Yes, soft blue is a cool color for a hot tropical climate home...Perfect!!

No to soft anything. Tropical locales demand bright colors to compete with the vibrant color around them. Soft colors look washed out. I personally wouldn't choose blue at all, but if that's what you like, make it bright blue. I'd go for pink, or lilac, or lime, ore orange sherbert, even school bus yellow. With crisp white trim to set it off.

With that big bright blue sky as a backdrop, I wouldn't go blue, either. I'd paint a color that contrasts with the blue, so you were probably on the right track with the yellow! Sorry, you probably want a change. Maybe a different yellow than what you had, or an orangey hue? I also like live wire's suggestion of a lime green. Gray-blue doesn't strike me as a "fun/happy" color, so if that's your goal, I think you need a different direction.

What colors are the nearby houses?

It definitely helps to know the colors of the houses surrounding you. Whatever color you go with, I'd definitely do bright white trim and railings. Dark trims aren't very cheery, IMO.

There's something about your house I love! Just make sure the railings are up before I come over, I have a fear of heights. lol.

Turquoise! Aqua! Coral! Yellow! Apple Green!

And all the trim and the stucco underpinnings a very white white.

If you really, really want blue, I would find the color of the sky in your photo and paint it that color, as if a small piece of the sky fell down and painted your house.

Love the setting!

I just painted my kitchen BM James River Gray (more blue than gray)- I really like it, maybe it would make a good exterior color for you?

>Tropical locales demand bright colors to compete with the vibrant color around them. Soft colors look washed out

So totally disagree, as a lifelong Floridian. Bright colors heat everything up. I shudder every time a local shopping center goes "Caribbean", since the ambient temperature in the parking lot seems to rise about 15 degrees, and it's warm enough here already.

Unless you have reasons related to vodun or palo mayombe or something, go pastel.

I think pale blue is just fine.

This post was edited by writersblock on Wed, Feb 13, 13 at 22:29

I think a pastel blue with a little green-grey in it would look really nice. Add a bright colored door or chair or foliage for contrast.

Thank you for your responses!

The house to my right is green and the left is blue/gray (I was thinking of something brighter.) The yellow it used to be wasn't a nice yellow, maybe thats what turned me off.

I posted a photo of the yellow "before".

Please post paint names for suggestions (preferably Ben Moore but will look at Sherwin Williams)

Thanks!!!

I find myself in the awkward position of preferring your "before" color scheme.
Emily Post, where are you?

So this is just the trim we are talking about? Hmm, is a bright coral too wild for you? I think you are trending too New England-y.

LRV - Light Reflectance Value, TSR - Total Solar Reflectance and weather/light fastness. Those are the three points to worry about relative to color and heat/energy accumulation. How vivid or dull the color may be has nothing to do with it. There are pastels that are not rated for exterior application same as there are brights not rated for exteriors.

Blue paint colors for exteriors are often far and few between in color collections brand to brand because it fades. It fades due to organic colorants usually required to make clear true blues. Conversely INorganic colorants tend to break down less which is why near neutral, natural earth colors are often popular exterior color choices; they are functionally practical.

Before you decide on a blue paint color make sure it's weather/light fastness rated for exterior applications.

I am worried about how a bright blue may wear..there are several very faded bright colored homes in the neighborhood that look awful. The newer homes seem to stick with creamy yellows and white with bright trim. Except for the enormous house down the road that is painted screaming electric green.

I'm okay sticking with yellow if that seems to be the consensus..

Anyone got a good yellow for me? Nothing gold-y.

BM Yellow Highlighter.

Isn't it more fun to have a fun in the sun house that makes you smile and feel happy? There's enough depression gray around in popular decor already.

Great colors, certainly would be a fun look.

I suppose subconsciously I've been inspired by the HGTV Dream Home 2008 which is just down the road.

Perhaps it does compete too much with the color of the sky.

*Sigh* very confused.

Kitschykitch..

Nope the whole house..the gray is just the raw siding Hardie board.

I am worried about going too New Englandy..good description.

What a coincidence.... I was going to post the HGTV house as an inspiration for you! I love it. THAT'S a happy blue. :)

It's interesting what funcolors said about fading. Isn't it nice to have experts on here? I'm sure you can find a blue that is exterior weather/light fastness rated. I wouldn't let that stop you.

Here is a link I found helpful:

I'm green with envy, as I sit here in Chicago... another gloomy day.

Here is a link that might be useful: coastal living magazine

[Tropical Exterior design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/tropical-exterior-home-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_736~s_2108) by Jacksonville General Contractor Lendry Homes

I really like that Tomato Cream Sauce. (In more ways than one! Yum!)

We had our main bathroom painted Tomato Cream Sauce for several years. It's a good color -- fun without being garish, pink without being baby-girl-ish. Sort of a toned-down coral, I guess. Of the four colors that Green Designs shows, that would be my pick!

Gray-blues can look like Rubbermaid blue from the 80s, so I would choose cautiously.

I love that turquoise/robin's egg blue. It looks so lush with the green tropical plants.

Gray-blues can look like Rubbermaid blue

Classic. Kinda like band-aid beige.

Thanks guys..hadn't thought grayblue might read like a Rubbermaid tub..haha.

Will speak to my local paint dealer about a fade resistant color.

There are a few houses around here that use your old base color very effectively with blues and other accent colors. If it ever stops raining I'll try to get some pics for you.

Writerblock please!

That would be very helpful!

I haven't forgotten, but it's been so cloudy/rainy that the colors don't show up well.

There are some awesome happy-color-painted houses in Santa Monica. You might want to take a look at those on Google images. (It's a neighborhood where there are cute little houses, many of them painted anything but beige!)

You might google Seaside (a community near Panama City, FL known for their colorful cottages).

This one is described as a blue gray with apple green shutters.

a few more...

I'm back and getting down to the wire! Was able to buy a bit more time but now I need to pick a color.

What's the consensus on BM Weston Flax for the house? I think I'm beginning to agree that blue might just compete too much with the sky.

Help!

I just did my Georgia coastal home in Benjamin Moore pewter 2121-30, which is a blue gray. We have bright white trim and are still looking for a fun color for the door. Everyone tells me that my house looks "fresh".

You really have to paint some poster boards and tape them outside to see how they work..