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Home Decorating

Help! Need advice on exterior colors

10 years ago

Building my "forever home" ... 6 months ago had no clue I'd even be building a home, let a home I'd most likely be living in the rest of my life. The pressure is a bit much somedays. We are building a similar rendition of Kensington Park by Frank Betz. It has a Craftman feel to it and I'd like to throw a little "beach cottage" in there as well. We will be using man made stone on parts of the front (I'm guessing ledgestone at this point but I'm not married to it and can still change if I want), and vinyl siding. I know, I know...I've discovered there is a very real hate out there for vinyl siding (had no clue) but its what we can afford at this point.

I am OBSESSING about the vinyl siding. I have no clue what to go with. Do I go with the safe suburbia beige-y color or something bolder? I live in Illinois.Our home will sit on a beautiful piece of land, kind of on a bluff, with lots of timber on 2 sides and bean/corn/wheat fields on the other 2 sides. So no neighbors or anything. I can do what I want.

Been debating for sometime on Sable Brown (combination of the vinyl shakes and 4" lapboard) and lots of bright white (or maybe creamy white) trim. We will have a Craftsman front door I will also stain some color (not sure yet but I won't paint it I don't think). There are also a few eyebrows on the house that we will use steel roofing on (totally at a loss as to what color that should be). Considering Certainteed driftwood or weatherwood for the shingles.

I'm worried! Is it too dark? Will I get tired of this color? Will it fade into a horrible splotchy mess with the sun?

I plan to do my interior with lots of light earthy colors. We have a ton of windows and I love brightness. Thought that might be a striking contrast with the dark exterior?

I've also considered granite gray, sterling gray, seagrass, and natural clay as alternative colors. Also thought of doing combination and making the lapboard one color and then the shakes a different color. My husband really likes the grays. I just don't know! Any guidance is much appreciated as I am about to go crazy trying to figure it all out. :)

Here is a link to the original house & picture below: http://www.frankbetz.com/homeplans/plan_info.html?pn=3910

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Comments (3)

Annie Deighnaugh
10 years ago
If it helps, we went with certainteed cedar impressions natural clay vinyl siding..the colors look similar to your picture.
Renae Hardt
Original Author
10 years ago
Annie, that looks beautiful! Do you feel like the Natural Clay has more of a green, beige, or grey tint to it? Does it change a lot in the light? I can't see really well, but it looks like you did white vinyl on the dormers...is that right?
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You have a really nice looking house. Would keep the brick-- it looks really good. The brown in the forward facing gable on the right side -- entry door side -- looks best with the brick. The gray may well be the trendy color of the day but the brown -- not boring -- that you have around the entry actually goes much better with the brick. Using that brown over all the rest of the painted surfaces on the entire house will make your home more classic than trendy (in my opinion, a much better look). You don't even need a different/contrasting trim color. What is needed is the two parts of your house to ... match itself by making the colors of the center and left side of your home match the right side your home..
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Whatever you do, DO NOT Paint the copper gutters and downspouts. They are an architectural feature. There are spit opinions on painting brick. If it's an ugly color, paint it. My personal experience was painted brick was the easiest, most durable house covering. It was 25 years before we had to paint our house a second time. We washed the house every year and the paint was incredibly durable. Trim paint is another issue entirely. It took constant upkeep. If the house is stucco, use an elastomeric paint. It's much thicker than regular house paint and designed to expand and contract with the stucco. You can tint it, just like regular paint. Let Lori guide you on color.
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How about rethinking your plan? Here is a inspirational photo and a color palette as example. I am OK with your shutters because they look like they could be functional and they provide vehicle for accent color. I would paint body BM Tarrytown green or similar color and shutters complimentary orange/rusty red for accent. I suggest you look on Houzz for pictures you like that are inspirational to you and post in a new Ideabook here on Houzz. You only have 2 Ideabooks now so it would help us “see” what you like and envision. Great house in great setting.
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Your house is a raised ranch masquerading as a southern plantation home. I would beef up the columns, paint them ( do a sheen finish) and the clapboard white (B.M. has an exterior paint called Soft Gloss). Paint the two shutters to the right of the front door black. Don't paint the front entry and storm black...too much like the shutters. Doors are abutting the brick, so do them in white as well. Shutters are an architectural item, not a decoration, so you want to use them appropriately. The only two windows that can. have shutters are the two singles to the right of the front door. Don't put them on the more modern style windows. They call attention to them. If the house were mine, I would paint everything white and that includes the brick, and the double front door brown. Like this with a light blue porch ceiling and definitely railings between the columns to soften the front with a real porch effect.
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Renae Hardt
Original Author
10 years ago
Annie, one other quick question I thought of...what color roof did u got with? I figure on that particular color going with black vs brown could totally change the look. Thanks so much for sharing!! Natural Clay is definitely top at my list.

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