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Start With What You Can't Paint
Before you open a fan deck, walk across the street and look at the parts of your house that are staying: the roof, any brick or stone, the windows and the landscaping. Benjamin Moore's color experts suggest exactly this, advising homeowners to start building a palette using color direction from unchanging exterior elements like roofing, stone, brick and landscaping (Exterior House Colors & Inspiration, Benjamin Moore).
If your roof is warm brown or terracotta, a cool blue-gray body will fight it. If you have gray slate or charcoal shingles, warm creams can look muddy. Let the fixed elements pick the temperature, then choose your colors inside that lane. In my Exterior Design Guide above, the stone, stucco and terracotta roof set the palette, and the accents simply go darker and earthier for contrast.
How Many Exterior Paint Colors Do You Need?
Usually three. Benjamin Moore puts it well: the secret to painting your home's exterior is more than finding one single exterior paint color; it's finding the right combination for the exterior, the trim and accents like garage doors, window shutters and the front door (Exterior House Colors & Inspiration, Benjamin Moore). I think of it as a body color (the largest area), a trim color (windows, fascia, corners) and an accent (the front door, and sometimes shutters).
Five Exterior Color Schemes I Keep Coming Back To
1. Warm greige with soft white trim. Revere Pewter HC-172 is the color I reach for when a client wants something lighter than gray but not quite beige. Benjamin Moore calls it an iconic neutral that bridges warm and cool tones, and pairs it with Swiss Coffee OC-45 trim and Copley Gray HC-104 as the accent (Exterior House Colors & Inspiration, Benjamin Moore).
2. Classic white with black. A soft white body like White Dove OC-17 with black windows and a black door is timeless for a reason. Sarah Gibson of Room for Tuesday calls black, white and gray a classic combo that will never go out of style, especially with traditional greenery like boxwoods and window boxes (Exterior Paint Color Combinations, Room for Tuesday).
3. Charcoal with crisp white trim. Kendall Charcoal HC-166 is one of the deep neutrals Benjamin Moore recommends to highlight architectural detail (Exterior House Colors & Inspiration, Benjamin Moore). Pair it with a clean white like Simply White OC-117 on the trim and the lines of the house really show.
4. Moody near-black. Dark houses look modern and sit back beautifully in the landscape. The black modern farmhouse cottage featured on Home Bunch has its siding in Sherwin-Williams Iron Ore and its double glass front doors in Sherwin-Williams Tricorn Black (Black Modern Farmhouse Cottage, Home Bunch).
5. Navy with bright white. If you want color without going loud, navy is the safest bold choice. Room for Tuesday notes that navy or blue hues are always a classic option, especially paired with a light black or charcoal and crisp white for contrast (Room for Tuesday). My pick is Hale Navy HC-154 with Chantilly Lace OC-65 on the trim.
Choosing a House Trim Color: Contrast or Blend
Trim is where a house either looks crisp or a little flat. High contrast (white trim on a dark body, or black trim on a white body) makes the architecture read clearly from the street. Low contrast (trim a few shades off the body) feels softer and more modern.
A useful number to check is light reflectance value, or LRV. Sherwin-Williams explains that LRV runs on a scale from 0, which absorbs all light, to 100, which reflects all light (Worthy of Reflection, Sherwin-Williams). Benjamin Moore lists Hale Navy at an LRV of 8.36 and Chantilly Lace at 90.04, which is why that pairing reads so crisp (Hale Navy, Chantilly Lace). When two colors sit close on the LRV scale, expect a soft, tonal look; when they sit far apart, expect contrast.
Picking a Front Door Paint Color
The front door is the one place I encourage clients to have fun. On a neutral house, a deep green, navy, black or a rich red gives the eye somewhere to land. Benjamin Moore shows a black house with Brilliant White OC-150 trim and Million Dollar Red 2003-10 as the accent, a combination that never looks dated (Exterior House Colors & Inspiration, Benjamin Moore).
Sheen matters on a door too. Benjamin Moore lists semi-gloss and soft gloss for trim, shutters, doors and architectural details, and gloss or high-gloss for doors and architectural details (Exterior House Colors & Inspiration, Benjamin Moore).
Then finish the entry with the hardware around it. A simple black modern outdoor wall light on each side of the door and clean 5-inch black floating house numbers make a freshly painted front look finished. My post on two ways to update your home's exterior has more easy curb appeal upgrades.
Test Before You Commit
Exterior color shifts more than you expect. Room for Tuesday says all paint should be swatched, and will look different depending on your home, the exterior material, the lighting and the surroundings (Room for Tuesday). Paint large samples on at least two sides of the house and look at them in the morning, at midday and in the evening before you decide.
If your home was built before 1978, plan the prep carefully. The EPA notes that any renovation, repair or painting project in a pre-1978 home that has lead-based paint can easily create dangerous lead dust, and its rule requires anyone paid to disturb painted surfaces in those homes to be certified (Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting Program, EPA). Ask your painter for their certification before work starts.
My Exterior Paint Checklist
- Note the roof, stone, brick and landscaping colors that are staying.
- Choose three colors: body, trim and one accent for the front door.
- Check the LRVs so you know how much contrast you're getting.
- Pick sheens by surface: lower sheen on siding, more gloss on trim and the door.
- Test big samples on more than one side of the house, at different times of day.
If you'd like to see how I pull an exterior palette together from start to finish, take a look at my exterior design concept board.
Exterior Paint Colors FAQ
What exterior paint colors never go out of style?
White or soft white with black accents, warm greige with white trim, charcoal with crisp white trim and navy with bright white are combinations I've seen work on every style of house.
Should house trim be lighter or darker than the body?
Either works. Lighter trim on a darker body gives classic contrast; darker trim on a light body feels more modern. Compare the LRVs to see how strong the contrast will be.
What is the best front door paint color?
One that contrasts with the body color and suits your fixed elements. Black, navy, deep green and red are reliable choices; use a semi-gloss or gloss finish so it's easy to clean.
