Picking Exterior Colors

Selecting a nice color scheme for the exterior of your home can really mean the difference between a great looking home or just another plain looking box on the street like all the rest.

But, you don't need to go crazy with odd colors that make your home stick out too much and be the sore thumb of the neighborhood.

Choosing your exterior colors may require some inspiration or consultation with others to find the perfect look.

As mentioned in Choosing Interior Colors, that inspiration and help can come from many sources. These include;

• Decorating and Home Remodeling Magazines
• Professional Decorators
• Your Painting Contractor

The decorating magazines are usually the best starting point. Consult with a decorator if your totally lost in the dark, or if you just don't have a good eye for color. Once you've chosen a few options and maybe have a few different exterior colors in mind, consult with your family, friends, and of course your painter to help make the final decision.

Use Online Color Tools

Major paint manufacturers have tools on their websites that help you to pick from their palette of thousands of colors. One of the best such paint color selection tools is provided by Benjamin Moore. Their Personal Color Viewer allows you to choose a home style, or even download digital photos of your own home, and pick colors from their palette to see how it looks on the home.

Sherwin Williams has a similar paint color tool on their website. You can't download your own photos though. The highlight of their tool is that when you choose a color it will automatically suggest complementary colors to use for trim and highlighted features on the exterior of the home. This can make choosing an exterior paint color scheme easier.

It does not really matter which specific color codes you pick from which manufacturer. Your preferred paint supplier, or the one your painter uses, can do a custom color match from their competitors, if need be.

Note that the colors you see online will likely be more vivid when displayed on a computer monitor, and printing the color images will depend on your printer quality. But the online tools are a great way to help visualize a good approximation of what the outside of your home will look like with new exterior paint colors.

Be Careful With Following Trends

Painting the exterior of your home can be a massive undertaking that should not need to be repeated for a few years, at least. Avoid choosing exterior colors that are too trendy and will be out of date in a couple years. You can follow these types of trends more closely with a highlighted feature color on something like your front door. Changing color on a door or 2 is a lot easier and cheaper than repainting an entire house.

Article provided by Wallpaper Lady and More, Inc. a painting and wallpapering contractor that has been doing interior and exterior painting in Portland, Oregon for more than twenty years.

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