Any neutral color is going to be boring. The point of a neutral is to be a backdrop to something else that is exciting and not boring. You could leave the paint color as is and do fabulous things with the landscaping.

And cross post this on the Home Decorating forum for additional ideas.

Post it over in the Garden Design forums ... You have a lovely start for some dramatic low-maintenance landscaping.

What color would you guys have gone with to go with the roof and keep a contemporary look?

Is the roof changing? If that's the color you've got to work with now, no sense looking back. It is what it is.

There's a lot to work with there architecturally -- it has good bones and interesting symmetry, etc.

A lot of people think contemporary = "neutral". But the fact of the matter is neutral is black, gray and white. Everything else is a color. And the paint colors for exteriors are rarely really neutral, they're colors.

Contemporary exteriors can often be about contrasts more so than actual colorfulness or lack of colorfulness.

One area to look at could be value -- all the colors from roof to body are rather even in value, all about the same lightness/darkness. Manage the contrasts correctly, and to an extent --- just an extent --- it's possible the actual body color won't be that significant in bringing the aesthetic of the exterior to a place that meets your expectation for " modern contemporary".

I wish I had time to paint it this week, but I just don't. If your post is still here next Tues or Weds I can do a virtual and show you what I mean.

This is the second paint I use for the house and I bought it 3 months ago. First color was too too gray and I thought his beige type color would lighten it up lol it looks almost the same. The roof is actually brand new, I wanted to go with a grey color cause I love how it looks with bronze windows with clear glass. I was just never able to find that right color to go with it. I really need some help atleast with what I have to change up that boring look. I will be starting with the door and putting bronze impact with a white frosted glass... Soon the rest will change and help un darken the home. What do you guys think?

I don't get why this house doesn't look as dull and dead as mine?

I'm guessing that's a professionally taken picture on an ideally sunny day.

If we take at look at what it is showing us, we can see that it's a black roof. Your roof is a dark gray. Subtle difference? Yes, but when you're coloring exteriors it can come down to subtle differences in values.

It's not like interior where there is more of a spread as far as how you can manage contrasts, the light and darks. Exterior is kind of like stage make up -- you know how performers have to do make up to an extreme in order for it to show under the lights and from far away in the audience.

Same thing with an exterior. You have to up the drama with color contrasts. It has to be more extreme, ratcheted up in color contrast -- it is what can be the difference between an exterior that looks okay and an exterior that's fabulous.

Your roof color takes up a lot of visual real estate. And it is close to a mid-value gray. That means if you want the modern/contemporary pow!, you're going to have to make some big color decisions. Bigger than beige or an unassuming gray.

I'd love to see what an Icy light blue looked like. Mid-value gray roof, bronze windows, your geographic location and icy blue for the body of the house --- that could be fab. But you'd have to buy into the blue.

Could be the bestest, most well-crafted exterior color scheme, but if you don't like it, if it doesn't resonate with you, then it doesn't matter. It's not the right color idea.

This is what the back looked like with the grey color

Funcolors, who makes Icy light blue?

When I said an icy light blue, it was more of a reference to a concept of a color, not a specific paint color.

I need to look for an actual exterior icy blue paint color to refer you to -- I'll post back tomorrow when I have better light.

Thank you!

Quick question. Does the pool have a liner/finish that makes the water reflect as more green than a typical pool blue, or is it just the light?

What are the colors of the pool tile, liner, etc.

The home is still in the remodeling process and the pool is just dirty...Its going to get diamond brite and I'm going to put glass tile around the water border. In the future I plan on removing the mexican tile in the back.

A member from this site did this for me...

{{gwi:53692}}

Changes the look!

I don't get why this house doesn't look as dull and dead as mine?

First, because it is a better photo. And the curving roofline, multi-stories, huge windows, landscaping, and pool are all drawing you eye around the photo. The paint is a backdrop to everything else. It's like seeing a dress on a fashion model and then trying to figure out why it doesn't look that great on you. No offense to your house at all - I would love to own it. Lush landscaping would change it a lot.

I didn't forget about the blue -- I just can't find one I like. Normally, I do not care for blue exteriors and I don't do them. So, I don't have tried and trues to pass along on this one.

However, this is a good case in point that you can't make sweeping judgments about exterior color because you never know when or how a specific color could play out to be a good solution...

It's taking me a lil longer than I thought it would...

What about something like SW's Sleepy Blue SW 6225.

What about something like SW's Sleepy Blue SW 6225

For the house color?

I really don't think the current color is the problem, as much as the lack of attractive landscaping. Put some colorful foliage plants and flowers in those planters, shape whatever is growing under the two palms close to the house or take it out and replace with interesting foliage plants that are a different color from the palm green and maybe some flowers. Take out most of the green that's growing under the huge palm in the forefront and make that area much smaller and neater or fill in the area with plants with interesting contrast in colors. I think once you have nice landscaping it will make a tremendous difference. Then if you still don't like the color of the house you can change it then. Right now the house looks vacant or like a rental, like no one cares. The house itself is beautiful (I'd love to have it!!) but the yard is what is detracting from it.

Yeah, for the house color. Like I said before, maybe it's worth trying some bigger (in concept) color ideas.

It strikes me as tho you really are not loving the paint colors you've tried so far. And, kinda being honest here, if you don't like it, you don't like it and how many plants is it going to take to patch over that fundamental color reality.

Nail the fundamental armature, the color of the structure, the bones of the curb appeal and it can wear whatever miscellaneous accessories you want to throw at it -- pots, plants, walkways, a single tulip.

You should not have to rely on transient elements in order for your house to have good curb appeal. Plants come and go. Stuff grows. Stuff dies. It's an ever-changing living accessory to the structure. The structure is the core, the mainstay out from which everything else evolves. It should look good, from an architecturally aesthetic point of view, even if there's only one blade of grass.

Ideally landscaping is an enhancer to the exterior. Not a band-aid for less than stellar exterior color choices.

I disagree. Landscaping dramatically changes the look of a house. You can dress up the plainest house with landscaping and hardscaping. Yes, plants are ever changing, which is a positive (spring color, fall color) but it takes a pretty fantastic paint job to make up for the lack of house dressing.

Again, the fashion model analogy works: models can have great bone structure and lovely skin, but many of them look awfully plain jane without makeup.

Oh boy this is going to get pricey!! A buddy of mine just got his landscaping done by some company and he spent a pretty penny

I agree that landscaping can change and enhance the look of an exterior. But landscaping isn't the star of the show. It's proper place is just a supportive roll to the architecture, the structure.

If you're stuck with a plane house, can't paint, can't look objectively at what could be made better from an architectural point of view, then landscaping makes a great band-aid. Easier to dig a couple holes than paint a whole house or put on a new roof.

But if you're at the point of a remodel, why half-azz it. If you have the opportunity to get the core of the curb appeal right, that armature of appearance, why not look into what it takes to get what you really want.

It is an option to try landscaping first. But what if she still doesn't like the color? Landscaping is expensive and is it really a good suggestion to do landscaping first and THEN let contractors at the house to repaint for a color change? I dunno. I'm not seeing where letting painters *into* the new landscaping for a repaint is a good plan.

If the window is open to get get color right, nail the aesthetic you want for curb appeal, I tend to take it because ya never know when that opportunity will come around again.

I think this debate shows how important both issues are. Of course the exterior of the house has a major impact. But any beautifully done house with blah landscaping just isn't going to have the same impact that it would if it has nice interesting landscaping. Yes, landscaping is expensive even if you do it yourself and much more so if you hire a professional company. But the house in question is obviously a very nice expensive house and I just don't think it's going to look it's full potential regardless of what is done to the exterior until the landscaping is improved. Nor will beautiful landscaping bring it to it's full potential until some changes are made to the house itself. I agree with dnsource that clear windows will be a nice improvement and I like the picture she showed where someone photoshopped a darker trim color...it's a small change that made a really nice impact.

dnsource, it's my understanding that many landscaping companies will work with you and draw up plans and let you just pay for the plan without them doing the work. Or pay them to do a portion and you do the rest yourself or hire it done using cheaper labor. It doesn't have to be terribly expensive...just depends on how you choose to go about it.

I used to live in a Plain Jane in FL and I wasn't ready to paint the exterior. The paint was in good shape and I was spending too much inside the house. Plant material was super cheap, living so close to the growers and I did all the work myself. I did paint over the "bandaid beige" trim color with an "oops" bucket of green, but I left the rest of it as is and just went crazy with the landscaping.

House was ordinaire, paint color horrid, ginormous garage similarly horrid, black-top driveway super-horrid....but those gardens made all the difference in the world. :-)

Check with a garden store. I wanted to plant a bunch of small trees and bushes in my yard but am not good with design. I was afraid it would look like I just threw a bunch of stuff in the yard. At the store where I purchased my plants if you spend $350, on plants, a landscape designer will draw up a planting/ landscape design. It was pretty easy to hit that $350 mark. They included a bid for them doing all the work, taking up sod, planting, mulch, I think it came to $5,000. But I am doing the work myself.