5 Tips for Choosing Your Exterior Paint Palette

However, that is not necessarily always a good thing. At Arizona Painting Company, we have helped a number of customers resolve neighborhood disputes by providing advice on the perfect exterior paint palette.

Believe it or not, one of the major causes of disputes between neighbors is exterior color schemes. While you may love your vibrant yellow paintwork, don’t be surprised if your neighbors across the street start wearing sunshades even at night.

We all want to get along with our neighbors, so it is a good idea to ensure that your exterior color palette doesn’t make your home stand out in the wrong way. To help our customers make the right choice, we have come up with 5 tips for choosing an exterior color palette – which won’t have the neighbors protesting at your doorstep.

Consider Contrasting Colors

When painting any surface, it is normal to consider how it contrasts against adjoining surfaces. The exterior of your home is no different. Certain structures of your home are unlikely to change during the course of a typical home makeover. For instance, you are not likely to replace your roof every time you paint the exterior of your home.

Taking the color of semi-permanent fixtures into account when you choose your exterior palette is, therefore, important. Think about how colors will contrast with your roof, stonework, or other similar structures that are visible from the exterior of your home.

Architecture and Age

Sometimes contemporary meets traditional works; however, sometimes it does not. When it comes to architecture, choosing the wrong color palette will destroy the look of your home, rather than complementing it.

The exterior color palette needs to enhance the appearance of the architecture and style of your home. If the color palette is not appropriate for the style of your home, you could end up transforming an otherwise beautiful building into a gaudy eyesore.

A professional painting company can help you choose a color palette that remains true to the architectural style of your home’s exterior. For the more adventurous decorator, a professional painter with a good eye for style can also guide you so that you don’t get too extreme with your vision.

Use Broad Visualization

It is very easy to forget that your home is but one building among many. As such, when you are visualizing how your exterior paintwork will look, you need to take the surroundings into account. Where your home is located and its position, how much light the exterior receives, and the colors of surrounding buildings are all important factors in deciding your color palette.

You do not have to make your home completely uniform with its surroundings. The object of broader visualization is to get a sense of how your home will look to observers. You can still have the colors you want by simply adjusting the shade to make your exterior paintwork more pleasing to the eye.

Color Selection

A tried and tested scheme for exteriors consists of three shades for specific areas of the exterior. The first and main color is known as the field color. This is the primary color for your exterior walls. The second color is used to accentuate prominent features of the exterior, such as doors, shutters, and other fixtures. The third color scheme is applied to features including trim work, casings, railings, etc.

To get the best results, you should think about how these shades will contrast with each other. Use shades to bring out the features of your exterior that you want to make most prominent. For example, using a dark shade for your main scheme should be contrasted with a lighter color for your trim.

Experiment for Perfection

The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry. All the preparation and visualization in the world are no substitute for the real thing. To save yourself the heartache of dealing with a disastrously exterior color scheme, it is always best to field-test your exterior color scheme before committing to the project.

The best way to do so is by painting a small section of your exterior so that you can see how the color comes out. Try to choose a section that will allow you to see the paint from various angles and under different light conditions. Ideally, you should also choose a section that allows you to incorporate all three shades from your color scheme. It goes without saying that you should only purchase a quart of each shade when conducting your color test.

For expert advice or to draft in the professionals, give Arizona Painting Company a call. We are experts in matching color schemes for both interior and exterior palettes. You can discuss your needs with one of our friendly customer service representatives, so we can provide you with a free consultation today. Visit our Color Consulting page.