Friday, May 13, 2011

Help Me Paint My House!

Our house desperately needs a paint job. Here's the current colour, as we bought it 4 years ago. The wood is sage green and red brick facing appears in three areas. The hot pink doors have to go!

My preferred house colours are white, seaside gray blue, and soft yellow, but only if I had a charming character home! Instead we have a 1970's house in a neighborhood where everyone is updating their house in taupes, browns, and grays. I would like our house to fit in...

The entire back yard (garage, potting shed, and 3 fences) will be painted in the wood colour (or perhaps 2 similar shades), so I really want to love the colour we choose for the wood! It's what I see when I look out the window at our lovely flower garden, so I want to like it!

Everyone in the neighborhood seems to be painting their brick. I don't happen to LOVE my brick, so I'm not too sentimental about it. I can't find anyone in Calgary to stain/tint it, as I'd rather do, to preserve a different mortar colour. So it might just get painted.


I've worked out 4 schemes so far. All options have black door and shutters (I may consider a different colour door later!)

Option 1: Paint the brick. Use a medium greige on the wood, a few shades darker on the brick:

Option 2: Paint the brick. Darker greige on the wood with homogenous brick (perhaps only one shade darker but similar to the wood):

Option 3: Keep the brick. Use a complementary medium brown paint:

Option 4: Keep the brick. Use a complementary DARKER brown paint, which picks up the dark brown bricks:


I think I am leaning to Option 1 or 2. What think ye? Another idea perhaps??

I used Sherwin Williams fabulous colour visualizer for this project!

Colours are all Sherwin Williams:
Option 1: Functional Gray (wood) + Thunder Gray (brick) + Tricorn Black (door, shutters)
Option 2: Dovetail Gray (wood) + Gauntlet Gray (brick) + Caviar (door, shutters)
Option 3: Mega Greige (wood) + Tricorn Black (door, shutters)
Option 4: Mink (wood) + Tricorn Black (door, shutters)

16 comments:

  1. My vote is #1. The colors are reflected in "A Favorite Painting" on your sidebar.

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  2. Anonymous6:42 am

    I like option #2 because it's more grey less beige. Also, paint the BLOCK below the brick the same color as the brick as the house looks 'cut off' if you don't.

    Just my humble opinion....

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  3. Much too tough for me as I just finished selecting colors for my own home and that nearly did me in. So many choices! I do like both #1 and #2 so I guess that means painting the brick. Guess it also means that I must paint the foundation here. Oh no! I'm leaving right now before you give me any more brilliant ideas. ;>

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  4. i like the first one and the last one. The last one has some depth

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  5. i'm loving 1 or 2. either one will look pretty. thanks for the tip on the paint selector. choosing a white is not easy. good luck. i think your garden is really going to stand out against fresh paint.

    xo

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  6. I like option 2 the best and option 1 would be my second choice. Which ever you decide on will look fantastic - you have such great taste!

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  7. I like #2 the best although I'd put #1 as second. I think painting your front door a color that you love and that would work would center the house and make that stand out in a welcoming way.

    I'm half-way through painting my brick house BM Galveston Gray which I had Sherwin Williams make. I have fallen in love w/the color as it seems to me a medium gray w/a brown undertone. I had them tint the primer for the brick which made things easier too.

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  8. My vote is for #1. It's has a very "updated" look and is super-fresh. Can't wait to see which one you choose. (For the record...#4 was a distant second, in case you're keeping track.)

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  9. Option # 1 .... I will say choosing a house color is tough! I am looking forward to seeing what you do.

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  10. Anonymous11:03 am

    Hmmmm...I think you're playing it too safe with the colors. I'd do deeper, richer greys or blues or even try some blacks. Why be like everyone else when you can be different. Pull from who you are, not what you think you should do & you'll make the right decision. -Good luck.

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  11. Hi Deborah -

    Interestig comment. Actually I don't like the darker colours, so I would not like to go in that direction. Blacks and dark grays - way too dreary for me.

    I do happen to love taupe and greiges, as they are now called, so I am very comfortable with this scheme and if you have looked at my blog, you will see it fits perfectly with who I am. I just prefer a paler palette, so even going to a mid-tone seems too dark for me. But the more I look at colours, the more I see that the pale colours I prefer indoors wash out in the outdoors. So I think I need a mid-tone.

    I also find flat gray boring and tedious and it needs some brown to warm it up. So I do like this palette but find it all too dark. Funny you think I should go darker. Definitely not me!!

    Thanks! Terri xo

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  12. Have you tried, just for fun, the colors you are drawn to IF this were what you call a "character" home? I'd be interested in seeing that. I must try that Sherwin Williams Visualizer. Benjamin Moore's is a pita.

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  13. My vote is number 1. I like the contrast with the darker brick rather than blending it in as in Option 2. And the gray is so very pretty.

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  14. As a home stager I would suggest removing the big pine tree which overwhelms the entry to the house.

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  15. Anonymous9:14 am

    Though you put in a lot of thought to your color schemes, I don't care for any of them. I think they all look bland. I think your choices for colors at the top would be great for this home. I think if you whitewash the brick, paint the house in a soft yellow, and paint the shutters and door in the seaside grey blue, it would make your house have charm, while blending in with the rest of the neighbor's houses. The trick is finding the right yellow. I think this style home is perfect for your original color choices. The good thing about paint is if you don't like the outcome, it isn't that expensive to change it. I agree with removing the pine tree from the comment above and perhaps replacing it with a delicate Japanese Maple or some other delicate ornamental that grows in your area.

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