There are a number of things you wanna take into consideration when selecting the finish colors for the exterior of your home, and that’s what we’re going to tackle in this video.

So, hey I know it’s daunting feeling when you’re selecting this material finish color for the outside of your home, because it feels so permanent, right? Because of the cost, it kinda is permanent. Yes, you could rip out the wrong roof, but who wants to do that? So, here are some tips, before we get into the picture examples, let me run through them real quickly.

Number one, you wanna identify whatever your undertone is and you wanna stick with it.
Tip number two, you have to work with your existing finishes. Let those be your guide.
Number three, I want you to be careful of the number of colors you’re using on the exterior of your home. If possible, stick to three, four maximum.
And the last tip, I definitely want you to be careful of the color blue and I’ll show some examples. Let’s hop right in!

Here’s a great example of identifying your undertone and working with an existing finish. In this residence, you see this red-ish, pink stone, and to that everything else has the correct alignment and undertone. There’s a pink stone on the facade; there’s a lighter pinky, orange stone happening in your walkway. There’s a brown trim, and then there’s a charcoal brown roof that has a little bit of that pinky, orange in it as well. Correct number of colors, the undertones are all in alignment. Really well done! And the siding color is a taupe color, also a great marriage. Taupe you will find is a fantastic bandaid color and we’ll look at some other examples of that as well.

In this next image, here’s a great example in a modern style home of the materials, absolutely being in alignment. You have a red cladding on the wood at the second floor embellishment on that left side of the residence. Down below on the garage, same red-ish undertone there. To that, a nice creamy siding has been added and then brown trim. Limited colors, good alignment on those undertones.

Here’s a great example of undertones being nice and consistent. There’s a grey stone, there’s a grey shingle, there’s a grey charcoal roof. For accent? A brown door, all buttoned up with a beautiful, crisp white trim. This is a beautifully done exterior.

Now here’s an example of where blue can be a little tricky. Number one, the color blue in that mid-tone range can get very sweet and syrupy really fast. Also, that orangy, red brick against that blue exterior, those colors are really kind of screaming at each other and they’re sort of making the blue look sweeter and the orangey brick look even more orangey bricky. A better choice would have been a white siding and a black shutter. Be careful of blue, blue on exterior of a home is usually best in a really dark, dark color, or a super light grey down blue.

Now here’s an example of a color mist. This is a very pretty residence. It has an orangey stone on it. A charcoal roof, no problem there. Then you have this very soft mushroomy, concrete color on your walkway, no problem there. White trim? No problem. And the copper banding is really pretty with that undertone in that orangey stone. The problem is that very blue undertone in that shingle. Do you see it? That would’ve been much improved had a very soft taupe been put there as well. Taupe is the great bandaid you’ll find over and over again when you’re selecting your exterior colors.

In fact, here’s a great example of taupe to the rescue. You’ve got a red brick, strong note on that house. Here we’ve got a charcoal grey roof. Beautiful foil with that red brick, calms it nicely. The red door, also perfect! That taupe siding with the white trim is a perfect finish to this residence. It’s clean, it’s classic. We don’t feel like we’re in a deluge of color. And the overall effect is a focus on the architecture. Not on some colors that are making a statement and the wrong statement.

So when it comes to selecting the finish color for the exterior of your home, remember you can do it. Limit the number of colors, work with the existing finish colors that are already there. Watch your undertones. Be careful of the color blue, either keep really dark or you go very light, very light, almost a grey. And last tip, make sure you’re looking at your exterior colors outside because when you see things in sunlight, they will lighten up from 10 to 15 percent. So hopefully, that will help you! Good luck on your exterior color selection journey.