Try using a LARGE sample board of your potential color selections to help in avoiding this. Paint, at minimum 12"x12" or larger, pieces of wood or foam board and then compare against the siding color. Maria Killam has an educational blog regarding colors.

Are you looking for another gray for the steps? Interesting that Cheating Heart is listed with Shadow Gray as a recommended color combination. Try Raccoon Fur if you wanted something similar but with less of a blue undertone.

Are all of the white areas painted with Chantilly Lace?

i think the stairs stand out because they look bad. the bold color highlights the different pitches and materials. once they are repaired they'll be ready for their close up. i'm sorry you have to decide now.

Raccoon fur, will show blue tones too. I dont think what you have looks terrible, it does bring up the fact, that the porch needs some major work. Pretty color on your house.

Could we see the whole front of the house, please? What looks terrible to me are not the steps, but those arches on the porch. And chances are your windows are not suitable for shutters.

I don't think it looks bad. I would get a new front door and paint it a nice color (or get a nice wood craftsman door)

you could try doing the risers or the steps in Chantilly and see if that evens it out for you. But once you get some landscaping, flowers, and the rest done, it should be fine until you choose to redo them.

And please no shutters. You don't have room for them on the dormer windows anyway.

Thank you - and Beth H we actually do have a nice wood original craftsman door. we have a screen door from the previous owners.... and that is what you are Seeing here bc the front door was open. i will ask husband to take that off as we don’t really use it much anyway and take a photo for you all.

I suppose in in the interim I am wondering if I should either:

1: paint the porch/ a less bold color to avoid highlighting the Bad steps

OR

2: try painting the risers white to match the trim (although this may look strange since the bottom stairs are concrete.)

i am also attaching a “before” photo of what the stairs looked like once we sanded everything. The previous color was a dark green.....I suppose no matter what the new color is an upgrade!

If you replace your roof with very dark gray shingles or standing seam metal, I think the steps and roof will blend in nicely. A glossy paint shows more imperfections. You have to repair, putty, sand, and replace the worn areas to make the paint job look like you imagine it will. It takes longer to prepare to paint, than to do the painting. If it did not, than you won't like the results usually. At least you did pick the color of very rich concrete mix. By the time a years worth of sun, and wear, and dust and rain fall come over it, you will know for certain what needs to be done next with your steps?

Thanks all - this is our first home and been a labor of love so really appreciate all the advice. we are not in the position this year to do new steps or roof. Just looking for ”better” not perfect - agreed new steps and roof and rebuilding the porch ( Groveraxle I love your design!!!) would all make a huge difference and transform our house. Just hoping we can get some interim advice to help with curb appeal.

i am frustrated with myself because I have been so thoughtful with all paint decisions (interior and exterior) up until

this point and really do love the shadow gray and so am just as a loss of what to do for the “in between” time - I am sure many of you can relate!!!

Hi Amanda! Nice re-work on that fake grass green color that was the original (lol). I Like the two tone gray color scheme and would not recommend changing that beautiful contrast to adjust for the stair situation at this time. Given they are a much darker hue than the colors and shadows behind (your porch), they do kind of 'scream' at you.

And unless you have already tackled the big design decision of the stairs budget for next year, you likely don't want to put significant (or any) cost into mature landscaping (and of course the hassle of working around that if your stair footprint will be different), so I appreciate your dilemma!

I know it's difficult to ask yourself daily what particular functional and/or architectural feature gets the #1 spot in the budget, and when.

I am assuming you have big plans for an amazing entry so the focus is on the budgeted interim. In that case, if this were my porch, I would perhaps approach it this way:

1. The 'face' of each riser is really the big offender stealing center stage -- a full front exterior would be helpful but easy fix #1 is to make those riser faces 'disappear' by using the same lighter siding paint (and leaving the top of the riser/stair dark as it is, so it disappears). I would not select white as it will jump out at you, and not as dark as your front porch siding as it will draw attention to the stairs first, then the front door as an after thought. Try to make them disappear so the eye follows to the front door on the porch.

2. Then, if you are really in a hate/hate relationship after that, go ahead and get a couple of potted trees you know you'll love that you can plant flanking the stairs later, or elsewhere in the garden. For some reason, Japanese maple screams at me to flank the stairs to the main level siding (keep potted so you can move them next year when this part of your project begins). Those beautiful colors will pop against your exterior and draw away from the stairs themselves.

First you would see the beautiful red/yellow/green tones in the big picture, then you would see the porch, having forced the riser 'face' to blend down to where you want your focus - the front door.

Though I'm never a huge red/yellow family color fan on exteriors, I can be on landscaping and once you pull focus to your center stage (front door), you might just find that something fun like a big red mailbox finishes your look -- whatever color choice, just try to guide the eye away from the stairs and to the front door. And now that I am re-designing your front porch as well (haha), you could easily have the potted trees flanking the stairs, and again the same flanking the front door.

Whatever it is, the idea is to bring the eye away from the stairs that follow to the porch.

What a lovely home!

Here is another photo from a different angle too....

ah ha! That is so much more helpful so I will have to take away half of what I said :)

Since your stairs start at the sidewalk with no forward landscaping opportunities (apologies, your other photo looked like you might have some real estate in front to work with), I would disregard the facing riser as a different color idea -- that will draw attention to them.

I would paint them the same color as the lighter gray siding, and still stick with the idea of flanking trees (only because adding some height will minimize the "hello, I am the stairs" look.

Depending on your stair plans (as I can see the concrete portion of the bottom 3 stairs have settled over time), you could plant one left in the garden bed and keep one potted right at the same trunk level to trick the eye that there isn't such a drastic difference.

Later, again depending on your plans, you could build a similar raised bed to the right.

On another totally different note, I'd LOVE to see a white wisteria eventually get trained to follow along that beautifully curved entry from right to left. :)

Thanks Charlotte! Super helpful. Just FYI, not sure if this is clear in the photo, but the gray siding color is the same under the porch... it just looks darker because of the shadow.

so you are saying paint the porch and stairs a lighter color Gray? I just am worried about not enough contrast.... is painting the risers totally off the table because of the concrete?

Ah, I see that the porch ceiling is your exterior body lighter gray color (is that correct?), but the facing wall siding (flanking the door and porch body) appears a darker gray, that is Cheating Heart? And yes, if that is the case, the same color on the stairs make it look blue. (Correct me on any of that).

I like your porch contrast and if you are happier with the cheating hard overall color over the stair color in the sunlight (as it does make your porch body appear blue (that would wreck me as well)! then as a 'temporary fix', I would either:

1. paint the stairs the lighter exterior body gray -- it also appears to be in the sunlight so that will work well together

2. Paint the stairs the color of the half circle entrance detail (but I am guessing that is also the color of the foremost exterior siding -- if not, go for it -- they will like each other :)

3. Or...you might hate to hear this :) -- winter is coming, throw some potted plants up each stair riser that counteract the blue that the stairs are creating in the sunlight; pick something you love (vs. obsessing over the color wheel color diversion) and that is interesting enough to have a personality.

To your question -- no, nothing is off the table due to the concrete vs. the wood, it's really a matter of what you want to highlight.

I know, that's so helpfully, not helpful, right?

If it were me, I would want to temporarily diminish the "hello, we are stairs, and oh, there's a lovely house behind them", which translates to trying to 'make them go away for now'. Even if you don't love the bluish tone of the porch face siding, I personally would opt for a lighter color on the stairs to draw attention to the house, not the stairs.

Wow, big decisions, right?

!! Thanks - so the ENTIRE main body of the house is one color: Shadow Gray. No two tone gray. The cheating heart is currently on the porch floor and stairs and the trim and porch ceiling are Chantilly Lace. Does that help?

if you are going to redo them, I think redwood stairs/porch would look nice w/your house colors.

@Beth, nice indeed.

In my area, a nice clear (no knot) redwood or similar runs +/- $3.50 per linear foot -- I think a few alternate ideas might serve Amanda well as she determines her final invested $ and look.

Amanda I don't know where you are located but you would want to account for both cost and slip factor ( in Seattle one renovation I did had painted fir steps -- very slippery and several folks, myself included!, in the fall and winter whooshed down those like we were supposed to be 20 and pop right back up -- ow).

To your comment (Amanda) color clarification does help; the cheating heart on the stairs are throwing the other colors (imho) because it is in the sun therefore giving the bluish it appears you don't care for on the porch (I wouldn't either actually).

I really think you should slap a coat of shadow gray on your stairs, sit with it for awhile and throw some color (plants to my previous thoughts) and really see what resonates with you. After all, that is the only thing that counts! Trust what you like.

I will be so excited to see what you decide but know this --- you can always change your mind. :)

Your porch and steps color looks fine! There is nothing here that deserves any more of your time and attention right now. Next years porch project will be here before you know it. Cross the temporary fix off the to do list any carry on.

If you are looking to do any serious remodeling on that lovely little home of yours, you might find books by Sarah Susanka, “The Not So Big” series, to be very helpful—I borrowed them from the library. In one of the books, wish I could remember which, there was a house with almost the same exact porch as yours, arches and all, original to the home.

In case you’re interested, you may try contacting local historical societies, looking for old photos of the area and try to find your house: see if you can discover what the house looked like “back in the day.”

Our town has a book of old photos showing how the place has changed over the years.

benjesbride
Your porch and steps color looks fine! There is nothing here that deserves any more of your time and attention right now. Next years porch project will be here before you know it. Cross the temporary fix off the to do list any carry on.

99% agree with this ^. The only thing I would do — besides using container plantings to brighten up the steps (mum season is here, so that’s perfect!) — is cut off the ends of the treads so they’re flush with the step.

See? None of these porches is what I’d call perfect (really, though, whose is?), but they look so cute and cheerful by simply plopping some plants and gourds on ‘em!

Not a Pro.

To me your steps are not the problem. Get them fixed when you have the money and do it right.

If you are a DIY, I would beef up your railing, stain to match your front door, take the screen down and take the focus off the steps.

Edited: Love Beth's suggestion!

“Cut off the ends of the treads so they’re flush with the step.” Yes, I think this will make a big difference to how you see the steps until they can be properly replaced. As said above, they’re not as bad as you think but I think they look bad to you because the rest of the house looks nicely kept.

Personally, I love your arches. It sets your house apart from others.

White risers don't add anything, IMO.

Here it is with the steps trimmed:

And with a wall:

@groveraxle the photo visual with the same color treads as the siding is great! @sammy, your pics as well with the plants running up the stairs (or the flanking mini tree idea) are great visuals from the previous conversations and two very economical ways to get this off your mind for now (as it is clearly bothering you regardless of next year's plans :) and have a lovely effect.

Next year will come fast enough but you never know, you might decide to spend that money elsewhere first such as your roof plans for example, and other porch details that will inspire what you ultimately want to do with the steps.

Perhaps in your future project (although it's hard to tell from the photos), if the driveway is to the right of the home, you may want to "L" shape the stair wall on the left and along the sidewalk in front (with some room for a planting bed along the sidewalk wall). That will feel far more private when on the porch, and boost your curb appeal. Additionally those mini walls could serve as the railing required by code.

Alternately you could just butt right up to the sidewalk, save yourself the steep enough expense of ripping up the concrete and build (level) right over it, which also gives you "flat rail' surface to put planters, or to build a planter on top (mind the water issues so do this properly to avoid rot down the road), and plant various varieties that will hang down over the front to take away the 'hard' look of that wall if you choose to go that way.

Let us know what you decide to do and good luck!

Hi all! Wanted to just send a picture with what the front looks like with a potted mum (which I read your mind and bought last night!) and without the screen door, so you can see the wood Craftsman style door original to the house. (ignore the blue paint tape and broom!)

I love the door but do feel like it gets lost .... definitely think I need something to "warm up" the color of my house to make it not go blue....in addition to putting plants and adding a better railing (which we will likely not do until the steps are re-done).

Right now the Cheating Heart looks blue and the Shadow Gray is blue....even though BM recommends them as complementary colors, it just doesnt look right.

I think either painting the treads the Chantilly or just going for a lighter but "warmer" color paint for the porch / steps in the interim would be best. Right??

Paint that beautiful door this color: Barley by Benj Moore. Those gray hues will pop right out.

@redsilver - thank you!! I am trying to convince my husband to paint the door..... I think the detail of the original door gets hidden by the shadow on the deep porch. He loves the natural wood, but I agree I think that color would be great!!!