Author Topic: Exterior house color?  (Read 3507 times)

billy

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Exterior house color?
« on: June 14, 2022, 10:02:27 AM »
I'm planning on hiring painters soon to paint the exterior of my house, which has stucco siding and 3 wood columns at the front porch of the house. I may sell the house and wonder which one of these house colors you prefer if you were house shopping, https://www.bobvila.com/slideshow/12-exterior-paint-colors-to-help-sell-your-house-47419, the site is numbered 1-12, thanks.

Kris

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Re: Exterior house color?
« Reply #1 on: June 14, 2022, 10:27:00 AM »
My preference would be for the light blue, the blue-gray, or the putty. Sorry, didn't go back to get the numbers.

BlueHouse

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Re: Exterior house color?
« Reply #2 on: June 14, 2022, 10:28:48 AM »
Would depend on the location and direction of the house and its surroundings.   
I'd stay away from dark colors and also from reds.  Stick to neutrals and pale colors. 

patchyfacialhair

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Re: Exterior house color?
« Reply #3 on: June 14, 2022, 10:30:15 AM »
we did white like 10, but with black gutters and trim. windows were also painted white

it has a nice classic look and really brightened up things on the outside

we don't have an HOA so we could have done whatever. most people on my block pick a neutral tan/yellow but there are some weirdos like me

Blue Skies

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Re: Exterior house color?
« Reply #4 on: June 14, 2022, 12:33:00 PM »
ugh, please not another white/tan/gray house. 
The blues are nice, or the yellows, or greens. 
My house is green, and I love it.

Raenia

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Re: Exterior house color?
« Reply #5 on: June 14, 2022, 01:03:52 PM »
Light blue or putty.  The light green and wheat are also nice, depending on your surroundings and trim colors.

Erma

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Re: Exterior house color?
« Reply #6 on: June 14, 2022, 01:22:24 PM »
I like the light blue and the wheat one.

CNM

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Re: Exterior house color?
« Reply #7 on: June 14, 2022, 02:44:24 PM »
The homes in my neighborhood almost all have stucco exteriors, but the buildings are designed in a faux-adobe style.  As a result, most of the colors are some iteration of light brown, just like a real adobe home would be.  I would go with whatever color matches with the other homes in your neighborhood.

Sibley

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Re: Exterior house color?
« Reply #8 on: June 14, 2022, 02:47:20 PM »
What does your house look like?

GardenBaker

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Re: Exterior house color?
« Reply #9 on: June 14, 2022, 03:07:48 PM »
Stay as neutral as possible. Are you painting the columns or are they stained? If they're stained, probably go with off white. If they'll be painted I'd do off white or gray for the main color.

brandon1827

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Re: Exterior house color?
« Reply #10 on: June 14, 2022, 03:23:31 PM »
My own house is a darker blue, so I automatically gravitate toward that or the light blue...but if you're going to put the house on the market soon you may want to stay in safer, more neutral color families like the white, gray, etc. and let the new owner put something more bold on if they want

PDXTabs

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Re: Exterior house color?
« Reply #11 on: June 14, 2022, 03:25:31 PM »
Keeping in mind that you might sell it I'd go for 3, 6, 7, or 9.

IRL I'm also happy with bright colors but I don't think that the average US home buyer is.

SunnyDays

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Re: Exterior house color?
« Reply #12 on: June 14, 2022, 06:17:48 PM »
It depends on the style and age of your house. It's best to take that into consideration first.

I hate white houses - they look bland and stark.  I also read somewhere that they sell more slowly.  Personally I like a soft colour, like yellow-based tans/beiges, or pale greens (not mint), blues or yellows.  If you add 2 other complementary colours for trim, it can really pop.  Get a paint pamphlet for historical homes, even if yours isn't, just to get an idea of combinations.

Please don't do greys or black.  They've been done to death and are either boring or drab or both.

Oh, also consider your roof colour.

lutorm

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Re: Exterior house color?
« Reply #13 on: June 14, 2022, 06:46:32 PM »
I like the yellow, pretty similar to our house.

DrinkCoffeeStackMoney

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Re: Exterior house color?
« Reply #14 on: June 15, 2022, 02:10:21 PM »
Our house is a dark charcoal color, almost black. All trim and columns are white, and the front door is sort of a dark teal'ish blue. We love it! Especially since we're on a street with mostly boring white/tan/beige houses. My opinion is that even if you plan to sell, paint the house as you prefer regardless of what that color is.
« Last Edit: June 15, 2022, 02:12:17 PM by DrinkCoffeeStackMoney »

K_in_the_kitchen

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Re: Exterior house color?
« Reply #15 on: June 15, 2022, 03:46:51 PM »
I think it depends on the style of the house.  The yellow in the article looks nice on a Victorian, but wouldn't look good on most other houses.  Our house is more like the green in the article (I think it's a little darker), but it's a 1926 stucco bungalow and the color works well the style.  We have cream trim, as well as terra cotta red on the front door, porch lattice, and ceiling of the porte-cochère.  The roof is also terra cotta colored, with actual terra cotta tiles trimming the flat roof portions.  So it all works together.  This color scheme would also look nice on an Arts and Crafts home, but would look terrible on a Victorian!

bacchi

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Re: Exterior house color?
« Reply #16 on: June 15, 2022, 04:24:06 PM »
Good gods! I had hoped to never see taupe on or in a house ever again.

Dee18

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Re: Exterior house color?
« Reply #17 on: June 15, 2022, 05:06:42 PM »
It completely depends on what is not getting painted---the pillars? roof?  any concrete?  landscaping?  Read some of the articles on mariakillam.com to learn about how to choose the color.

calimom

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Re: Exterior house color?
« Reply #18 on: June 16, 2022, 11:06:33 AM »
In order of my preference: 3, 8, 7.

Taupe and gray/gray are awful to me and scream "flip". Some color, without overly personalizing a house that may soon be for sale can be tricky. What general part of CA are you in?

Pro tip - plant yellow blooming flowers in-ground or in pots near the front door.

ATtiny85

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Re: Exterior house color?
« Reply #19 on: June 16, 2022, 12:12:49 PM »
I realized while reading this thread that I have no idea what the color of our house is. Or the color of any of the houses I’ve lived in. That tells me they must all have been somewhat subdued and neutral.


HBFIRE

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Re: Exterior house color?
« Reply #20 on: June 16, 2022, 12:28:14 PM »
I'd go with white with black trim.  This seems to be the modern trend and these houses fly off the market at least here in SoCal.  I'm seeing endless houses like this sell quickly:





« Last Edit: June 16, 2022, 01:09:44 PM by HBFIRE »

ChpBstrd

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Re: Exterior house color?
« Reply #21 on: June 16, 2022, 12:57:36 PM »
Asphalt roof: Yellow or Putty

Clay roof: White

I agree with the overall "not another white/tan/beige house" sentiment and generally agree that when you have the opportunity to paint a happy or unique color, paint a happy or unique color. However I think red clay roofs on Spanish style houses pretty much go with white walls or else it looks like someone's weird idea. Also, stucco looks best IMO in just a handful of colors. E.g. red or green stucco would be weird to me in a way that red or green siding would not.

bacchi

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Re: Exterior house color?
« Reply #22 on: June 16, 2022, 01:14:02 PM »
I'd go with white with black trim.  This seems to be the modern trend and these houses fly off the market at least here in SoCal.  I'm seeing endless houses like this sell quickly:



Shiplap! It needs more shiplap!

ChpBstrd

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Re: Exterior house color?
« Reply #23 on: June 16, 2022, 01:20:46 PM »
I'd go with white with black trim.  This seems to be the modern trend and these houses fly off the market at least here in SoCal.  I'm seeing endless houses like this sell quickly:



Shiplap! It needs more shiplap!

Don't chase long-established trends unless you don't mind being "dated" and wanting to redo everything in 5 years.

Just Joe

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Re: Exterior house color?
« Reply #24 on: June 16, 2022, 01:42:42 PM »
Consider the environment.

If you live in the sunny south for example, don't go with a dark color and then complain about the high cost to air condition it. Saw one of those the other day in a hot place.

HBFIRE

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Re: Exterior house color?
« Reply #25 on: June 16, 2022, 02:27:30 PM »


Don't chase long-established trends unless you don't mind being "dated" and wanting to redo everything in 5 years.

Depends what your goal is.  If it is to sell, this is a good option and what all the flippers are doing.  Less time on market and sell at a higher price.

Miss Piggy

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Re: Exterior house color?
« Reply #26 on: June 16, 2022, 06:14:01 PM »
I like 4, 5, 6, 7 and 10. Lots of good options there.

I don't at all care for the brighter yellow or the dark brown. The rest are acceptable to me.

bryan995

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Re: Exterior house color?
« Reply #27 on: June 18, 2022, 07:15:57 AM »
I'd go with white with black trim.  This seems to be the modern trend and these houses fly off the market at least here in SoCal.  I'm seeing endless houses like this sell quickly:



This is the answer. Gorgeous house.
White with black trim. Raw oak inside.

A close second could be the all black on black on black home.

Price it at 5.999M. Should sell quick.
« Last Edit: June 18, 2022, 07:18:22 AM by bryan995 »

former player

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Re: Exterior house color?
« Reply #28 on: June 18, 2022, 07:32:00 AM »
Do you want it to fit in with the neighbourhood or stand out?  If you want to sell then I'd suggest fitting in - the fact that it is newly painted will be an attraction, you don't need the colour to be an attraction as well.

There is lots of advice on making the outside of a house attractive at the Maria Killiam blog.  She is big on neutral colours (except maybe for the front door) and getting the landscaping right.

https://mariakillam.com/

BlueHouse

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Re: Exterior house color?
« Reply #29 on: June 18, 2022, 07:46:28 AM »
I've never heard of a single person buying a house because of the color.  But I have heard of a few people who avoided a house due to the color.  That's why neutrals. 

Honestly, is there anyone on this thread that even cares about the exterior color of their home? 

HBFIRE

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Re: Exterior house color?
« Reply #30 on: June 18, 2022, 10:50:50 AM »
I've never heard of a single person buying a house because of the color.   

You'd be surprised, it matters a lot.  This is why houses are professionally staged.  Emotion sells.  While the color might not be the reason they buy, it aids in the emotion you're trying to achieve.  But I think you are right, don't choose a color that could be divisive --  a good neutral is probably best.

Of course this group is more logical than that, but statistically people are quite emotional when they make large purchases.
« Last Edit: June 18, 2022, 10:54:12 AM by HBFIRE »

Catbert

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Re: Exterior house color?
« Reply #31 on: June 18, 2022, 12:54:18 PM »
I'd avoid dark colors unless your stucco is pristine.  If you have areas that are less than expertly patched my experience is that dark colors somehow magnify the imperfections.

BlueHouse

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Re: Exterior house color?
« Reply #32 on: June 23, 2022, 08:43:13 PM »
I've never heard of a single person buying a house because of the color.   

You'd be surprised, it matters a lot.  This is why houses are professionally staged.  Emotion sells.  While the color might not be the reason they buy, it aids in the emotion you're trying to achieve.  But I think you are right, don't choose a color that could be divisive --  a good neutral is probably best.

Of course this group is more logical than that, but statistically people are quite emotional when they make large purchases.

LOL, my sister bought a house years ago (decades ago) and we moved in together.  A couple from across the street came over to welcome us to the neighborhood and proceeded to tell us all the negative things about the developers and finished up with "And did you SEE the color of your front door?"   The house was on a corner and the driveway/garage was on one street and the front door on the other, so it actually wasn't something that we looked at often.  It was an odd blue color.  Maybe something close to turquoise.  I was very surprised when my sister acted shocked and responded with "NOOOO!"  hahaha.  It never bothered either of us, but we never had to look at it

Metalcat

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Re: Exterior house color?
« Reply #33 on: June 26, 2022, 05:01:46 PM »
I've never heard of a single person buying a house because of the color.  But I have heard of a few people who avoided a house due to the color.  That's why neutrals. 

Honestly, is there anyone on this thread that even cares about the exterior color of their home?

Says the person whose name is Blue House???

You're right that I would never base my buying decision on the colour of a house, but I absolutely care about it.

I just bought 2 houses, one has an exterior that I love and one I hate. I very much look forward to eventually changing the ugly one to have better curb appeal, because it's a rental building.

The current house I'm in is cute as fuck. It's a 110 year old salt box with pale yellow siding and a bright red door. It will be an AirBnB, so being cute is its job.

Loretta

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Re: Exterior house color?
« Reply #34 on: June 28, 2022, 04:45:37 AM »
A cheerful yellow or green.  Good luck!

Tempname23

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Re: Exterior house color?
« Reply #35 on: June 28, 2022, 08:01:38 PM »
NOT purple, there is a house several blocks from my house, that is purple, I think he is getting even with a neighbor for some transgression or other.

Metalcat

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Re: Exterior house color?
« Reply #36 on: June 29, 2022, 03:57:33 AM »
NOT purple, there is a house several blocks from my house, that is purple, I think he is getting even with a neighbor for some transgression or other.

Wouldn't this depend on your area though? Right now I'm somewhere where bright colours are the norm, and there are a few purple houses around.

Tempname23

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Re: Exterior house color?
« Reply #37 on: June 29, 2022, 05:31:03 AM »
NOT purple, there is a house several blocks from my house, that is purple, I think he is getting even with a neighbor for some transgression or other.

Wouldn't this depend on your area though? Right now I'm somewhere where bright colours are the norm, and there are a few purple houses around.

  To each their own, but I don't have to like it. :-)

Metalcat

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Re: Exterior house color?
« Reply #38 on: June 29, 2022, 06:05:25 AM »
NOT purple, there is a house several blocks from my house, that is purple, I think he is getting even with a neighbor for some transgression or other.

Wouldn't this depend on your area though? Right now I'm somewhere where bright colours are the norm, and there are a few purple houses around.

  To each their own, but I don't have to like it. :-)

I wouldn't normally like purple houses either, but I'm in Newfoundland right now where some areas are so rainbow coloured they have nicknames like "Jellybean Row."

I'm currently in a remote fishing village and a bright purple house would look so much better here than a neutral tone, because gem tones are traditional to the area. There is one grey house here, but all of the trim is bright turquoise.

Of course, you're allowed to hate purple houses in any context, you're allowed to hate any house colour. I'm just saying that in general, what makes a house colour more or less acceptable is what it's surrounded by.

I've personally always hated yellow houses, but I love my current one because of the context it's in.

Hibernaculum

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Re: Exterior house color?
« Reply #39 on: June 29, 2022, 07:36:32 AM »
A couple of years ago, in our old house, we noticed that our exterior window trim paint was flaking off and exposing bare wood. Not wanting to risk having to replace all the windows, we inquired about painting the house. Found a reputable painter who sent a fellow out with a paint color book. The house was part stucco and part siding. There were four colors to pick- primary color, primary color accent, secondary color, and secondary color accent. I agonized over the book for quite a while, but finally chose my four.

It didn't turn out great. I didn't pick a different enough accent color for the primary, so it looked kind of blah. We actually would have been better off taking the painter on a drive around our neighborhood to look for a house we liked, and then just saying, "OK, those colors. Match those."

Now, maybe that advice is better for people who really don't care that much, or don't have that much of an "eye." My wife and I are both of those!

We ended up selling the house less than a year later. The new owners re-painted it.

SunnyDays

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Re: Exterior house color?
« Reply #40 on: June 29, 2022, 06:23:24 PM »
I would much rather see brightly coloured houses than the common beige stucco seen in new developments around here, or even worse, grey.  When winter is long and white, it’s nice to see cheerful colours.

NOT purple, there is a house several blocks from my house, that is purple, I think he is getting even with a neighbor for some transgression or other.

Wouldn't this depend on your area though? Right now I'm somewhere where bright colours are the norm, and there are a few purple houses around.

  To each their own, but I don't have to like it. :-)

I wouldn't normally like purple houses either, but I'm in Newfoundland right now where some areas are so rainbow coloured they have nicknames like "Jellybean Row."

I'm currently in a remote fishing village and a bright purple house would look so much better here than a neutral tone, because gem tones are traditional to the area. There is one grey house here, but all of the trim is bright turquoise.

Of course, you're allowed to hate purple houses in any context, you're allowed to hate any house colour. I'm just saying that in general, what makes a house colour more or less acceptable is what it's surrounded by.

I've personally always hated yellow houses, but I love my current one because of the context it's in.

I’ve heard that the reason Maritime houses are colourful is so people could find their own house in the fog.  Seems reasonable to me.  Maybe that’s the reason for the Painted Ladies in San Francisco.

Miss Piggy

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Re: Exterior house color?
« Reply #41 on: June 30, 2022, 04:35:37 PM »
NOT purple, there is a house several blocks from my house, that is purple, I think he is getting even with a neighbor for some transgression or other.

Wouldn't this depend on your area though? Right now I'm somewhere where bright colours are the norm, and there are a few purple houses around.

My current neighborhood has a few purple houses...some light, some dark, none obnoxious. They all fit right in.

BlueHouse

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Re: Exterior house color?
« Reply #42 on: June 30, 2022, 06:22:27 PM »
Says the person whose name is Blue House???

Haha. I actually didn't like the house color when I bought it.  I bought new, and the developer made our development all pastel colors, and they had some scheme where they knew before they built what color each house would be.  I asked for a different color and they said no.  This was the plan.  It's even written into our HOA covenants that we cannot change the colors without approval. 

To be fair, I'm one of those people that does better when I have fewer options anyway, so I felt a bit relieved that someone else chose the colors. 

Metalcat

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Re: Exterior house color?
« Reply #43 on: July 01, 2022, 03:47:26 AM »
Says the person whose name is Blue House???

Haha. I actually didn't like the house color when I bought it.  I bought new, and the developer made our development all pastel colors, and they had some scheme where they knew before they built what color each house would be.  I asked for a different color and they said no.  This was the plan.  It's even written into our HOA covenants that we cannot change the colors without approval. 

To be fair, I'm one of those people that does better when I have fewer options anyway, so I felt a bit relieved that someone else chose the colors.

I just thought it was hilarious and appreciated the laugh.

But yeah, I totally get not wanting to have much choice about things that aren't that important to you. I'm the same way, I don't even order at restaurants because I hate menus. I just ask for whatever is good.

BlueHouse

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Re: Exterior house color?
« Reply #44 on: July 01, 2022, 08:53:44 AM »
I don't even order at restaurants because I hate menus. I just ask for whatever is good.

Oh, I like that idea!  Sounds like a great way to branch out and try new things too. 

Metalcat

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Re: Exterior house color?
« Reply #45 on: July 01, 2022, 09:09:12 AM »
I don't even order at restaurants because I hate menus. I just ask for whatever is good.

Oh, I like that idea!  Sounds like a great way to branch out and try new things too.

It's certainly entertaining, and makes the process a lot more fun and interesting.

rmorris50

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Re: Exterior house color?
« Reply #46 on: July 02, 2022, 10:56:41 AM »
We have putty with white trim. It does look good against the colore of the green grass, flowers and many trees in our neighborhood. Also we have lemon yellow rocking chairs on the porch which provide a nice pop. We have also discussed painting some of the white trim and/or eves some sort of yellow for a pop.

How many people tho would let the color of a house stop them from buying it? That’s gotta be one of the easiest things to change about a house.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Catbert

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Re: Exterior house color?
« Reply #47 on: July 02, 2022, 11:00:24 AM »
Billy - What did you decide?

JupiterGreen

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Re: Exterior house color?
« Reply #48 on: July 05, 2022, 09:55:53 AM »
You’ve probably decided but in case anyone else reads this, stay away from red and assertive yellows (the lighter yellow is fine). Some people have strong reactions against these colors. If selling, go neutral and fit in with surrounding homes.

 

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