Need help choosing shade of green for exterior

14 years ago

I've been searching since March, for juuust the right shade of green for the exterior of my home. I've brought home over 10 samples that I've adored in the store, but as soon as I get them outside (and on the house) they morph. My husband says I've been blessed with an eye for color....I think I've been cursed with it. I am able to see tiny nuances of blue, or gray, or yellow, in every single paint sample we'be put on the house. So much so, that I've discounted ALL of them. We have one month left to paint our home before our son's outdoor birthday party, and I've been given a deadline of this Sunday to finalize my color selection. I need help desperately!

The home is 1/2 brick and 1/2 shingles (currently painted white). I have a Classic Burgundy front door and crisp white trim. My goal is to find a slightly beige, slightly gray, medium toned green that will blend just perfectly with the brick and allow the white and red to pop.

Here's a list of the colors I've tried thus far, and the reasons I've counted them out (HELP!!):

Ben Moore:

Dry Sage - great shade, too dark

Tree Moss - thought this was the one! Turned completely gray outside/on the house.

Mesquite - too pastel

Nantucket Gray - closer to the tone/intensity I'm looking for, way too beige in the natural outdoor light

Soft Fern - way too light outside

Rosemary Sprig (next one down from Soft Fern) - way too dark

Sherwin Williams:

Svelte Sage - great tone, but I see a hint of blue

Prairie Grass - looks like bile on my house, blech

Grassland - I've seen photos on this site of gorgeous rooms in Grassland, but haven't tried it on the exterior...anyone?

I'm considering trying California's Fenland, but at this point, I'm also considering refreshing the house's boring white paint just to call it a day. All advice welcomed...any photos of green EXTERIORS (these paints look so different inside) encouraged!

Comments (2)

lindseylulu
Original Author
14 years ago
Ooops...I'm so sorry to double post! This is my first day ;)
kayec28
14 years ago
I don't know if this color meets all your criteria--I don't have your eye to see all the undertones of a paint. All I know is that I was driving through a small town in Alabama recently and there was a large old house, the kind with a wraparound porch and hanging ferns, painted the most beautiful shade of green. I was moved to stop and ask them the paint color(and I don't even like green that much). The house had been converted into a store that sold healing herbal potions and things and I thought the color was a perfect visual representation of their business, set off by crisp white trim. Anyway, the color is called Garden of Paradise by Valspar. They told me the previous day a wedding party had stopped and asked to take pictures in front of the house, because it was just that picturesque. I can only imagine those were some gorgeous wedding photos.

I could only find one picture of the color online, that someone had used in their bedroom, and it was here at Garden Web. The color is kind of shadowed due to the interior shots but it might be worth it for you to grab a sample and try it.

Here is a link that might be useful: garden of paradise
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I have to agree with Chispa, I just don't see any of the greens you've chosen going all that well with your stone. In fact, I'm not sure that there are many greens that would work...at least not the way your stone looks on my computer screen. I think you'd do better to try to pick a paint color that already exists somewhere within the stone. If you do that, I think you'll find that the paint blends better with the stone. In your stone, I see all sorts of greys, yellows, and browns, some oranges, some blues, and even some reds, pinks, and purples. The one color that seems to be missing almost entirely is green. The closest I can find is a deep taupe shade that has a greenish tinge. Try this - take one of the pictures you posted and copy and paste it into "Paint" on your computer. Then, click on the view button and under that menu find the "custom zoom" option that lets you zoom up to 800% magnification. This will let you see the individual pixels that make up the images of the stone and you can see the colors in the stone. You can use the eyedropper to pick up individual colors and, on the edge of the picture, paint a large square with each color that you like so that you have a color patch large enough to try and match a color chip to. Here is a sample of showing some of the colors I found existing in your stone. As you can see, I didn't find much green. Just the taupey green on the bottom left and the deep olive green next to it. But all of these colors are very natural "earthy tones" that you see used as house paint colors all the time. Picking just the right paint color can be so hard! Good luck with it.
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Need help choosing shade of green for exterior

Comments (2)

lindseylulu
Original Author

kayec28

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Need help choosing shade of green for exterior

Comments (2)

lindseyluluOriginal Author

kayec28

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lindseylulu
Original Author