Hue families, color notations and LRV is the tactical way to approach color. If you've read some of my stuff, you also know that I firmly believe that you cannot color by numbers alone. "Always remember that nobody accepts or rejects color because of numbers - it is the way it looks that counts." (Billmeyer 1970 and 1979) There is a balance of art and science with regards to color for the built environment; too much weight one way or another and it's like trying to juggle with one hand. Sure, you can do it but it's a heck of a lot easier with both. With that said... Do you think any of these colors would be good exterior colors? Yes. Which one is the best fit should be based on the fixed elements of the house: brick, mortar, stone, roof, etc. Which one looks right? Do you think either are too pink or green? Here are how the numbers stack up: Balanced Beige .44 Y / 7.25 / 1.49 ⢠LRV 46.0 Bleeker Beige 1.36 Y / 7.61 / 1.89 ⢠LRV 54.0 Jackson Tan 7.47 YR / 5.83 / 3.56 ⢠LRV 25.6 (color notations from The LoC color lab) About pinkness: all the colors, the two new and one old, are snuggled up around the 10YR mark. (see color wheel below). Odds of Balanced B. or Bleeker B. showing a pink overtone is unlikely because they are too far away from the Red Hue Family. About greeness: With colors from the yellow hue family like Bleeker B. and Balanced B., the lower the last number, chroma, the better the odds that a color could have some greeness with which to respond to a quality of light that also has a green characteristic. The direction of your house comes into play. The south and west sides are least likely to have a green quality of light to sync up with any greeness qualities in a paint color. Looking at the numbers and we know that Balanced B. with a chroma of 1.49 would be more likely to show an edge of greeness than Bleeker B. with a chroma of 1.89. I want light, but deep? Does that make sense? Yes. I'm assuming you've read up on LRV and will get this next part. The second and last numbers in a color notation combined are called nuance. In other words, value + chroma = nuance. Nuance is not the same thing as LRV. To evaluate "light" look at the LRV number. The higher the number, the more light a color will reflect. To evaluate "deep" look at nuance, value + chroma together. Both axes. Chroma - "Deep" colors will have an amount of chroma in the 2, 4, 6 range. -AND- Value - Comparatively, the lower the value number, the "deeper" the color. Hope that helps... and doesn't keep you up tonight. ;)

jejvtr: I like the first link you showed, but the second one did not work. You are right the columns look similar. Perhaps you should leave them afterall, they are growing on me. It has a certain delicacy with the arched roof and you may change you mind also once the trim is painted different than the house color. Which is probably another reason my vote is for a non-white base color--to accentuate your lovely trimwork. I'm glad you are looking at other homes similar to yours for inspiration. When we were remodeling last year, I always kept a digital camera in my car and I would snap pics of features/colors/etc of houses I liked--usually while picking up or dropping off my kids from school or sports practices. I would try to drive a bit in the residential areas. Then when we were finalizing paint, I had my paint swatches with me and I would go up to houses which I liked and compare paint swatches. Once you and your DH find an inspiration pic I think this is helpful to narrow down to an actual color. You will always see things we don't, like lighting and how it works from various angles. What does DH think? Still white/red?

I saw the other post. I remember you like the overall consistent neutrality you have going on as far as the total palette and curb appeal. The porch is a porch. I've talked about color hierarchy before. Exteriors are color coded - we're not always aware of that fact, but essentially that's what we do when we select body, trim and front door colors. We like exteriors to be color coded. You could even define 'curb appeal' as being a logical placement of elements and color that aids wayfinding from the curb to the structure, to the front door. You don't want to make it too special because it's the porch, but you want it to be kind of special because it's your front porch. That's your objective, that's what you're working to accomplish with color choice and materials. I would select a material that is dark but not as dark as the front door - almost, but not quite. If you are going to recolor the front door, use the material you choose for the porch and pull a color from it for the door - keep the door darker than the porch. I know I knock the 'pulling a color' business - a lot - but in this case we want to create a cohesive unit that is the front entrance. As a whole, it needs to be the punctuation point of the fascade.

Oh, too funny. :-D I agree you are very good with color, dlm. As are many here on the GW. Which is exactly why I like to hang out here. Color is a science. Logical, methodical, and mathematical. . .but can't color by numbers and logic alone. Color is also an art. Natural acuity, talent, and intuitive. . .but can't exclusively rely on just an eye or flair for color either. Taking color to a different level is 50/50 art and science. I sometimes read other blogs, websites and whatnot and sense the goal is to make color easy. Reduce it down. Lightly skim the top of harder to grasp aspects or completely dismiss anything that seems too heady. Because, according to some, it's a waste of time to work to understand color complexities and details. If it looks good, then what else do you need to know? Well, there's a lot to know. They don't know what they don't know. What I know for sure is those who choose a reductive approach to color will remain static in color knowledge and ability. They will not advance to the next level in their own color journey let alone ever see a bigger picture, whole different level. It will be the same one note over and over. One thing rollin' around in my head is seeing value and purpose beyond just one note.