Exterior Paint
We bought this house knowing that we wanted to redo the exterior including paint, new landscaping, new fence, and eventual hardscaping and outdoor living areas. We told ourselves that we would start with painting the exterior in the spring, and spring sure did come quickly when our painter called and said he planned to start the following week. It became crunch time to pick out paint colors, and I spiraled with the decision. It feels much easier to make paint decisions for interior paint, because exterior lighting had me questioning every paint choice. After going to the paint store too many times to count, I finally just committed to an unsure decision.
Exterior Makeover:
picking exterior paint colors
Main Color
Choosing the perfect white is not for the faint of heart- I was worried for the white to be too bright white and resemble primer, or be too creamy and pull yellow. We used Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace throughout the interior of our home, but this is a very true bright white with an LRV of 90 that would not work for the exterior of our home. I had a sample of Benjamin Moore Swiss coffee that I tested, and it pulled yellow in bright sunshine so it was a no for me. We settled on three white options: Alabaster as more of a grayish cream, Greek Villa as more of a warm beige cream, and Oyster white as a darker warm beige. After scouring the neighborhood white houses, I determined that I really wanted more of a true white vs creamy warm white.
We went with Sherwin Williams, Alabaster, and it is perfect.
Contrast Trim
I trusted my gut and made the white paint decision rather quickly, but I had the hardest decision with the contrast trim color. I was hoping for a beige forward gray that gave enough contrast to the white brick without being too dark. I did not want it to be too beige and pull yellow or too gray and pull blue or purple. This may be an unpopular opinion, but I do not find paint samples to be helpful. Your sample size is only be so big, and it is hard to focus on the isolated color when you are distracted by the current house color as the background. Getting paint samples confused my decision even more.
We went with Sherwin Williams, Anew Gray, and it is a beautiful mix of beige and gray with subtle warmth that plays on the classic white well.
Exterior Doors
Lastly, I knew that I wanted a darker door color without being black. I looked at Sherwin Williams Peppercorn, but it pulled navy blue outside to me. We have matte black door knobs, so I wanted more of a charcoal color vs blue. I found Benjamin Moore Kendall Charcoal, and it is literally perfect.
Benjamin Moore, Kendall Charcoal is the perfect eye catching contrast against white
Before:
After:
What do you think of the paint choices? We absolutely love how it turned out, but the beautiful fresh paint really highlights the lack of landscaping now…
We have a lot more work we want to do, but for now, we are happy with the progress.
Progress >>>> Perfection.
