hook Gray, Crownsville Gray

BM Phillipsburg Blue

Hale Navy

Greenfield Pumpkin

BM Georgian Brick, Sandy White, Tarrytown Green

Wow, that's impressive. I spent 30 minutes on the BM site masking my house and when I went to save it, it disappeared! I like the teal, and the white trim makes all the difference.

The siding installer told me light colors are better. That's all I know. But I agree the dark colors look nicer.

Light colors last longer because they reflect more ultraviolet (UV) light. Choosing color for exterior should always start with a good understanding of LRV - Light Reflectance Value. LRV helps you understand how much energy is reflected by a paint color but it only kind of, sort of tells you abut actual heat. The energy + heat aspect has to do with TSR which is Total Solar Reflectance.

For color choice purpose, you have to know your way around LRV numbers.

Dark colors do hold more heat than lighter colors and because of that they suffer more moisture and fading issues. Plus, with a dark color there's simply *more color* to loose to the sunlight compared to light or midtone colors. Touching up paint color whether interior or exterior is always tough -- but touch-ups exterior are darn near impossible with darker colors.

Using dark colors outside can be worth it -- just have to buy the best quality color, know how to prep for them, and take care of them. No matter what color you choose to use outside, it's not going to last forever any way. At some point, whether light or dark color, you are going to have to repaint.

When it comes to exterior colors, you really can't afford not to use the absolute best quality paint you can find. Outside is no place for ANY home store brand.

The only reason I can think of regarding the dark colors is possible fading from the sun. You should probably call 2-3 professionals to get the reasons. I would also post in the painting forum as well, they may know. I like the teal, I've seen several houses in our area in a similar teal and it looked fabulous. I also like the darker blue and the Georgian Brick (which I have a can of in my basement). They are nice as well. Another idea, which doesn't show well on the screen would be a gray with a blue/green tint in it. We have SW Sea Salt which is light in our bathroom and I've seen something similar on a couple of houses, it was beautiful. Here are some other options that run on the lighter side:

Weimeraner

Subtle White (cause you mentioned white on white)

Oat Straw

Lapland

Etruscan

I have been struggling with these paint programs all day. My computer finally crashed and we thought it was a goner. Got it back up after an hour. I may have to hire a design professional to help me with colors, because this is way too time consuming and I don't want to screw it up.

My husband and son LOVE the Etruscan. But it's not really in keeping with the style of the house. It's more a southwest look than northwest, and I'm a little worried it might stand out too much.

The safest choices would be earth tones like the coriander or olive with a burst of orange or red around the door, like an Eichler house.

Have to say that I really like the Etruscan or Pumpkin too (but I lean towards those earthy colors). The Corriander & Tamarind would be my choice on the "safer" side of choices.

That is a great MCM house! Congrats.

I'm not familiar with what is popular in the PNW, but if you tell me some northwest colors you'd like to see, I can post them for you.

I have found that the programs on the paint sites require a lot of memory to function correctly and they will freeze your computer if you don't have the memory needed. I also had to tweak your picture some with Photo Shop to get a lot of the shadows out.

That is so kind of you to offer, but I hate for you to spend too much more time on this since we are so conflicted. We were so set on white, but after looking at the examples here, we realize we are drawn to the darker colors. We want to be true to the style of the house, which probably looks best with earth tones, but we have put a pool in the back and there's a bit of a Palm Springs vibe going on there, so we don't want to ignore that factor.

There is a professional colorist here in Portland who specializes in exteriors and I may decide to consult with her firm. We spent $50k on the pool and $20k on landscaping, so it's probably smart to invest a few hundred on finding the right paint colors. Our house is so unusual for this area that I really want to make it stand out, in the right way.

I'm not sure where OP is located in the PNW, but we are in Seattle a lot and see all kinds of older homes being renovated using bright and colorful exterior colors. They look terrific and I'm sure a lot of it is to bring color into what is a drab environment many months of the year. Purples, teals, pumpkins, etc.

There was a thread showing many pictures of these Seattle homes not that long ago. I'll look for it.

www.seattledreamhomes.com/PageManager/Default.aspx/PageID=308609

Great pictures of great PNW exterior colors. The purple bungalow on 14th St is right down the street from my son's home. Looks great and there are many others right in his Ballard neighborhood.

It's not a problem Joanne, only takes a minute to do, I'll check back just in case you change your mind. I just think that the lighter colors make the house look older or dated. And like Patty says, the darker colors are becoming more and more popular.

I was going to suggest that you use a combination of Coriander Seed, Tamarind, Etruscan, and Weimaraner. Then on MyPerfectColor.com came across this suggested combination.
{{!gwi}}
Benjamin MooreÂHush
Benjamin Moore Tamarind
Benjamin MooreÂRustique
Benjamin MooreÂWeimeraner

You are getting very good advice about the exterior colors for your house from the good people on this forum.

That's great! Thanks! I was just trying to come up with some complementary colors for Etruscan but my computer crashed in the middle of it... again.

I roped our architect into this decision process. We paid him for his 'services' until the house is finished, so I might as well use him. He is trying to talk us out of white trim as he thinks it's too cottage-y and bright. My husband is having a hard time with anything more subdued and all my suggestions look drab to him. We installed white vinyl windows so we'll have to incorporate white somewhere.

I don't necessarily agree with your architect about the trim because IMPO the finished product is a package of varying elements not just one color. The white trim may represent cottage to him just as the color your son & husband love represents southwest to you, but if you look at inspiration photos, sort through homes on Realtor.com or even drive around your neighborhoods, you'll see that the color is only one part of the finished package. I think you'd be best served by visiting a Benjamin Moore store with a photo of your house in hand. Look at the colors in person that you and family seem most drawn too, ask the color specialist there what he/she would recommend as a palette for the colors you like, and then get samples. You're never really going to know until you see them up close and personal.

Follow up:
just wanted to post a photo of the colors we decided on. It is SW Weathered Shingle with Dover White trim and the front door painted Cherry Tomato. I struggled with painting the door, as it was a good solid mahogany, but when looking at the house from the street, the door was always in shadows and the front porch badly needed some pop. So I took the plunge with a super bright red that stands out even on the cloudiest day. I love it!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

CLOSE-UP OF DOOR:

BRAVO! You did a great job with the house. I appreciated all of the suggestions. We are days away from choosing integral color stucco and new roof shingles for our MCM ranch. I hope we succeed like you!

That is so wonderful! Love the door. So were so right to paint it.

Looks great, thanks for the after pic.

Wow wow wow! I really like the choices you ended up with, it's looks great! The door adds a nice contrast. Good job!!!

I'm so glad you didn't stick with your original vision of white. The color you picked looks great!

Laurie

This looks absolutely beautiful. This home was crying for color. All white just wouldn't have done it justice. I couldn't have painted a mahogany door as much as I love wood. I'd have bought a steel door to paint. The color combo is perfect for the setting though. You did good. Bravo!

Looks great; a beautiful color and the door is terrific. THANK YOU for posting the follow-up. We all love before and afters!

Love it!