Picking exterior paint colors for 1963 ranch - help please!
It’s like a little dream is coming true: I’m no longer going to have an ugly brick ranch, but instead a soon to be fully Hardie board sided decided-not-ugly ranch!
But that’s another whole story, and for now I’m focusing on color choices for the exterior of the house. We live in a beach community so I’m going for a bit of a coastal vibe - but not anything too in-your-face. Definitely leaning toward the neutral.
The house has a brick facade only in the front which is being covered with Hardie board. It's getting a new roof (metal) and new windows. Here’s what it looks like literally at this moment:
Here’s a picture of a piece of the roofing with the 2 color choices I’m thinking about:
This is a picture from the Sherwin Williams website of a house in Natural Linen with a Meander Blue door photoshopped in:
The exterior color: Sherwin Williams Natural Linen (SW9109)
Front door color: Sherwin Williams Meander Blue (SW6484)
All of the trim, including that being added around the windows, along with the area around the front door and the carport walls, will be white - no idea how to pick a white. Help!!
Thoughts? And thanks!
Comments (14)
HU-187528210
2 months agoSusan W
2 months agoRelated Discussions
Help with exterior paint, copper colored gutters, 60's ranch
Comments (27)Thanks live_wire_oak - I find myself agreeing with nearly all of your style points. I don't think we realized how prominent the roof was until we really spent some time looking at it from the street. I don't think changing the roof is in the budget now (it's pretty new), but we'll definitely keep that in mind. We're both really intrigued by the suggestion of a slab door - what is that? We picked up some paint samples yesterday. Old gutters are down and the house is already looking cleaner, even without the new ones up. We picked a gutter color that is called 'wicker', and had SW mix paint to match. Here's a pic of the samples we put up. It's dim - by the time the paint had dried, this area (east facing, under covered patio) is shaded - but you see the colors we're talking about, over the green and next to the brick. Trim/gutters - light tan (color matched wicker metal gutters) Front Door - BM Currant Red (1323) Shutters (if we do -- causing marital strife) - SW Umber Brick (more marital strife - not painting though!) - 6140 Moderate White. I like the green but we compromised and are currently planning on going with the tan color -- which we color matched from the gutter color we're putting up. That will be all the trim. The dark brown we were thinking for shutters, but if we don't do shutters... Clearly we won't use it :) Would you consider using that brown to paint the aluminum visible in the picture of the front? We'll replace the windows -- they're 1966 single pane glass -- but not sure when, and we don't like the aluminum lines.(could be usable) I like your suggestion on the planters and I'll consider today a success if I can get them dug up before the Rangers game :) Melanie, I believe, on the landscape forum, suggested creeping thyme -- I think we'll do something like that to try and break the planter box line. I also like the idea of semi-circle as landscape bed. My kids aren't playing out there - too close to the busy street - and having something to break up the monotony and add curves would be great. Melanie -- thank you for explaining! I'm looking at his books on ebay now. Thank you SO much for your help here and on the other forum! You've made us like our house a lot more. Summary on what we're going to do this week: Gutters (wicker above unless someone can talk me out of it in the next day) installed, trim/fascia/sofits painted to match. Paint front door Remove boxwood in planter boxes up front Pause and evaluate.... To sum up questions: If we don't do the shutters in Umber -- which my wife wants to do, and my painter assured her it was easy to shave the raised brick to install them, what else can we do in the brown to pop? The window frames? We had a decorator come to help with color selection, and she was a strong advocate of both shutters and painted brick. My wife is still on board with leaving the brick unpainted for now, but the shutters idea has come back with a vengeance. For what it's worth, most house in the neighborhood do ... But, this decorator also suggested we call a Realtor and ask for advice, which is exactly what I DON'T want to do. I want it to look good and not offend those that know what they're looking at! We were going to paint the windows in the white color, but would the brown pop? Give us some color without having to throw up fake shutters? VERY interested in learning more about doing a copper door. We're going to paint the door and frame in that red color above - more of a magenta. Finally, what are you guys thinking about the below picture? Dim again - my photo skills aren't the best - but this is an angle shot of my back patio. Same brick, which you can see. To the left is another bay window just like the ones out front, this one into the breakfast room/kitchen. The ceiling you'll see the drywall portion is white -- and then the wood portion turns to the trim color. The decorator we had suggested we paint the same color, the moderate white, so there's not a line -- opening the space up. But the problem is, if I paint that white, I think I have to carry the white all the way around the house under the roof, meaning the wood on the underside of the roof would be white, the rest of the trim tan. (We're thinking the white above) Or -- can I just tape off a logical line somewhere and transition from white to the trim color? Or .. I can just paint the ceiling the trim color, but then it all kinda blends in. THANK YOU!...See MorePlease HELP with exterior paint colors! Need to pick ASAP!
Comments (9)@decoenthusiaste LOL! I regretted the 'modern farmhouse' when I wrote it. I think I mean a monochrome look, darker overall, with siding, trim and fascia all one color. I am just not into the white highlighter outline look so many are doing. Want to be ahead of the trend and stand out. However, I am so afraid to get it 'wrong.' We did choose a roof color that pulls all the brick colors together. It's an overall medium to darker gray, with hints of warmth and black through. We would ideally like to avoid coating the brick. We would consider after, if it looks bad. We would really like to keep it and roll with it. The garage doors will be converted to one larger door, but yes, there is brick between, with a strip of hideous siding above currently. All to be redone. Unfortunately, we are headed into winter and the siding color needs to be selected this week, or we push to next year...and we just don't want to do that....See MoreHelp me pick an exterior color to update my boring ranch
Comments (3)Good morning! What color is the brick? The picture is fairly dark and when I enlarged it, it was still difficult to get a sense of color because on my monitor there doesn't appear to be any variations of tone. Can you take a couple more pictures of your house when the sun is shining on the front side? First one from same spot as this picture and then another one facing the full front would be good. Is the brick only in the front of your house?...See MoreOrange brick 1950's ranch please help picking a new shutter color?
Comments (14)try using a latex paint remover. you can find it at the big stores. grab a stiff wire brush and a bucket of water. it should work enough so that you don't see it. I photoshopped a few doors/colors/address plaques and lights for you. see what you like. ('cuz that 1950's grandma front door needs to go along w/those shutters!) I like the black option w/copper. the copper will compliment the brick color and the black always looks good w/both I like this door. And, you might think about painting the trim around the windows (did you notice I covered up all your shutters?? looks good huh?) in a darker trim color. gave you this mahogany glass panel door. modern black numbers, a modern chair. I'd paint the other door one of these dark colors, bring in a more modern light. If black is too harsh, think about Urbane Bronze or Iron Ore. both look great w/orange brick. try something modern like this w/the numbers, potted plants, lighting, Here is an orange brick house with complimentary colors and light fixtures. another nice door color is a peacock blue, sage, blue/green, tone soft blue/green with copper and your orange brick always look good Yam color door, bronze light, warm wood and gray tones also work. Here's a door w/natural wood. black mailbox and light (but I like the others above better) are those posts cedar or painted? These color palettes are also perfect w/your brick. (don't forget to paint your side door too....See MoreSusan W
2 months agoOK - I'm going to the Sherwin Williams store today to grab some actual paint to play with. I'm really hoping that the Natural Linen looks good on the front of the house in real life. More toward the beige and less toward the gray - as is the case in some, but not all, pictures. I know that pictures on a screen are not going to cut it!
Thinking either Meander Blue or Sky Blue for the front door. Again, this is just a house in Natural Linen (from the SW website) with a blue door in each shade photoshopped in. Don't know how accurate either is or which I like better...
MEANDER BLUE DOOR:
BLUE SKY DOOR:
littlebug Zone 5 Missouri
2 months agolast modified: 2 months agoSusan W
2 months ago
Sigrid
2 months agomxk3 z5b_MI
2 months agoSusan W
2 months agoOnce again, as I just said, it is most definitely NOT a blue roof. I wish I hadn't posted that picture because it seems to take comments off course.
It is a "plain" metal roof - like a silver color. The most common one we see down here. Totally neutral.
I've changed it up a little after getting some sample paints to work with.
The designer for our builder was just here and is very pleased. She says it's a perfect classic beach combination.
Part of me feels that the house color (Wool Skein) is a tiny bit lighter than I wanted, but I can't seem to give it up. We're going to do some testing on bigger areas to confirm.cat_ky
2 months agoSusan W
2 months agoI think I'm giving up on how anything looks on a monitor. LOL
I agree that it looks oddly lavender here:
But it doesn't here:
and it doesn't in-person. At least to my eye.
ShadyWillowFarm
2 months agoSusan W
2 months agoOK - I've swerved back. LOL
This is probably the most accurate picture of our 4 colors. The only one "off" is the white trim - it's a much whiter white in real life. Our house faces mostly south (ever so slightly west) and this was taken this afternoon, with the sun shining brightly as everything was leaning against the front wall.
The furring process is well underway, but they need to wait for the new windows to arrive before they can go further. The windows will be flush with the siding and I'll be able to get the nice thick trim that I've been wanting forever.
Our job manager did warn us that we will have pretty wide/deep window sills inside the house, since the wall will be extra thick because of the brick. I'm actually excited about that and see no downside.
So hard to stay patient!ShadyWillowFarm
2 months ago
Susan WOriginal Author