I would also use white in your landscaping, i.e. flowers. I like the white bark on the birch tree.

I think everything in decorating needs some white and black, imo. Makes the other colors look their best.

Where do you live in Canada. I live in Kingston.

Thanks RoseAbbey for your comment. We will incorporate some white flowers in the landscape plan choices (white flowers in spring/summer and white snow in late fall/winter). Do you have an opinion on the white hand railing, white light fixtures and/or white deck furniture?

I live in Guelph. I lived in Kingston while attending Queen's. Nice city!

Carol

thanks Carol, I visited Guelph many times, my daughter went to university there.

I would not do white on the lights or railing, I would do black on the light and railing.

The furniture I think can go either way. You will have a better feel for that once everything else is done. Nice house.

I don't like the white trim on the garage. It looks unfinished, to me.

And I 100% disagree with her about needing some white somewhere else. Even her reasoning is flawed. Vinyl windows are definitely available in colours other than white and beige. I have black vinyl windows. I'm pretty sure you could get them in brown even back in the 80s. The wood windows on my old house were painted white. So white windows don't automatically mean "cheap vinyl" to me. Even her last photo, where she discusses it, that's not even white! Those probably aren't vinyl windows.

I do understand where she's coming from, though. 1 white item would stand out. But you've got 6 windows, all in white. You've got white blinds. You've got multiple other colours. Your white windows do NOT stand out.

Thanks RoseAbbey. Grey looked best on the deck railing. Would you suggest black for handrail and have it different than the upper railing? We will try mocking up black for the lights and black handrailing too.

Thanks, Amberm145 for your help. LOL about my white blinds. Those are paper blinds to get as by as we are living in this construction mess. Although, we will likely do white curtains/blinds in the front of the homse anyway.

Carol

OK - clearly I like playing with you. (It is a great way for me to avoid the drudgery work that awaits me.)

Narrow white trim around garage? unsure of it. You could find white tape and use it to see how it looks from across the street, I guess.

I did play, and do like the look of a white light fixture, though I prefer one from the ceiling of the entry. AND, for fun I did some photo editing: some white ground lights?

Oh, I now keep seeing that white window behind the birch and that's an unhappy visual distraction right now. So, I added a white line at the divide between the brick and siding above it. Just throwing out ideas ---- with the hope that more ideas will let you know what definitely doesn't work and what might for you and hubby's eyes.

(I'm also ignoring your landscaping work on where to place the ground lights, as well as your snow fall!)

Ooh, how are your white paper blinds working for you? It's been crazy hot here lately. We don't have AC in the either of our houses, because it doesn't usually get hot enough, and it cools down a lot to sleep. But on the old house, we keep the curtains closed during the day during heat waves, and the house is generally quite nice. The new house doesn't have blinds yet, so it's a lot hotter than the old house. (Plus we've been having break ins, so I don't want to leave too many windows open at night there while we aren't there.)

I was looking at the paper blinds at Home Depot last night. And they have black out ones, but they are so expensive, I might as well consider permanent ones. The white, "light filtering" ones are more reasonable, but would they help at all in keeping heat out?

The photo (darn computer / computer operator issues)

Meanon,

LOL about GW/Houzz helping you to avoid the drudgery. Lots of drudgery here that I am avoiding by obsessing over decisions.

Thank you very much for thinking this through with me and for your sketch. The white line that divides the brick and the siding is a drip line on the front elevation. It is metal, so could be painted white (heavy on the labour thosugh for the side elevations due to slope up sides - needs scaffold). I do like the white line there though.

I definitely think those white garden lights will work -- good thought. Can we do low voltage garden lights, or do we need line voltage run in a conduit for those? Anyone know? There are rough-ins for our outside coach lights on either side of the front door, on either side of garage and one beside the garage man door. There are some on back too. We also have two can lights roughed in in the ceilng of the recessed entry area., and some in the soffits to accent house. We decided some time back not to have a hanging fixture in the recessed entry as we didn't want to block the front transom window. Ironically for now, the transom window is now is covered in paper blinds so neighbours don't know the full extent of the construction site we are living in LOL.

Amberm,

Yes those paper blinds are fine and worth the fee to get you by. They will cut down some heat and probably the light blocking ones won't be that much better for that purpose. They are a pain to open and close (you use clothespins and fold them up section, by section). The room darkening ones will make the house very dark, and you won't want to open them given the effort involved. At one point in our construction, we were living in the cooker house and the paper light filtering blinds did cut back some of the heat. We now, thankfully. have the AC functional (not efficient given house is only somewhat insulated).

Can we please narrow the focus of the question to just the finish on the step railings? We have decided we like the look of the grey railings best for the garage deck. However, does that mean we can't have white for the handrails to help repeat the white. Here are three versions. Can you let me know which handrailing/deck railing combo you like best please? I can also try black for handrails if other posters think we should explore black. Please ignore the other repeated white (lights, garage casing and furniture) and focus on the handrailings.

Version 1:

White Railings for deck and balcony

Version 2

Grey deck railings and white handrail

Version 3

Grey deck railings and grey hand railing.

Please vote so I know which of the three above railing combos is best. Thanks!!!

Carol

Version 3

Version 3 ditto

3 for 3

I would not worry about repeating the white except for maybe lanscaping. The pics with extra white look too busy and detract from the other nice colors you have. JMHO

Version 3 and I prefer the dark grey for the outside trim on the garage door (as opposed to white).

Yes, version 3.

Thank you all for your opinions. Good to know many of you don't think I am obliged to repeat the white from the windows. Thanks for your votes on the railings. It looks like everyone likes the grey for both the deck railings and the handrails too. We do too.

The verdict is still out on whether we should do the outer casing for the garage in white or not. We could use some more opinions here.

Next up on the decision board is the finish colour on the outside lights. We have mocked up four options. Please vote on your favourite finish. The representations were as close as we could get them. It is hard to replicate metal finish colours (especially the bronze one).

Version A Pewter

Version B White Finish

Version C Bronze Finish

Version D Oil Rubbed Bronze Lights

If you got this far, please register a vote on your favourite light finish. Help me cross off one more house decision. You know I can't do it without your opinion.

Carol

Probably Pewter (a) followed by white (b) (but I'm on my second Martini)

Thanks for the vote, meanom. Did you get any drudgery work done? LOL.

Carol

I like the bronze, it ties in with your front door. I think the blanket statement that white windows force you to have white somewhere else on your home is bizarre...so if you have tan frames or another color frame you need to repeat that on your house as well?

I like the orb light mock up

I really, really dislike the white finish lights for your house.

C or D

Thanks for your votes above. Melle, when you said you liked bronze because it ties in with your door, you were referring to option C, not D right?

Good point about the tan windows. I guess the idea is if you choose tan you are choosing it to go with your brick, siding, roof etc? I have seen houses with white windows that really don't seem to go well with all the earthy tones on the house. I am thinking the grey trim around the windows helps make our windows fit in better than white with all earthy colours (grey and white are nice together imo).

Carol

D

Thanks meanom. I have lived in the neighbourhood for over 20 years as this is an add-on/reno project. You are right it is not the most crucial of the colour decisions. However, when we mock-ed up lights on the plan it really gave it a finished look. We can certainly use different coach lights at the door vs the garage.

Carol

Sorry my post wasn't clear; i was voting for D, oil rubbed bronze. I feel like adding the dark lights help connect your dark front door. I'm not saying that doors need to connect, i like doors that are a bright color that isn't necessarily repeated anywhere, but with your home mock-ups, the white lights seem cottagey and out of place, the pewter looks kind of like mortar/cement, bronze seem to recede, and the orb stand out. Since you've chosen attractive fixtures in keeping with the style of your home, having them stand out as well as enhance seems like the way to go.

I wanted to add, after reading the additional comments, that it IS a nice feature when the entry light is the star and the other lighting simply the chorus. Also, i think there was a mock up that had your entry light hanging above your door. I loved that, it really highlights your open, tall entry.

D

Ontariomom, I have the utmost empathy for all the decisions you are making now. I'm planning to get a new entry door and I never dreamed I'd be stressing over so many details.

I really like the dark trim on the outside lights. It needs some contrast and ties in with your beautiful dark door (not sure if it's painted or stained, but it's lovely).

Thanks for the clarification on your vote, melle_sacto. We have not chosen our light fixtures yet, and are just settling on the finish. DH just mocked up one shape to show a light. Not sure what style of fixture would be in keeping with our house. At this point we can't do the hanging entry light at the door -- the rough ins and cut outs to siding have already been done to accommodate a coach light on either side of the door and two can lights in the recessed entry ceilng. We did not want to block the view from inside with a light hanging infront of the transom. With no hanging light fixture I will be able to watch my daughter play on the cul-de-sac with her friends while I prep in the kitchen and did not want that blocked. It may not have been the right decision form wise, but we don't want to turn back now and repair siding, rewire, etc.

Thanks for your input, LInelle and kind remarks on the door. I read one of your threads too. I didn't comment as I was unsure I had anything decent to add to your thread. Our door is fiberglass, and the casing, trim etc around it is real mahogany. Our door maker does a great job of making fiberglass doors look like real wood. However, the real key was having real wood for around the door. Our research suggested it is the casing and trim around the door that really gives away that the door is fiberglass more than the door itself. It really does fool you even when you are right up against the door.

Any thoughts on light style anyone that would complement our home exterior? What about light size. We will have a total of 5 coach lights in the front (one on either side of the garage, one on either side of the front door, and a single one beside the man door which is not seen in photo). Do we do the same one for all 5?

Thanks to help on GW, I have chosen grey railings, and oil rubbed bronze light fixtures. i have almost settled on my garage door colours. And I have mostly let go of the need to replicate white on the house, except for white in the garden. However, I am still undecided on whether I should have the small amount of white casing around the garage or not. I think it speaks to the windows which is good, but it does draw more attention to itself which is less good. Here are the two versions. Can you please give a quick vote on which version you like best below. The best news, is I am starting to like my house exterior (after hating it for so long). I can't wait until the outside is done.

Version AA - With white casing around garage to tie to windows

Version BB With dark grey casing around garage

Please vote, it only takes a second. Thanks.

Carol

Please note these photos are close up. Here is one with the white casing from further back (without the correct lights, etc).

I like b. It repeats the dark gray of the railing. Looks cohesive to me.

Version BB

I prefer the dark gray too

Version BB looks great. I do not like the white trim around the garage door. Your remodel is wonderful!

BB

bb

BB. If you really feel like you have to add white to the garage doors, then it should just be the trim around each garage door window, not the whole garage door, but any white on the garage would not be my first or second choice.

I am glad to get all your votes. I was really leaning towards the white around the garage to repeat white somewhere. Your opinions are making me second guess that choice. Thanks!

Carol

You can wait for the white - the look will change with the other changes to the garage doors, the railing, AND the landscaping.

BB

Yes, meanom you're correct. The landscaping will make such a difference. Currently the metal casing around the garage has grey primer on it that looks like the grey of the gutters, not the grey of the trim or railings. I was wanting to find some way to tie in the white, despite being told on this thread that was not that important. When I look at house images with white windows that are pleasing, they always seem to have other elements that are white. We do want to order our lights and get the railing installed. I am very grateful to have worked out those decisions (well still need to decide on the actual oil rubbed bronze light fixtures). If we do paint the casing on the garage door white, it can be easily covered over again with grey paint (to cover primer).

Carol

I was one of the ones that actually suggested the white trim around the garage, but now looking at the grey, I like it better.

Well it looks like GW has spoken on the white casing around the garage. I was sure hoping there was some way to repeat white on the house. Perhaps it is not meant to be. We are investigating whether we can paint the window sashes white on the fixed garage windows. They may be made out of vinyl so that would be a no go.

Carol

I tried to look at some pics on the internet of similar houses and many do have white trim around the garage, BUT almost all have all white trim, too, not just white vinyl windows. So the white is a big element on the fronts of the houses and leaving off the garage would look weird. I think your house and trim color are dominant and the white just doesn't play in the equation to me. Also, all of the garages I saw with white trim around the outside edge were painted just one other color; the cross trim was not emphasized with another trim color. I think adding white just complicates the design and it looks much better without it.

I vote for BB. I think you should just ignore the white vinyl windows. I agree with other posters that a darker window color would have been a better choice, so if painting the vinyl windows isn't a consideration, I would ignore them totally. I think the white trim around the garage door is way too busy with the detailed door you have. Once your landscaping is all done your eye will go to the landscape and not up to each window. I think the river birch gives you some white balance anyways.

I like the dark brown orb fixtures and the gray railings. I like houses that are more understated than those that have every piece of trim a different color. Once it's all done you will be happy with it! :-)

Thanks Olychick for your research, help and reflection. Your conclusion makes sense. The only other tweak we can make to the garage door is to paint the sashes of the garage windows. Apparently they are aluminum so they can be painted. It would not be a high priority job as it only has a slight impact. Here is a close up of the garage showing the window sashes painted white. DH had to make the white lines thicker on this picture to even show up well enough in the close up. So IRL it would be more subtle. Any thoughts on this sash painting idea?

Thanks ckinkopf for your ideas and thoughts. Glad you think it will look okay when we are all done. I think you are the first poster to mention we should have done darker windows, although I have thought that. Ignoring the windows for now is likely what we will do as I am out of ideas for repeating the white.

Most of our windows are fiberglass which can certainly be painted. The basement windows and two others on the house are vinyl which I would be more reluctant to paint. The vinyl windows were bought 5 years ago and won't last as long as the fiberglass, so maybe in 10-15 years if they need replacing, we will swap them out for fiberglass and then paint them all a grey to match the window trim. At that point we would need to repaint the siding anyway so we would need scaffolding. Yikes, I hope we finish this reno by the time we need to repaint it all!!!

I think if you did the whole garage door one color, then used the white as in your last pic, it would look okay. But with the 3 colors on the doors, it's just one too many to my eye. Most of us think you will be really happy to just ignore the white windows. They are obviously white windows, not painted white as a special feature, so I'd just accept them and work around them. The other decisions you've made are lovely. It's a very pretty house and no one is going to say, "It's pretty nice except there isn't any white on the garage." :)

Excellent points, Olychick. Glad you like our other decisions and find it to be a pretty house. Given this reno has dragged on so long (over 3 years and counting), all I can see is ugliness, nasty bills and piles of incomplete work. I do like the garage door in the grey and taupe as per the garage door thread.