Pretty houses and colors. I've got your house set up, so will start spinning the color wheel for ya :)

I'm anxious to see what squirrel does. Your house is already beautiful, but with some color on it, it's going to be outstanding. I know what you mean about the Photoshop. I tried to do myself also and it looked terrible.

Laurie

Squirrelheaven- You are my hero. DH and I have spent hours on every color visualizer site out there. I have also kept plugging with photoshop and the results are LOL funny. I really appreciate your help!

Laurie- Thanks for the nice words. When we bought the house in July we knew that it was crying out for some color!!

Chris

Here's a few to look at. Are these pics large enough?

#1
A warm gray, current trim color, porch lighter than house body.
{{!gwi}}

#2
A darker warm gray, current trim color but porch lightened.
{{!gwi}}

#3
The same darker warm gray as #2 but with garage trim the house color, porch lightened.

#4
A soft gray brown, porch lightened. (Thought I had warmed up the trim, but looks the same ?)

Pictures are a great size. We are really liking the last one that is more brownish than gray. Can you keep 'em coming with a darker brown? Could we also see some darker trim options as well?

Love the elimination of the tree up front, unfortunately there is not a full window there! The half moon window leads to my closet and it is just stucco below that.

Squirrel
another amazing job!!

cao100
beautiful home! love the darker warm tones squirrel did.. I like them all..the last one is my favotite, and I like the trim exactly like that , I wouldn't go much darker.
enjoy your new home!!
Ree

Working on some browns. I think I found some wide trim around the front door? What exactly are you thinking of with the dark trim?

#5

What does anyone think about the trim around the garage door? House body color or trim color?

I like it better in the trim color.

Laurie

Sorry to be gone so long, had to give DS a bath and put him to bed. These look great! We saw some homes that were a rich caramel type color with trim that was darker than the body color. It is a look that intrigued us so that is what I meant. I think that I am going to have to talk DH into chopping down that tree. The house looks so much better without it there! Squirrelheaven, I so appreciate your help! Opinions everyone? Should we think even darker?

I would love to see darker just to see if it would look good and I definitely agree with cutting down the tree. What kind of tree is that anyway?

Laurie

Laurie,

I would love to know that myself. It is some sort of weeping tree. I have gone to those places on line where you go through the dichotomous key to determine what type of tree, but the tree that comes up as the answer never looks like the tree I have. I wish I could just lob off the ends of the branches about two feet up to expose the trunk. I think that would make it look better than the big lump of foliage that it is now. But according to what I have read that will cause damage to the tree. Right now DH is talking about thinning it substantially but even then I think it will be ugly.

Chris

I was just wondering because we used to have a weeping tree in our yard, but I can't for the life of me remember the name. I hated it, but my husband loved it because it was unique. I eventually convinced him to get rid of it :)

Laurie

I thought that was just an overgrown upright shrub. Here's caramel and cream :)

{{!gwi}}

Those look great, squirrelheaven. I would keep the trim around the garage doors the same tone as the house color. I don't like an emphasis on garage doors.

I love the multi-stem birch in the first inspiration photo.

Great house, cao.

Squirrelheaven-

That's it! We love it. We had not even considered that color for the door but we love it! I agree that the garage trim should be the house color given that we have monstrous garage doors. Now if I can only convince DH to get rid of that tree that might as well be an overgrown upright shrub! :) Thank you so much. I'm off to try to match to color chips!

Chris

Oh, ok! Then no dark trim? I was having trouble getting it to come up well and was still working on it -- plus the gutters are light.

You're welcome! Maybe the tree can be professionally transplanted to save it? We've had that done.

I like the last one the best also!

Laurie

That caramel color is purrrty! ;c) I also like the light trim and the garage trim the same as the body.

Besides the stonework and similar paint colors, one of the things I picked up on with the houses cao100 posted is the smidge of darker accent somewhere (shutters, etc)...and I noticed that one with the darker color garage doors/entry door. Any chance of throwing a bit of that in photo #8? I'm wondering if that might give it a bit of the feel of the inspiration pics. If that is something cao100 would definitely not be interested in, than of course don't waste your time, lol. I get way involved in this stuff :).

That caramel color is yummy, btw.

Is your house synthetic stucco? If so, how are you going to paint it? I thought it had to be resurfaced or painted with a special paint?

I'd tried the wood garage doors earlier, but being the only thing like that on the house it didn't look right. Here, they are lightened/stained for the caramel house and the door is also a wood specially stained to match in its shaded location. They're shown w/o trying to coordinate them into the facade artificially, and with a number of decorative techniques to try to balance the dark value. Also shown with the red door.

{{!gwi}}

Love the wood garage doors - especially if they're the darker brown like in the photo of the houses she liked - sortof carriage house styled - with a wood front door too. Not an inexpensive change, but Wow, it would be beautiful.

I like the carmel/gold color - would like to see a darker brown with the same trim color you did the wood door example.

Really like the Squirrel landscaping changes too!

Squirrelheaven- Could I ask one more favor? We would love to see the caramel color one (the last one that we loved) with the arch and columns done in the house body color. We are not sure how much more it will cost us to have the painters paint it a different color since it is stucco too. I need to see if I love the arch and columns in the trim color enough to pay extra for it!

As far as the garage doors go...Well, I could see how much a kidney is going for on the black market to be able to afford those garage doors! On the other hand I am awfully fond of my kidneys so I think that I will stick with the doors and trim painted the house color.

On a happy note, I talked DH into thinning out that tree today and while I still don't like it, it is infinitely better than before. A lot of the tree was dead and some had some bizarre looking mold on it so maybe it will die and then I can get what I want! I love the black trellises Squirrel added and am dying to try something like that.

Newhomebuilder- It is not synthetic stucco and the painters will be using elastomeric paint.

Thanks all for the nice compliments on our home and the input. I really don't know what I did before I found this site!!

Chris

Here's the darker 'walnut' garage doors, Carole. Do like the wood tones on there! And, the carmel arch and columns and forget what else :)

If it were me, I wouldn't skimp on the front entrance. I'd highlight the entrance by emphasizing the arch/columns in the trim color, as well as the steps! as in the last pic :) Would the steps be done in a stain? Later, if possible, I'd warm up the drive and front walk as in the previous virtuals, which would seem the house color but lighter (think this is done with a stain?).

Be sure to sample your colors in large swatches (two coats :)

{{!gwi}}

Oh I am seriously bummed! I logged in this morning from work and the stupid fire wall/filter will not allow your images to come through. I will have to wait until I get home to view them! :( Thanks so much for the help and I will come back and post when I can actually enjoy the images.

Chris

And here's the walnut stained doors on a brown stucco, for Carole! (Hmm, now I'm thinking it still looks quite golden from when I mixed it.) Very elusive these colors can be!

Thanks so much! I think you are right that the columns and arch need to be done in the trim color. I had not even thought of staining the concrete steps and/or driveways. Does anyone know if it is a DIY type thing? How much cash are we talking?? The painter comes tomorrow to finalize color selections and will hopefully have a crew here to get started at the end of this week. I will post pics when it is done!

Chris

I'm not sure I'd attempt that DIY unless there's a back door out and Plan B in place :) I'd ask your painter what people do. Don't know if you can go lighter on the steps or if the colors only go darker. Also don't know if people would typically paint the steps or use a stain/acid wash technique. Your painter should know something if no one here chimes in. You might want to ask in a separate thread, since many dial-uppers have been blown off the thread with all the photos. You can right click on a photo, say with the steps and drive done, and save it to file so you can insert one pic in a new thread.

There are a lot of pros on John Bridge Tile Forum, also.

So, did you select your paint colors? And do the test swatches like a good girl? ;)

You're welcome! Can't wait to see it!! Hope all goes well :)