Found another sample for you to consider. Clapboard in Gauntlet Gray (SW 7019), shakes are DoveTail (SW 7018), trim and garage door is Origami White (SW 7636), So in your case, you could do the darker Gauntlet Gray on the body of the house or Dovetail. Both great looking grays with white. The roof looks like it is a mix of gray and browns. These grays are darker that Dorian. So there is more of a contrast with the white.

The Broadmoor - Fall 2013 Parade of Homes Model · More Info

I love Dorian Gray! It's the perfect neutral gray -- doesn't have a yellow or blue cast to it, at least not on my interior walls. Played around with some of your ideas to see what they'd look like. I personally love a warm brown stained door but tried out a dark grey here (maybe similar to Black Fox). Doesn't feel like a dramatic change to me, if that's what you're going for -- and maybe you're not! But I think the overall look is crisp and clean feeling.

This house has a sunny, cute disposition & I would not go gray. I would keep all trim & the shake portion above garage white. I could see a blue/green/gray (muted grayed-down version) to replace the green. Brownish gray roof, bronze modern light fixtures, new column (will do wonders).

I'm so thankful for everyone's thoughts on this!! Love the pictures parker_31. those are so helpful!

-- Maybe I would like the white gable better if the body of the house was a brighter/fun color. I'm not totally convinced. I was pretty set on gray and painting the gable! :)

-- I saw a picture of Dorian Gray cut 50% and loved it. But it does probably have a more serious feel instead of cheery.

-- I do not think a new garage door is an option at this point, unfortunately. Would love to have a more interesting door for sure. Maybe some day.

-- I will look into more cheery colors. If you have names of ones you suggest, please say those!

Other advice I've gotten prior to this post just for FYI

1) Choose a color you love and paint the entire house with it, that big triangle and all. It will look far more cohesive. Paint the front door a bright color like blue.

2) Nobody would buy a new business suit, then have the right arm or left pant leg dyed bright orange, but they'll paint their garage door or roof gable stark white.

I just don't get it.

3) Benjamin Moore Camouflage with a Dark charcoal grey roof.

4) Painting the gable would make the house look more expensive.

5) Paint the garage door white. Paint the front door a red or blue color. Larger Porch Post. Architectural roof shingles in a black color. New fresh landscaping.

This is Dorian Gray cut 50%

How important is it to carry out a color inside the home as well? Our main interior colors are Pacer White (Creamy), a warmer gray flooring and oak trim. We have no plans to paint with green.

I had been considering Agreeable Gray or Anew Gray. It's a little more cheery....but maybe not enough?

I never heard of steel siding. Learn something every day!

If you want to paint the gable a different color go a step darker than the body of the house as in parker_31 photo above.

I think the agreeable and renew gray are nice. I think they look more beige to me but I like it. My house was painted a gray for 15 years and I always referred to it as battleship gray so am over gray..but.. the Dorian gray is nice. I think you should paint the triangle above garage the same color as body of house, not white, the white is too much. I would keep all trim white.

Or you could paint the triangle a darker or lighter shade of the gray like this. I think it's a good look. I've been seeing the two toned more lately. ( I googled two tone gray houses and a lot came up)

[https://www.houzz.com/photos/pennsylvania-place-craftsman-exterior-chicago-phvw-vp~46553176[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/pennsylvania-place-craftsman-exterior-chicago-phvw-vp~46553176)

Regarding steel siding. That stuff lasts forever. My parents neighbor has it, at least 40- 50 years old and in good shape. Paint was peeling a number of years ago and they had it painted but it started peeling again, I don't think they did enough prep just slapped paint on. I think it's not uncommon for paint having adhesion issues on steel siding. They had it repainted again with more attention paid to prep ( a lot of scraping) and correct primer. I don't know the details on what kind of primer however. I would do some checking on the correct way to prep and ask your painter if they are well versed on insuring that paint will adhere properly to your steel siding.

Yeah, you can drive yourself insane with paint colors.

I would treat the garage door like the front door and trim.

I would double the size of the light fixtures.

I agree with Color Zen, and I love parker_31's mockup!

SW Illusive Green is a really nice gray with a touch of green to it. Not too warm and olive-y, though. Has a lot more life to it than just boring gray. Looks beautiful with stained wood, if you decide to beef up your column with natural wood, and/or update your front door eventually.

Is anyone else distracted by the oversized trim on the sides of the windows? How would it look if the long side pieces were painted the color of the siding to make them disappear?

My first thought, flopsycat1. Wonder if the siding is in good shape behind those? The windows are not enhanced by that trim. I don't think of gray as a "bright" color. How much fun can the neighborhood stand? I'm thinking yellow, green or even a plum color.

I would not paint the triangle/gable/above the garage white or cream if the rest of the house is a darker color. It just draws attention to it.

I would choose the roof color first. There are thousands of paint colors but only a handful of roof options.

Now that you have gone to the paint store, you've come back with 8 choices. Keeping in mind that you are going to change the roof to a darker gray, consider each and come up with the top three.

You can use the mock-up parker_31 did with a gray roof without the wood door, since you are not going to do change your garage. Download it to your system and then try loading it up to the Sherwin Williams visualizer to check out the colors. Frankly, I find their app a pain, but it might work for you.

Or you can trust your gut and pull the ones you like best. Buy samples and paint them on foam core board to view them on your house. It is better, in my opinion to use form core rather than painting directly on the house. Having multiple samples on the house is distracting and just makes the process more difficult.

As for what do people use, some use an app called Photoshop, which is pretty expensive and is a learning experience, but gives really realistic visuals. Some use Paint - a MS product that comes with the operating system - crude but it can be effective. Others use something else.

Removed the wood garage door/door update from my previous image and made the gable section the same color as the house. Hope it helps! (I saw your question above -- I'm using Photoshop.)

Just saw where someone wondered what the house would look like if the wide window trim was the same color as the house. Quick attempt here:

No problem. :-)

My house is Mindful Gray with Black Fox shutters. I get a lot of compliments on it.

This is not a great pic, kind of overexposed.

We are painting our cabin Gauntlet with Sealskin trim. Shutters are Composed. The orange is a fun accent for a bench and some planters.

Parker's post here 'Just saw where someone wondered what the house would look like if the wide window trim was the same color as the house. Quick attempt here:' was perfect, both with the matching color of the gable and the trim around the windows.

What a huge difference. The garage gable overwhelms the house in size, so I hope that you paint it the same color as the rest of the house, and also do around the windows like in that example.

I'm wondering whether a simple gable pediment would look good, to break up the large expanse of the gable. Not sure I have the angles quite right but you get the idea. https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b&biw=993&bih=503&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=9UqqW8r-IbC-ggfnzpvYAg&q=gable+pediments&oq=gable+pediments&gs_l=img.3..35i39k1j0l2j0i5i30k1l5j0i24k1l2.4600.6399.0.6856.9.8.0.0.0.0.140.782.2j5.7.0....0...1c.1.64.img..2.7.775....0.dUejgEy84p8

Just fooling around with some ideas. If you go with this, you'd want to box around your porch post to make it square too, and a little larger.

Your porch post needs to be much larger than pictured to balance the huge and unbalanced garage gable. You have the right idea there. That is also why I prefer the gable painted to match the rest of the house.

Overall, it seems like most of the trim is not beefy enough to support a big contrast in color (and I love a warm gray with crisp white trim, but the trim has to be more of a feature, when small/thin it looks like an afterthought.) At the least I wouldn't paint the line dividing the gable and lower garage white. I think a moderately darker tone of your siding color would be good.

Maybe partim would be kind enough to try out both somewhat darker and slightly lighter shades on the trim for us?

ETA: Don't do a black roof, the summer heat gain inside from black is significant. Choosing a roof color first is actually very good advice -- there are really nice gray-brown-multi blends that look good with lots. Weathered Wood (most brands have a version) is always a favorite of mine.

With your large gable, you could add some Craftsman elements to the house, or use a Craftsman color scheme. The green would be a good start. Some rust brown/red would really pop with the green, maybe for your door. And go with cream rather than stark white trim.

Sadly, I'm not really good at that type of imaging. Straight lines are about my limit LOL.

following

I know you've already said you aren't planning on updating the doors but I had created this a few days ago when I was playing around -- it shows the wider porch column that others have mentioned. You could obviously do that in white. Wanted to share it since I already had it made. To me, this feels more craftsman -- like partim suggested. I have no architecture training/education so that's my uneducated opinion. :-)

I don't think painting white around the windows will look right. It kind of dates the house or something?

You've gotten lots of great suggestions here!

I do not think the gable pediment fits with the style of your house, though, so would disagree with that suggestion.

Did you decide on your colors, Lisa?

Sorry for all my posts! I'm still catching up on all the comments -- here's what I think raee_gw zone 5b-6a Ohiois suggesting? Correct me if I'm wrong. May not have the colors exactly right, but you can see what a more monotone color scheme would look like, as opposed to a white trim.

Lighter trim

Darker trim

Yes, Parker_31, that is what I was curious to see! Thank you!

I do like the more monotone, not sure if I like lighter or darker trim best. And this would work well with any of the pretty colors that you posted last Friday.

Then I would consider switching the lights by the garage door to larger fixtures, maybe black, and maybe painting the front door black as well? Or another stronger color?

ETA: your white fence will still look good with those soft colors, even if you don't have white on the house itself.

Please do not apologize for all the posts parker_31! They are so helpful!!! Of the paint samples I tried on poster board, we like SW Oyster Bay and Magnetic Gray the best --- but I'm not sure if either are exactly right.

I see what you, raee_gw zone 5b-6a Ohio, are saying about the trim not necessarily being white because it's not very prominent. However, that is one thing we originally thought made our house more interesting :) since we don't have brick or stone. If we go with a more monotone scheme, I definitely like going lighter with trim... Oh man, all these suggestions are great! Still think I might keep the white triangle which is a big switch for me (I just don't know!) :)

The wider post looks really good in those pics! Cannot wait to make that happen!

I really like the gable in the same color of the house. It's very dominant and the pitch is steeper than the rest of the house. Having it white makes it look top heavy and brings all the attention to the garage. Keeping it the same color will let it recede and become part of the house so you can focus attention on the front of the house with landscaping and a pretty color door. JMHO-ymmv.

Update for you!!! I think it's looking really good. Thanks again for all your help!

We decided to try keeping the white strip between the garage and gable green like someone suggested! Thoughts?? We still have the option of making it white.

What do you think about the light?--color, style or size?? it's the one we both liked best at the store. But we could keep looking :)

We WILL beef up the post.... just haven't gotten to that point yet!

Thanks again!

Lisa, since your front door is under an overhang, I think you need a bright color to make it "pop." Perhaps a shade of red or bright blue. Be bold!!

It is looking good! Painting the gable to match has made a big improvement!

I like the lamp -- the size is good and the black will show up better. I would paint the address post below it black too.

I also approve of not painting that dividing strip white as that helps to de-emphasize the out of balance gable. I like the color overall!

How do you feel about a kind of bittersweet orange for the door? Black would be great too -- a blue also, but I can't confidently suggest a particular blue to go with the siding -- maybe someone else will chime in with one. Yes on painting the screen door to match! Otherwise, your color will be mostly hidden.

I like what you have done so far. The gable does not dominate as much now. I like the lamps. Please update us after lamps installed and new post put in.

Wow, looks great. Painting the Gable above garage the same looks great.

I would get a different larger post for your address. Like this:

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/313774299017262345/

Just added: Or if and when you get a larger more beefy post by front door walkway I would put address on that. It would be up higher and easier to see from street.