Stone, Brick, & a Whole Lot More…
I love exterior painting season. Now, if you live in the south, you might have this season all year round, sitting in your swimsuit sippin’ Sangria. However, here on the rainy west coast of Canada, this short-lived season lasts from approx May-September (if we’re lucky) – and then the goloshes come out.
Things have been HOPPING this season with clients sending me some great ‘after’ photos of their projects. I have to pick and choose what I can share, as not all photos can be cleaned up enough for my blog (it’s the nudes that really throw me). And let me tell you, it’s DAMN hard to get a good exterior photo, so mad props to those who get it done.
So, while I know these photos might not be magazine-ready, they should give you some great ideas for how you could update your exterior colors this season!
1. A STONE & BRICK EXTERIOR UPDATE
It can be tricky trying to marry up brick, stone, roof, paint color, and trim. Every product has its own specific needs and they don’t ALWAYS match up! So, I’m SUPER happy with how this exterior color palette turned out, giving some worn-out trim and siding a much-needed makeover.
BEFORE: Love the stone (you can’t see much of the brick in this shot), but the OVERLY purple siding color was fighting with everything.
You can also see how there was a different siding color on the front left portion – more of a beige with a pink undertone to it, making me think they painted this section the same as the trim.
AFTER: As you can see, sometimes it’s not about making a HUGE shift on a home, but about making the RIGHT shift into better undertones…
A photo like the one above is hard to take when the back of the house is getting hit with a different light from the front, but it shows you how things leveled out on the whole (even though the two siding areas still look different).
In this next before photo, you get a good eyeball of the brick. Notice how the body of the house is too purple for the stone, brick, and roof, and the trim around that bay window is slightly too pink/taupe.
After, it’s like the whole home took a nice DEEEEEP breath, and I took a nice DEEEEEP swig of wine and gave myself a personal high-five…
From the options I gave the homeowners, they chose Benjamin Moore Metropolis for the siding and bay window surround with Benjamin Moore Smokey Taupe for the trim.
In this next before photo, check out how the garage door color clashes with the siding color. The garage door color actually isn’t BAD with the brick. On the otherhand, it’s a hot mess with the stone and just wasn’t doing much for the overall color palette…
This AFTER image isn’t as bright as I’d like, but it certainly will give you the idea! I don’t like to over-edit things, I want to show you things as close to real as I can get them…
Check out the purple in this next before photo…
With a fresh new coat of paint (below) I LOVE how a subtle shift in undertone makes all the difference in the world…
Next, let’s check out Benjamin Moore Wrought Iron on the side garage door. It’s also on the front door, but I couldn’t get the photo to brighten up enough to see the beauty of it.
The Best Blue Paint Colours for Your Front Door
2. A TWO-STOREY BEIGE STONE COLOR BLUNDER
This next home has beautiful bones, but something wasn’t quite right. Before hiring me, my clients painted Sherwin Williams Mineral Deposit on the siding (which is lovely) and painted the shakes an unfortunately dark and off-key shade of brown…
And I’m SO glad they asked for help, as I knew just what to do to improve this home’s curb appeal.
They wanted to keep the trim color and siding color as repainting the shakes is a big enough job in itself. So, I had to find a color that would sandwich itself between the needs of the gray-blue siding, warm beige stonework, and taupe asphalt roof…and I did!
The 10 Best Off-White Paint Colors
We went with Sherwin Williams Aesthetic White, darkened by 25%. Look at how it sings to the stonework and complements the cool-toned gray siding and taupe roof – MAD LOVE!
Here’s a larger scale before and after view of things…
READ MORE
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Get the Online Paint Color Expert that Designers hire!
Chat soon,
Both houses came out great. Homeowners must be thrilled. Thank you for the video on the SW Gossimer Gray. Beautiful soft color. I have a soft spot for those warm grays to greige. I painted a standalone antique cabinet off the kitchen in Agreeable Gray with rice paper lining the inside of the glass doors and a bit of gold rubbed into the carvings. It came out great. Warms my heart! LOL
Just a quick question. Would you or can you paint vinyl siding? Love your work!
Author
Hi Linda, you BET you can paint vinyl siding – back in the day you were super limited and had to do it the same ‘depth’ to avoid issues, but paint companies have come up with some GREAT new paints to work on vinyl!
What would you think about using SherwinWilliams white duck for painting the outside of a house and use a white trim? I have used your before for a bathroom but I’m asking this question for my mother.
Author
Hi Bridget! I do love White Duck! On an exterior, you can expect it look creamier vs falling back into its neutral base. It can also look a bit lighter too, but having the white trim to contrast with it will help it to show up a bit more!
What do you think about Woodstock brown by James Hardie For exterior wall with red bricks
Author
Hi Pam, it could be interesting as Woodstock is a lovely warm, but not overly ‘brown’ siding colour. It does depend on THE red brick you have, but no red flags right now!
Hi Kylie, do you have a trim color you recommend for an exterior (soon to be ) painted in gauntlet gray that has more depth than white? Your new home exterior is similar to mine, I’m dying to know what you painted it as my paint crew is coming soon to do mine and I’d love to know which direction you went! Thank you! Cheers!
Author
Hi Wendy, I chose Pure White for our trim and what not, but it can totally depend on your windows/brick/roof/etc…so I’m hesitant to throw out a ‘sure thing’. You could check out SW Pure White perhaps?
I love the first house you did with the Metropolis. and the Smokey Taupe. I’m considering doing the same thing, except I have dark warm brown gutters, soffit and fascia. I did order from Samplize as suggested, but if you have any thoughts on the dark brown…
Author
Hi Hope, I think those are GREAT to start with. A lot of people want to go traditional gray with brown gutters and it stretches them too far. Warm gray and taupe are GREAT ideas 🙂