Exterior House Color Schemes for House Paint

Painting a house exterior is no kids play. Your house could end up being an expensively created neighborhood joke. On the other hand, it could be the house with the most welcoming feel, in your entire housing locale. How it turns out to be in the end, depends a lot on the planning put in towards the choice of exterior house paint color schemes. This article aims at providing a general guide to your choice of exterior house color schemes. Come, walk down the rainbow of colors with me, let's choose together, your color scheme for exterior house paint.

Starting with Exterior Home Paint Colors: Why Plan Properly?

Plan properly, and also way in advance, because

• Your decision on your exterior home paint colors can increase or decrease your home's market potential. A house that presents an appealing visual obviously fetches the best price and minor drawbacks are generally overlooked.
• Painting house exteriors is generally a very expensive affair. Wrong exterior house color schemes can translate into a costly error and may leave a big hole in your savings for discretionary expenses.
• The whole point of doing up an house exterior, is to increase its aesthetic value and make it more homely and welcoming. Loud, glaring color clashes can make your whole objective, a moot point.

Color Schemes for Exterior House Paint - 4 Generic Styles

A Single Colored Exterior House Paint Color Scheme
This is a very common color scheme, that uses just one main color and 2 or more hues of the same color for highlights. The hues are normally taken as lighter, medium and darker versions of the same chosen color. Hence, it is also known as the monochromatic scheme. A salient feature of this type of paint scheme, is a subtle accent to finer architectural details, with an overall conservative sophistication. This is the best type of exterior house paint color scheme for conservative neighborhoods, and is also the best thing for a risk averse house owner, who does not wish to experiment with his colors.

A Two Chromatic Exterior House Paint Scheme
This painting technique, also known as complementary scheme, makes the use of complementary colors, i.e. colors that are opposite each other on the color palette spectrum. The complementary scheme boasts of a great deal of lively contrast and offers good scope for color experimentation. The house looks alive with complementary coloring of one dominant color and two or three complementary accents.

A Tricolored Home Paint Color Scheme
As the name suggests, this scheme uses three colors that fall at equidistant places on the color wheel. Such a triadic creation needs expert advice, as it is a highly complex and cluttered color scheme. If an experienced eye is not used while creating it, the color scheme can easily go awry, either as too loud and boisterous or as too glaring and ugly. A well created triadic color scheme can make your home look vibrant, eye catching and creatively beautiful.

Corresponding Home Exterior Color Scheme
Also known as an analogous, adjacent or related house exterior paint scheme, the corresponding color scheme makes use of colors that lie near each other or are neighbors on the color wheel. Here as well, one color is dominant and others are used as highlights. This is a visually complex color scheme, but because of the inherent harmony between the cluster of colors chosen, it is easier to create than the tricolored home paint scheme.

Exterior House Paint Color Scheme Selection Tips

Before finishing off my article, I leave you with a few painting tips and techniques on what to select for your perfect dream home.

• Historical accuracy should be followed for older houses. This can be done by researching library color charts for colors that match the construction era. Eccentric owners can chuck history away and use modern colors to highlight architectural particulars.
• Maintain a synchronized color coding throughout the exteriors. Make sure no color clashes with your garden flowers or with your home interiors. After all, you want the perfect overall look, not different looks cut up in different sections, no?
• Lighter colors make the house look larger while darker colors make it look smaller. Darker tones accent recesses while lighter tones highlight details on the wall surface.
• Maintenance wise, dark and bright colors require more regular maintenance and care as they are prone to fading in direct sunlight. Lighter colors retain their beauty for longer. Some areas like windows have to compulsorily be white (or shade of off white) as they absorb less heat. Other colors crack due to high heat and moisture absorption.
• View all the colors in natural sunlight before purchasing them as artificial lights distort their true colors and evening light makes them appear redder than normal. Purchasing small test pots and trying them on small parts will ensure that you are not stuck with a garage, full of the wrong color paint cans.
• When going for exotic, eccentric colors, know these basics. To tone down bright blues, white is the best trimmer. Colors like yellow (in muted forms, no neons and fluorescents please!) impart a unique freshness and vibrancy to the home, making it more inviting. When choosing between glossy, semi gloss or flat paint, remember that glossy paint end up highlighting imperfections in brush strokes and touch ups, and hence are best put by professionals. They are however, easier to clean.
• An idea that cannot go wrong, is to use muted shades for the dominant base shade and, either lighter or brighter colors can make up the trims and the accents. Soft toned colors go well with stone and give the home a sedate, unhurried look.
• No matter what colors you choose, make sure that they are compatible with your neighborhood exterior house color schemes. Get an approval from the home owners association before you invest big money in anything.
• If there is existing paint on the exterior walls of your house, consider the fact that you may have to use a primer before you apply a fresh paint coat. Factor in, this additional expense into your painting budget. A primer need not be applied if you initial color is light and the new color you have chosen is a darker variation of the same.
• Last but not the least, buy the best paint in the market for your exteriors. It may be expensive but due to its durability, it ends up as the cheaper option in the long run. Keep in mind that colors like intense reds and deep blues subdue with age. Dark colors are difficult to touch up once they start fading.

A poll by Rohm and Hass Paint Quality Institute suggests that America's most popular exterior color schemes consist of white, off white, beige, tan and brown. This may be because of the balance and harmony that is projected by neutral colors such as beige. For those who want to go beyond popularity, soft pastel shades give a fresh and cool appearance to the house. Test you choices on softwares first, they will help you avoid costly errors. Experiment with your imagination but don't lose sight of the objective. Make your house come alive, don't kill its soul with overwhelmingly loud and garish colors. Good luck with your project. Do send me a picture of your beautiful dream come true, I will collect it as memorabilia.