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Color for Exterior Shutters for French Country Look?

10 years ago

I'm trying to pick a paint color for our shutters and front door of our house. I don't necessarily need to change colors...just need a fresh coat of paint. I gravitate towards French Country design on the interior. Should I color match the brown shutters/front door or choose a softer brown or greenish/gray color? We would prefer Sherwin Williams colors if possible. Afraid to make a huge mistake but don't want to pass up an opportunity to make a positive update.

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jstrohmanvel

10 years ago

Here is one of the less common green to greenish blue:

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Comments (17)

mtnrdredux_gw
10 years ago
To me, french country would be either a blue or a mustard.

Try Sherwin Williams photoshop app.
jstrohmanvel
10 years ago
We spend time in the French countryside every summer, and I can tell you that 90% of the shutters there are light french blue, with most of the remainder being a light green. I will find some pictures and post.

LOVE French Country look. And your house is beautiful (the stone and brick being the correct honey beige color for authentic French Country.)
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Thanks and you're welcome. I'm not familiar with The Chablis. I'll have to look through the plans. We worked with Trey Arnold and modified the largest Armand version. Added a full lower level, deleted the room over garage, bath and bedroom (and stairs going up) but built house sturdy enough where they can be added and lived in down the road if someone wants to. Also made numerous changes to the main level, even made it larger. It's perfect now. ;) We live on a 4.5 acre lake lot and love all the windows, doors and verandas. I told Trey I wanted the windows as big as the house would allow. We bought the lot, purchased the portfolios, looked over them all and selected one. Looked over it for the next year, while children were finishing up high school, then started making changes/additions. Started building 2yrs after purchasing the lot. Build only took 9mths (was estimated to take 11mths). His website is wonderful for inspiration. I guess you saw Arnold's personal home in Veranda a few months ago. Another home he designed is on this month's cover. Charles Faudree is the designer of that home (CF also lives in a home designed by Arnold). My community has numerous builders living here. Some don't move every few years but a lot of them do. I can't imagine - I get too attached. We lived in our last home over 20yrs...granted we did gut and add on several times! lol Good luck with your project. I'd love to see pictures.
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Coming late to this to say that your inspiration picture is, I believe, one that I saved for a few years. Mine was in Country Living Magazine. I tossed it out as I began to go with a more muted , sophisticated, or quiet look for our family room, adding color with accent pilows. Then I got red slipcovers for the sofa during the winter months, reverting to the beige upholstery in March. Well, this Christmas we set up a long bar for a party, and decorated it in red plaids and checks. I fell in love.....again! Seeing your/my inspiration picture has me almost ready to commit to my original desire for this cheerful French Country look. Liking change has always made me fearful of prints, but you have about convinced me to just stop worrying and go for it. And if I cared much about trends, color is surely about to make a big comeback. So thank you, Val! Good luck with your livingroom, and please post pics of your progress! Marti
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Your builder will probably say no because he's a builder working with stock, and is afraid if you don't like it you'll claim he damaged your perfectly good brand new cabinets. But any carpenter, handy fiance, or even the guy doing your trimwork should be able to take it out easily and sand the edge. But really, you could just remove the door altogether and get the same effect. The builder doesn't even have to know!!! (shhhhh...!) Also, there are tons of people in blogland who remove doors and drawers and replace with baskets. One example to help you: go to "The Lettered Cottage" blog and in the search box type buffet table and see one of millions of tutorials on this kind of thing. Layla (at the Lettered Cottage) does cottage-y country and beach cottage looks but it could translate pretty easily into French Country with different fabrics.
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I just wanted to chime in to say that I've seen pictures of homes with doors and window sashes that are unpainted wood paired with trim work that is painted, and I thought it looked beautiful. Basically, anything that opened/closed/moved was unpainted wood, and the rest was painted. So that's something to consider as an option. I wished I'd thought of that option before we went with all wood trim and doors in our main floor living areas and all painted trim and doors upstairs (bedrooms, bathrooms, and laundry room). We have lots of stained wood (trim, doors, built-ins, etc.) on our main floor, so I understand the challenges of decorating around it and finding colors that work with it. But when you find the right colors to bring out the best in your wood AND give you the vibe you want, it's worth the challenge. There were times (after spending too much time looking at trendy design magazines or web sites) when I second guessed our decision to go with so much wood, but I've come to love it more over the years because of its character and richness. I grew up in a house that had unpainted fir paneled walls in every room (even the bathroom, though the walls in there were varnished), so for a long time I just longed for light, bright, painted walls. After having those for years living on my own, I guess I finally came around to appreciating natural wood again.
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jstrohmanvel
10 years ago
Here is an example of the typical blue:
jstrohmanvel
10 years ago
And here is a little darker (more saturated) blue. So pretty!
jstrohmanvel
10 years ago
Not sure how these colors would translate to the different architectural style and new buildings here in the U.S. The homes and buildings there are so old and made of the natural stone of the region. Their buildings look nothing like ours here! So maybe a bit grayer/taupey (but still with blue undertones) direction would work in the American market. Just my opinion, of course! Have fun deciding!
LuAnn_in_PA
10 years ago
PLUS, the French shutters are the proper width for the windows they are on.... certainly not the case here.
Oakley
10 years ago
I love your house along with french country. I call it "Americanized french country."

Your house already has the french chateau look and I think a softer brown or even a beige would look nice, even though you have a lot of beige on the exterior. The shutters would still showcase beige. Sometimes beige is not boring. lol

I'd love to see your interior french decor!
beekeeperswife
10 years ago
Joni from Cote de Texas has featured this color for shutters a lot.
beekeeperswife
10 years ago
here you go.
pps7
10 years ago
I must be in the minority but I am just not seeing french ountry when I look at your house. Plus you have paneled shutters while most French country is board and batten.

I do think some color would be nice, but instead of light blue or green, i'm envisioning something darker like navy blue, forest green or teal.
User
10 years ago
I love your house! What is the color on your trim and porch post?
PRO
BeverlyFLADeziner
10 years ago
The first pic below is from one of my favorite homes in Santa Barbara. I like the taupe shutters, maybe combined with a green front door for some pizzazz, would be a good combination for your home.

Or maybe you might want an Americanized shutter color for your home. I like the idea of a "french green" for your shutters and a hue from your stone for the front door. Stone combined with colors of nature are always successful.

I've posted some Sherwin Williams colors that I used to color your house photo. Of course these colors might not look the same on your computer monitor, but it's something to view. The colors won't be as bright as they appear in the photo.
PRO
BeverlyFLADeziner
10 years ago
Okay, on second look, maybe a little too bright on those colors I suggested. But maybe if they were very grayed down they would work.
roomplicity
10 years ago
awesome pics from you guys!

-roomplicity
springroz
10 years ago
If you are in a subdivision, you should ask your HOA for a list of approved colors. They can be really ugly about that sort of thing.

Nancy
artemiss
10 years ago
Your stone has quite a lot of gold tone in it. I would use a stronger version of that gold, like marigold or mustard as were mentioned, for the shutters. I think that color would lighten and brighten the neutral tones that are predominant on the house. Then you could landscape with deep yellow and purple flowering plants to accent the scheme. I just got back from visiting Monet's house in Giverny and am in love with color!

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