God bless photoshopping but NONE of the colours in any of the pictures look at all the same. Even on the proper website for your hardiboard, there is a huge variation in the gallery for the same sample colours. Ultimately, the choice will really have to be your's and your husband's. Only you have the advantage of seeing it in the actual location at different times of day, with real natural light and filtering landscape, which may or may not include winter snow. And please don't forget to also take into account the brown tones(?) of your visible shingles and the black shutters you want.

adriennemb, this has been my problem in choosing the timber bark. My sample looks nothing like the Hardi website. It's entirely possible when it's on a whole house it will have more of a brown hue but my one board sample definitely reads either dark gray or olive beige. In many lights it's very pretty but in some lights, I'm not so sure about the color. The Khaki Brown varies in the light as well but I have had the luxury of seeing it in person on multiple houses. I think I'm going to take a chance on the timber bark only because I have seen the final product of Khaki Brown and I haven't been wowed by any of the houses that I have seen in person.

Sorry if someone already suggested this...but could you take your sample piece (or pieces) to a paint store and have them color match a quart for you to try directly on your house?
I understand your indecision! I'm just working on my front door and garage doors and when its a drastic change its hard to picture the final product. And an annoying and costly mistake if you don't like it!

The indeterminate color is what intrigues me about the Timber Bark. It looks to be a blend of gray & brown with a tinge of olive. All of those colors look good with stone, and if the colors shift a little with the light & seasons, how interesting! Probably is beautiful whatever the color shift.

I have a red roof on a white house Sometimes the roof reads reddish brown, sometimes mulberry, sometimes plain red. All are good looking.

Jamaraz, I probably missed this somewhere. What size/shape of siding are you getting? (wide, narrow, clapboard, shingle?)

I'm excited for you -- you'll enjoy your new updated facade. We got rid of that same d*mn shingle 3 years ago, replacing with fiber cement. Voila - no more 60s tract house look!

Ok I would probably go with the darker one then. To me, it's just a more sophisticated colour and won't be too dark at all.

Not sure if this will help or just confuse you more, but while surfing today, I came across this blog. The house uses a couple of different colors of Hardie board including Timber Bark. It is dark, but I think it's very nice. And it looks great with the white trim.

Here is a link that might be useful: House with Timber Bark Hardie Board

Wow -- look how Timber Bark looks brownish gray on the siding but more brown on the stucco. Very interesting:

Either way, it looks great with the stone, white trim & black (coffee brown?) shutters. And with the white garage doors too.

awm03, we are going with the Hardi cedar mill lap siding. I was planning on using the biggest planks of 8 1/4 but my contractor says that I will really notice the seams if I go with the timber bark siding. I'm waiting for him to get me a picture of the seams before I make a decision. If the seam is too large, I will go a size down.

I really like the look of vinyl shingles but the Hardi shingles don't look right in my opinion on the whole front of the house. I'm going to use batten & board shutters to break up the plain front of lap siding.

Love the pictures! Especially since those are my garage doors!

Ok - great info. I'll post back in a bit.

Accuracy of color monitor to monitor isn't an issue because it breaks down to a darker vs. lighter comparison and decision. Because it's assumed that both Hardie choices harmonize with the stone, other elements.

Before:

Option 1 - lighter

Option 2 - darker

I put board and batten shutters on the house but I don't think that's the right choice. A traditional panel would work best IMO because it will echo the lines and design of the double front doors. Like this one:

For the sake of cohesion and *proper* color hierarchy for an exterior, it would be ideal to paint the doors black too.

Painting the bay windows the same color as the Hardie you choose will bring needed color consistency element to element. The thread that weaves together the overall look top to bottom.

There are several pieces parts - or elements - to the exterior and you can leave the simple trim like gutters and window frames white if you use the main body color to link smaller elements like the windows into the bigger whole of the curb appeal.

The square porch columns can go white, black or the Hardie color. I would choose the Hardie color because that's a lotta door goin' on for a relatively small porch space. The doors speak loudly enough for wayfinding; that they are the entry "look here this is the focal point". The columns should be allowed to take on their functional role and really don't need to be called forward with color and scream they're there to the curb.

It's a lovely home. The stone was a great choice for an update, IMO.

funcolors, those are fantastic! Just beautiful! What an amazing eye for design you have.

I'm thinking, though, that jamaraz will have white garage doors (off to the right but unseen in her photos) visible from the street. Is that right, jamaraz that the garage doors face the front?

If so, would white columns or even leaving the trim band that lines the top of the stone white work better with white garage doors?

WOW, funcolors! I am blown away by how you incorporated the proposed elements to jamaraz' original photo. This should help her tremendously to visualize the different options.

Do you mind sharing what software you use? (You should charge for your services. hee hee)

Meowzer, funcolors does charge for her services. It was very generous of her to do the mockup gratis on a public forum. She's very nice that way. A search for her forum name on the web will lead you to her website. She definitely knows her stuff when it comes to color and light.

Though I don't think you could go wrong with either, seeing what funcolors did I think the light is very nice, the darker looks richer.

I have to admit, seeing Funcolors' visuals, I now like the
Ight best.

funcolors....thank you soo soo much! That is a great visual. I especially love what you did to my landscaping. What are the pink flowers? Do they require maintenance? It looks soo pretty. You also made me feel so much better about the porch columns. They look terrific in your picture.

The khaki brown visual is what I had anticipated. There is a house in my neighborhood that has the same front doors as myself. What they did was paint the bay windows and shutters the same color as the front door and painted the trim and columns khaki brown. They clearly spent a lot of money on the project but the end result looks very blah and almost depressing. I wonder if it is a result of the khaki brown not being a strong enough color in it's own right.

awm03 is right. My garage doors are in the front of the house. I just replaced my brown doors to white carriage style doors which is why I was thinking of getting board and batten shutters. Interesting enough, there was another house who used khaki brown with white trim but kept their brown garage doors to match their brown front door. Color wise, it looked cohesive but the overall effect looked liked they were trying to save money by not replacing their garage doors!

Funcolors, my front doors are wood, so I would like to keep them stained dark brown. Maybe I could purchase chocolate brown shutters instead of black? I was picking black shutters to match the black trim on the garage doors. I also purchased large black lights to go by the front door and by the garage doors. Does it matter if the shutters don't match?

I think I am going to make the porch columns and trim white. I like the look of the painted bays in the timber bark mock up but I'm nervous that the overall look will be too dark.

It's a rough cut and paste job but thought you might like to see with your stained doors and light trim. Colors are a little off on the doors and windows as the photo you originally posted has a purplish tint. I also made the shutters a tad bigger as I feel they should be in proportion to the window.

Thanks, yogacat, for that info about funcolors. I'm fairly new here, so didn't know. Yes, very generous.

Thanks so much homeagain. That's another great perspective. Looking at the photo, I don't love my brown doors with the black shutters. If I ask very, very nicely, could you please paint the shutters brown? :)

Sure...no problem. The first ones are actually a really dark brown but look black against your siding. Here are a lighter brown.

Oooooh, you're going to hate me for this but just to think a little outside the box and get away from the tans...

What did the Tuscan gold hardiboard look like to you? This would probably be my personal choice. I like that it is a more saturated, gutsy colour ( the opposite of "blah" which I think that you're trying to avoid), picks up the yellow undertones of the stonework, complements the wooden front door and orange-y shingles and, especially as highlighted by the white trim and garage doors with black accents that you've already chosen, should look really fresh and crisp. It would also be an easy colour to pick up in your garden landscaping and seasonal decorations for that little added pop.

Just a thought anyways.

I tried to find an image close to your front door to get rid of the tint. I'd like to see a slightly darker stain on your front doors....

Meowzer - don't mind at all. I do have a background in graphic design - like 15 years. But if anyone saw my unorthodox process and bazillions-of-layers files just for one house they'd be so confused! :)

I'm a bit schizo when it comes to the software. It all depends on what I feel like using. For this one: Photoshop, Color By Nuimbers (CBN from colorcharts.org) and a cheapy Better Homes and Gardens landscaping package that I bought 100 years ago.

Photoshop and/or Illustrator, however, is the engine that drives it all. All the other programs are basically the short-cuts that I integrate based on what I feel like doing. I've collected several architectural, landscaping and paint programs over the years. Each has features and benefits that I like.

another bad paint job....this one Tuscan Gold as suggested by Adrienne.

Here is a pet peeve of mine. Shutters have a purpose in real life. They are to protect the windows from storms. I know most of us do not actually USE the shutters but for them to look "right" in my opinion they have to at least look like they are as wide as the windows, like they COULD protect them. The shutters shown are much to narrow. I am loving what the new siding/color will look like!!

Re Responding to a few questions, points:

There is no doubt in my mind that the bays and the band need to be painted the same color as the Hardie -- whatever color Hardie you choose to use, get a custom paint color mixed and paint the bays and the band the same color. I can tell you why.

Because the proportion is not right to split it up with two different colors. Meaning the amount of stone to the amount of Hardie is not mathematically correct to use two colors. It's just the way the house was designed and built.

The Prairie Style of house is notorious for having a belt band -- proportions of upper to lower are designed with a belt band. So, they are mathematically correct in order to carry an intentional split of materials and/or color.

But then there are split-level homes that are just split and are often mistaken for a belt band. This isn't a belt band. And I'd advise against chopping up the house with color placement it was not designed to hold.

funcolors, thanks for your kind response, and what a talent you have!

My apologies to jamaraz for taking her topic OT. ;-)
Can't wait to see which shade you choose!

RE: Shutters, Doors, Garage Doors

The front doors are traditional. Carriage garage doors and board and batten shutters --- there's nothing about that combo that's good or relates to one another. It's a mashup of styles that were never intended to meet on a single structure.

The front doors are boss - they dictate the style of shutter and garage door. You could drop the shutters altogether if you wanted to and it would look good, or keep them as an accessory. Going wider on the shutter isn't a bad idea, but you have to be careful to get the size right -- proper scale and proportion is again the challenge.

If you want the door to reamin wood stained, there is a color from Sherwin Williams called Black Bean that could work really well on panel shutters with the traditional front door currently in place. Plus, the woodtone door and the shutters done in Black Bean, they would harmonize with whatever Hardie color your choose. Black Bean is not a neutral. It's a color but in this instance it would indeed *behave* as a neutral in the palette.

Carriage style garage doors conflict with the front door style. If they are both in place and you cant do anything about it, then the garage doors need to blend in and away as much as possible. The front door is the focal point. Garage doors are functional and take a back seat in exterior heirarchy. Doesn't matter if they are new. Doesn't matter if they were expensive. They are garage doors and secondary to the entrance. They should be painted the same color as the body, as the Hardie siding. Can add accents of black hardware.

Exterior isn't like interior. If you mix styles interior it's called ecclectic. If you mix styles exterior, there isn't a clever label that makes it okay. Color then becomes that hero I was talking about because color can be the bridge among disperate styles. Color is the thread that weaves it all together so it visually make more sense. Color delivers cohesion where it is otherwise lacking.

IMO, you can't go too dark on an exterior stopping short of uber saturated crazy color, using too much black, using black in the wrong places or too much, dark, somber dead gray.

Sunlight washes out or strips away as much as a *perceived* 50% of saturation of color. That means a color you think looks dark can *perceivably* lighten up as much as 50% once it's up and in scale of an ENTIRE exterior. Speculatively - it could be half as dark as you think it will be.

The caveat to erring on the side of lighter is non-descript. Psychologically, people think they've chosed this dark and dramatic color for their exterior, yet when it's all done it looks at best like a midtone -- or worse, lighter.

If you think it's too dark for the outside, chances are it's going to be just right. What sucks is no matter what you do, no matter how much you preview and sample colors, the bottom line is you are still making your best guess.

Meow - if the Garden Webbers didn't go off topic, then I'd worry. ;) And in a way it's not off topic at all because the title includes Photoshopping.

Like I said, the columns can be done in white. But you need to tell your contractor they're going to be painted white because it should make a difference in the refinement of the final finish work and probably even the materials used to construct the columns.

Rough hewn is what you have to ask about. My guess is due to the budget situation and in order to work with existing railings, your contractor might be thinking rough hewn is gonna work.

Rough hewn in white can be disappointing. White brings a formality to columns. Formality means finely finished, smooth - the opposite of rough hewned. Rough hewned painted white is not one of my favorite things and I often caution others to consider how they will respond to the contrast of rough hewn and a clean white.

That's why I asked questions about the columns. And that's why I chose to paint the columns in the Hardie colors for the virtual.

Lastly, white columns would be a good mental color-safetynet. Because if you choose the darker Hardie to get that overall drama you're after, you will have that pop of fresh white to lighten and lift the entrance.

Sherwin Williams Creamy would be a good choice for simple trim and columns if you go the white route.

Very interesting funcolors. Your description of the saturation of color is why I think I am going to do a leap of faith on the timber bark. I also have a Sherwin Williams near me so I will stop by and check out a sample of the Black Bean. It looks nice on the website!

adriennemb, I liked the tuscan gold and had it for consideration. But my husband and daughter thought it looked too much like baby poop!

Here's the doors original stain color, Black Bean on panel shutters and white columns. And the pink ground cover flower is phlox. :)

Light:

Dark:

This one of my "afters" in-real-life colors, not a virtual. White trim is all SW Creamy. Shutters are SW Black Bean and the horizontal siding you see is Hardie - I believe it was Country Beige but don't quote me on that one. Front brick fascade was painted in a color match to the Hardie.

You can just see a snidge of the garage doors, but similar to what I mentioned above, they are done in the body color.

The back w/all the siding. You can see the chimney brick and that's the same brick that was on the front. I left the chimney unpainted because it added interest to a boring back, helped with texture, tied in with landscaping, etc.

really gorgeous house funcolors. Below is a picture of my garage doors. The same body color might make more sense but I absolutely love the white doors and they are staying! :)

When I added the stone, I elongated the stone area to wrap around the side of the house and in front of the garage doors. In my opinion, it has really made my home seem longer/bigger. I'm quite happy with the result. Because there will be such a large white presence on the front of my home, would it make sense to do some sort of color blocking on the bays like you did on the left side of the above home?

Funcolors: I don't want to get too far off topic, but since we are talking about garage doors, and colors pulling things together....
I am the opposite of jamaraz on white garage doors:they are a pet peeve of mine on most houses, including my own!
Do you feel like they always needs to be the main body color of the house/garage? Could it makes sense to have them be a "color" that helps pull the house/garage together overall? For example, we are getting new richer wood tone looking front door and I was going to faux wood paint my white garage doors in the same tones as the new wood front door to pull the two parts of the house together. But do the garage doors have to be painted the boring tan instead?
The garage that ate the house:

Faux painted sample board for garage

lol! Nope - there is no steadfast rule that the garage doors must be the same color as the body.

If that were a rule, then I am personally breaking it. Because my house is painted a custom mix of SW Baguette and my garage doors are a dark brown - same as my trim.

I take it one exterior - and one client - at a time in determining what's what for doors.

There is a color hierarchy (c.h.) - I keep speaking to c.h. and although it is not a *rule* per se you have to be concerned with how you are USING color on an exterior. Following that hierarchy produces a pleasing effect we often call "curb appeal". We *feel* positive curb appeal because the distribution of color facilitates way finding, facilitates our processing of a structure and its elements as we approach it.

The hierarchy is where curb appeal comes from -- that's how you make it, that's the key to successful exterior color schemes. Color hierarchy is based on relationships.

And color relationships - relationships with other colors and YOUR relationship to color - is the secret to color.

jamaraz is crushing on her new white garage doors -- even tho my personal/professional opinion does not agree with that -- it's still her house and her doors. So, after explaining my professional color opinion, it's still about the homeowner. A page from Tim Gunn's book and find a way to make it work best you can is a good attitude to take.

If your white garage doors are a pet peeve and the prospect of painting them the same color as the body doesn't thrill you either, then clearly another solution should be explored.

The faux wood treatment is a good idea, IMO. But you will have to balance that out over at the front entry. Because the front entry is the bossiest part of the whole exterior. You have to make sure it is featured so that it communicates all the way to the street 'this is where you enter the house'.

You do that by making it more important than the garage doors. Large, spiral topiary trees on either side of the porch, grander scale planters with flowers, if there's a light fixture it should be fancier than the coach lights on the garage, a big beefy luxurious doormat, make the sidewalk up to the door more important with pavers, etc. You get the idea.

FYI - a garage that prominently sticks out from the house is often referred to as a snout house. I've seen snout houses far more pronounced than yours dtchgrl. You have good stuff to work with and it will work out.

FC, I really enjoy 'listening' to you and seeing what you do with color! :) Loving that Black Bean too (you may have just solved a shutter color dilemma I've been wrestling with).

On the OPs house I much prefer the Black Bean over black shutters, and on a shutter just a tad wider. Very tough call for my eyes on the siding colors. My vote wants to lean toward the darker color in FC's post Sat, Oct 8, 11 at 19:26 They both actually look great, but somehow the darker appears a hint richer, while the lighter looks like it might tend to want to washout.

Thanks funcolor, you are a wealth of information. I usually know when an exterior works or doesn't work (at least in my opinion!)...but its very interesting to understand the "why" of it. Walking the dog this morning, I had a great time re-painting everyone's houses in my mind!
I read on here (and it may have been you funcolors!?) that a good way to start the quest for "curb appeal" is to print a photo of the house all in gray-scale rather than color. Thats how I came up with the faux wood idea for my garage doors...that entire half of the house seemed washed out. I know it needs to be "less important" but it was looking like it belonged on an entirely different house. But I see what you mean by still making sure the front door is the most important. (If I go with the faux wood garage doors, i will also look into a patina treatment to intensify the copper blue-green patina in the front door area.)

jamaraz-I would LOVE to have new carriage style garage doors so I know where you are coming from. I would just keep the idea of painting the garage doors the siding color in the back of my mind for perhaps a few years down the road when you might have an itch to refreshen things up a bit. I think it would look very sophisticated. I've been doing a lot of research on it, and a good exterior paint should hold up well as long as you use 100% acrylic everything, nothing oil based.

(On a side note, SW "Black Bean" is popping up all around. Its the color I'm planning on using as he final grain/highlight color for the faux wood look. And I like it best for jamaraz's shutters)

Moon!!!! Long time no see, gf. Hope you're doing well. :)

Black Bean - I almost feel guilty mentioning it because I sound like a broken record. I don't even know how many times I've spec'd that color. It's amazing because it looks DIFFERENT on each house. Despite (or maybe because of?) its slightly cool, purple undertone, it works as a neutral in various color palettes. Plus, it covers well. Painters don't complain about Black Bean.

Yeah, oil outside is a bad plan. Oil anywhere, actually, is totally unnecessary in the year 2011 with the modern formulations we have. One important point to consider is oil is not flexible - and that side from the other baggage oil brings to the table. 100% acrylics are a film that constrict and contract so they don't craze like oil.

Going grayscale with your photo can help for a variety of reasons - yep, I agree. With some of the paint programs, some colored areas don't take new color very well. Removing the saturation from that area, making it gray can help when it comes to applying new colors.

dtchgrl, Here's an idea of what I was talking about with your house. The patina'd cooper roof areas add a lot and help underscore importance on the front of the house instead of the garage. Topiaries aren't my faves, but I didn't have much to choose from in the 'online nursery'.

jamaraz, looks like an mini, impromptu GW party picked up on your thread. Hope you don't mind! All we need is someone to make a beer/wine run. :)

POP-glug, glug, glug (pouring a glass of virtual wine). Here's a toast to what's been a fun & informative thread!

"With some of the paint programs, some colored areas don't take new color very well. Removing the saturation from that area, making it gray can help when it comes to applying new colors. " That's a good tip.

Super! We'll start with wine. Cheers!

no problem. The next round is on me! :)

Ha ha! I was really just thinking about pouring a glass of wine while I chill out here.

jamaraz, you know that you MUST continue to post pics along the way. (And identify with your screen name in the post) Nothing I hate more than going through the prelim step and then don't get to see the outcome!

Thanks funcolors...more good info, and i'm def taking the plunge on the faux wood garage now, as well as finding a way hurry along the blue-green patina over the front door. And while structured topiaries aren't my fav either, I can see that having something taller than the typical potted flowers draws the eye to front entry.
Curious, what did you put for the front walk/steps? The slate/flagstone needs a lot of repair and might need to be replaced anyway.
CHEERS!

dtchgrl, it's just some virtual bricks and pavers. "Stained" the area under the door the same color.

Cheers!

dtchgirl, I will definitely post pictures as long as no one gets mad if I don't follow everyone's advice. Still not sure what to do on the bays. I liked funcolors picture but I'm sure my husband will want white. Does anyone have an opinion on making the bottom half of the bays the body color and the top half white?

This is my uneducated opinion, but if you intend to paint the bays white, I think it would be much less of a shocking contrast if you went with Khaki Brown on the siding. And, no, I am not insulted if you don't take my advice. ;-)

I totally agree with you meowzer but we decided to go with the timber bark. So now I'm worried about the bays being too dark if we paint them timber bark or too shocking if we paint them white. I'm thinking about hedging my bets and painting them half & half!

The nice thing about paint is it is fairly inexpensive so you can play around with it to see what looks good, and it is fairly easy to repaint if you don't like it. I like the Timber Bark best, too.