But you have all that good strong sunlight in NOLA. You can go with so many colors and they look right - pastels, earthy Mediterranean palettes, even crisp white. Drive around & see what strikes you. What is your roof color?

We lived in New Orleans (Lakeview) for 8 years & were so happy there. Hated to leave. Still root for the Saints :)

That's where we're building! We can't wait! We're thinking we'll do a black roof...

Somehow I thought you might be in Lakeview :) I was in NO in August as my youngest son (Hynes alum) is finishing his B.A. & entered UNO. He's excited to be "home" again after 15 years in Connecticut. We drove around the area and were delighted with how good it all looks. That new Smith library will be fabulous, and the neutral grounds along Canal Blvd. are so nicely landscaped. And the new homes -- wow! We were surprised how much UNO has expanded and how pretty the campus is.

Anyway, back to your house! When we moved to the Northeast is when I realized that locality affects color choices. In the strong bright sun of New Orleans, you have a greater range of choices than we do here in the dim northeast. Plus the NOLA architectural heritage gives you more freedom of choice. And since you aren't limited by your roof color, there should be many house colors that would work. I guess the only limiter is the brick color. If you're going with a brick with a lot of orange in it, then that might restrict some choices.

Drive around town and take pictures of house colors you like.

Good luck with your new home. How exciting!

Thanks so much for responding! I guess you're right. It's just hard to know exactly WHICH paint color will give me the result I take the picture of. Know what I mean? I was hoping more would weigh in for that reason. But oh well. Maybe my post was too wordy. LOL!

i used to live in metarie!

i don't know if you should shy away from white if that's the color you always envisioned...even tho it's the house color right next door.
it sounds like the neighbor's style of house is quite different and white is such a classic house color that their white wouldn't steer me away from it...
if they end up painting their shutters black, you could always opt for a deep brown, charcoal or a black/green to change things up-all nice colors with white/brick.

i would be afraid of a pastel look, in some lighting with a very light grayish blue/green. (our ceiling in our mbr is painted BM's grey wisp and in some light it looks abit like baby blue-very changeable color!) plus, a color would be a different look altogether than a classic white... you'd really want to be sure of your color selection!

No, your post wasn't too wordy. Any way you can post a picture of your front facade? Take a picture of drawings, even, & post them?

Area paint stores could help identify house colors from pictures or steer you towards a similar color in their own brand.

How close are your two house to each other?

Can you post a photo of your plans? Or of the neighbor's house, lol?

I'll be going by the lot and the neighbor's house tomorrow. I swear their construction guys probably think I'm some kind of stalker because I go down the street a couple of times a week to check things out. LOL!

I'll snap a pic with my phone and snap a pic of the rendering on our plans to get your thoughts. Good idea!

If you are going to have a brick and white Hardy-plank house with black shutters, what parts will be sagey silver/gray?

graywings, I was wondering about a complete alternate color scheme since the house next door turned out to be white. So if we *don't* go with white then I might look at a taupe/gray or a sagey silver/gray with black/dark shutters instead. Does that make sense?

So here's OUR elevation. It's hard to really tell from a two-dimensional drawing. The left (plain) side with just the four windows to the left of the front door is recessed back while the front door and double porches are pushed forward. Both houses sit on 50 foot lots that are right next to each other. The houses have to have 4 feet clearance to the property line. I know ours has 6 feet to their line. We will be to their right.

Here is the neighbors' house:
{{!gwi}}

Actually, they've progressed since my last post. I ASSUMED they were doing brick along the bottom because I saw a pile of bricks. But it appears they're only bricking the front steps. The bottom appears to just be painted since the vents are already in place. It didn't enter my mind that they'd only do the steps. I think I've seen some houses just paint the blocks then cover the surround next to the separation with landscaping. Maybe that's what they're doing?

Soooo....that's what we've got. Like I said, you can see they're white is a grey'ed white because of the contrast with the white trim on the house. And I do not know if they're using shutters or not. I'm kind of thinking not since the windows are close. If they do use shutters, they'll be close. But then again, I was wrong about the brick on the bottom! Ha! Thoughts?

I'd do a little more funky to fit your surroundings. If you go with white for the house, use a bold color or 2 for the trim and shutters.
I'd steer clear of a black roof in a hot climate for heat transfer reasons. Go as light as you can...

Congratulations on the sale of your house and the start of this new one! How exciting.

The thought I kept having as I read your initial query, the responses which followed, and then saw your plans and neighbor's house is: wait. When your house is further along I think it'll be abundantly clear to you whether your crisp white & black will work. Because that's been your dream I hope it does! But you never know -- as you see your new house actually standing there on the street ~10 feet away from your new neighbor's house, I'll bet your eye will tell you.

I totally understand wanting to make decisions, being excited to finally start, but some things are easier (& better) to decide when there's something concrete.

I really am excited for you and look forward to watching your home develop.

Beautiful home. It would look great in any color. Sorry to be so vague! But both the taupe/gray or sage/gray would be flattering. Plus in New Orleans, you see such a variety of colors in a neighborhood that any color would fit in.

Yes, I guess you're right about waiting. The main thing I was thinking of was windows...our window color will depend on the paint color (ivory or white windows). But I have a feeling I'll end up with a crisp color that will go more with white than ivory. The contractor had said that windows and doors were one of the first things that needed to be selected. So I think now that the ivory/beige is pretty much out of the picture, I'm OK. I do know we're going with more of a classic/traditional look than a funky colorful look that fits in with the New Orleans uptown look. That's not something we're going to do. It doesn't fit in as well with our neighborhood. I'll keep you all updated! Thanks for the input!