I cannot tell you just how excited I am to get the process going of painting the exterior of our home. This update will change the entire feel of our home and is something that I’ve been dreaming of for over a year and a half.
While I could not wait for the process to begin, I knew I had better get a head start on choosing the paint colors. I’ve found that deciding on paint colors on this large scale (not to mention the cost of the overall project) is both exciting and incredibly stressful for me. I feel like “Paint Anxiety” is a real thing. Haha. Questions of, what if I get it wrong and don’t like how the colors turn out? What if we spend all this money and it isn’t right? Can you relate at all?
There are a couple of key things I did to help envision the overall look of the exterior and paint colors. I would highly recommend these tips as they really helped me to get a good eye on what the finalized outcome would be.
Tip # 1 – Paint Multiple Paint Swabs (on multiple sides of your home)
First, I purchased multiple paint colors to try out on our home. I know this is not a new concept, but it is a very important step. You can look at photos of exterior paint colors on other homes all day long, but the reality is that lighting can really impact the way a color looks and the undertones it brings out. I began by painting four large swabs on the backside wall of our home. If I’m honest, I did this for two reasons. I knew that weather could play a role in the timing of our paint job and thus, having the swabs hidden could keep our home from looking unkept while we waited. Secondly, I was super nervous about revealing to anyone who would drive by that we were painting it. We all know there are two kinds of people (usually with strong opinions) those who love a painted brick home and those who are vehemently against painting the brick.
(From Left to Right: Benjamin Moore Balbao Mist; Romabio Avario White; Sherwin Williams Oyster White; Sherwin Williams Shoji White)
I was able to quickly narrow down my options to two colors. At this point, I was heavily leaning toward Balboa Mist. I knew the light in the front of my home differed from the back of the home, due to my house being south-facing and tree coverage. At this point, I knew I needed to take this paint swab to the front so I could be sure it was the right color. Once I did this and began looking at this during different times of the day, I wasn’t so sure of this option anymore. The grey undertones came through strongly at certain times of the day and it just wasn’t the look I was going for. This lead me to paint my second choice on the front of the home and compare the two options. Guess what? I ultimately decided on the second choice, Sherwin Williams Oyster White (color on the right side in the photo below).
Tip #2 – Use Wood Boards to Help Choose Accent Colors
Up next was choosing shutter and trim colors. Whew. I’m not sure I realized just how many different things I’d be looking at for the overall look of our home. Trim, doors, shutters, columns, gutters, garage doors, etc. This can feel overwhelming. I had already decided to go with a deep bronze color for our new gutters, thankfully, that was a relatively easy decision.
I decided to pick up two boards, measuring 1’x3′ for $8 each, from our local hardware store. (You could also use any good-sized wood boards you have lying around to save a few dollars – I didn’t have any this time otherwise I would have done this). This was one of the best decisions when trying to decide on paint colors for the trim & shutters. It allowed me to paint each side of the board in two different shades and then place them up against the painted color swab on our home. I was able to flip them around to different sides and angles to see how they would look overall. When painting a color on half, of one side of the board, I would take a Sharpie and label the paint color on the end of the board (the thickness portion of the board), with an arrow pointing to which side of the board had that color. You can see this in the photo below.
I’m now super confident in my color choices and am now anxiously waiting for the start of our project next week. The photo below is of my final color scheme. The pillars and trim are to be White Dove, by Benjamin Moore. Then the Shutters, garage doors, and sunroom are to be the greige color, Morris Room Grey by Sherwin Williams. We’re doing a custom tint of the Romabio Paint for the masonry, in Sherwin William’s Oyster White.
I cannot wait to share the before/after of our home once the painting is complete!
