Choosing Exterior House Colors

As everyone knows, first impressions count a lot! The same holds true for your house. The exterior of a house should look very enchanting, elegant and classy, cause most of the time, people will have already formed an opinion about your house as well as you, sheer by looking at the house from outside! Yes! It's true! Even if you have the most sophisticated and interesting looking interior decor, if the exterior of your house does not match up, it will bring down the entire look of your house. Solution? Spruce up your house from the outside by painting it in some unique and creative color schemes. Here's a mini guide which will help you out in choosing appropriate exterior house colors.

Tips on Choosing Exterior House Colors

Complement the Surroundings
The first thing that you should keep in mind while choosing exterior house paint is the area and the houses around. If the houses close by are painted in similar colors, preferably choose some other paint color. You want your house to stand out from the rest, now don't you? At the same time, do not make the contrast so obvious that your house stands out like a sore thumb among the rest. Secondly, observe the surroundings. If there is too much greenery around your house, painting it in green color would not be a good idea. Similarly, if there are bare grounds around, brown color on the house exterior may not look good, as it will get lost in the surroundings.

Don't Follow the Trends!
Another important advice on choosing exterior house paint colors is that do not follow the latest trends blindly. Trends come and go with every season, but you will be living in that house for years! Since painting the house is generally taken after three years or more, so go with the colors that you like and which suit the weather and surroundings around your house, rather than those which are in vogue.

A Patch Test is a Must
Although, painting a small portion of the house may not give you a clear idea as to how the house will look when the same paint color is used in large portions, still, doing a patch test is better than using the paint color directly on the exterior house walls. At least by doing this, you can check how the color looks at different points during the day i.e. in the sunlight, in the evening and in the dark, under moonlight. For instance, if a very light exterior house paint is chosen, under the sunlight it may appear as white! So, such blunders can be avoided by doing a patch test first.

Contrasting or Complementary Color Schemes?
When looking for exterior house color ideas, you have two choices. Either you can go in with color schemes wherein the walls and the front door, shutters, window trims and other architectural details are painted in closely related colors or you can choose ones in which these are painted in contrasting color schemes. As both these have their own appeal, if you are confused which one to go for, go for a drive in your neighborhood and check out the houses. Click photographs of the ones that appeal to you. See the kind of colors and combinations these houses have and then accordingly choose one for your house too.

Dark Color or Light Colors?
You must have observed that majority of people prefer their house exterior painted in light colors like white, beige, gray and light brown. It's not just aesthetics behind these color choices, but a valid scientific reason too. Dark paint colors tend to fade faster than lighter colors as they absorb more heat and have comparatively more moisture problems. So, if you want your paint colors to look good for a long time, go in with the darker shades.

Some Popular Colors
Neutral paint colors like white, cream and light brown, when paired up with darker shades like chocolate and plum as accents for the architectural details, go very well. Another paint color combination that looks very creative is pale yellow, off white and gray. If the roof is visible, paint it in gray color, the majority of the walls in yellow and the shutters, trims, sidings, etc. in white. This tricolor look will lend an amazing effect to your house! Besides these, some other exterior house colors that you can consider are light blue and light green. With light blue, use accents in some other shades of blue i.e. turquoise or aquamarine. Similarly with green, choose accents of dark green and olive green.

When choosing exterior house colors, see to it that you buy only high quality, superior paint which has a very good finish as they will last longer and you won't have to go through the hassle of painting the house every couple of years. With these tips up your sleeve now, I am sure you will make your house the envy of your neighbors!