12 Helpful Tips and Tricks for Painting Your Home Exterior
Late summer through early Fall is a popular time of year to freshen up the outside of your home and paint. Not so easy though, is it? The stress of finding the paint color alone makes you want to wait until next year to deal with it. So many unanswered questions to deal with- Who is going to paint? How much is it going to cost us? What colors work best for trim? Keep or paint the front door? Are we painting the brick or leaving as is??
I hope the tips below will help you with some of the anxiety and questions you may have!
When it comes to the exterior of your home, the paint you choose should be chosen for its quality more than for its price. Do not skimp out on the paint. Buy the best quality paint you can afford for the job because good quality paint will last you longer, spread evenly and cost a lot less in the long run because you will not need to repaint your home soon after. Not only should the paint be able to stand up to any weather condition, it should also last for years, if not decades.
2. Plan your exterior paint project for a dry and warm time of year. Any moisture on the painting surface will prevent the paint from adhering, and paint in wet weather will not dry quickly or evenly. Be sure that you begin your project in warm dry weather that is expected to continue for at least three days. When painting outdoors, you run the risk of your exterior surface becoming moist, either from rain and snow or from humidity in the air. Plan ahead.
3. If you want to save yourself a significant amount of time, paint all exterior trim and siding using the same color! When painting walls and trim the same color, I do recommend painting the trim and walls in a different sheen. I like the trim in a semi-gloss finish and exterior walls/brick in an eggshell finish. That little bit of shine from the semi- gloss plays in the light and keeps the exterior from looking flat. Look how beautiful this room below is using the same color for trim, walls and ceiling:
4. Any color painted on an exterior surface will be much lighter than the small paper sample because of the exposure to daylight, so when you choose your darker color, do not be afraid to choose a deeper value (darker shades) to ensure that the color does not wash out. But remember, in general, black and other deep hues tend to fade faster than lighter colors so you might have to repaint sooner when using a darker color.
5. Identify your home’s style and neighborhood, existing elements of your home’s exterior, and nature around the home. Taking the time to survey your neighborhood will help you eliminate colors that not only will not work for your home but also keep your neighbors happy.
6. If your roof is brown, select a paint color with a warm tone, such as a soft creamy white or variations of cream, such as beige, tan, brown, orange and yellow. Muted colors rather than fresh colors. A black or charcoal roof provides the most versatile paint color options and works well with blue, grey, and white. The brighter, whiter, fresher colors work well with black roofs.
7. In general, work from the top down. Paint large areas first and details last. Where two colors meet, allow time for the first color to dry before returning to apply the second color. For example, paint the window sash (the movable part) early in the day and return to paint the frame around the sash.
8. When painting your exterior, a paint chip will appear darker than the actual color on your house. Therefore, you must test your paint colors you’re going to be painting! A large poster board, painted with two coats, and moved around during day and evening hours in the various lighting.
9. Your roof and your stone/brick work is the boss of your new house color. You have to work with them to get the right mix. Most stone colors are a neutral or earthy colors and you are generally safe to pair them with other neutrals in the same undertone family. The undertones you can find in your stone:
Pink Beige
Orange-beige
Yellow-beige
Gold-beige
Green-beige
Green-gray
Blue-gray
Violet-gray
Taupe
The best way to find the undertone in your stone is to compare the stone with a piece of white paper, (like below). Which undertone do you see in the brick?
Going through the list of stone undertones, I see a creamy yellow beige undertone first of all. I can also see a green beige undertone. So, in selecting a paint color, I would look at yellows beige colors and green beiges. This client wanted NO yellow in the paint color, so I suggested Ben Moore Feather Down, which is a soft, creamy color with slight green beige undertones:
10. If you want your gutters and downspouts to blend in with your house, I recommend choosing the same color of your siding. This will create a seamless look and not interfere with the exterior appearance. The gutters will serve their purpose without getting in the way visually. Who wants to notice the gutters?
11. Exterior paints are sold in flat/matte, eggshell, satin, semi-gloss, and gloss sheens, in order of the lowest to the highest luster:
12. For the most authentic look, shutters should be the same size as the window opening. Whether one or in a pair, when held up to the window they should fit as if they were going to be closed. The width that usually works best for decorative shutter is between 25% and 33% of the total width of your window including the window trim. Exterior shutter height looks best when it is from the top to the bottom of the window trim. If there is a sill at the bottom of the window, exclude its height from your measurements as you want to maintain the appearance that the shutters will close over the window.
I hope some of these tips will be useful next time you are getting ready to paint your exterior. If you’d like help with your exterior colors, contact me today!