Sunday, May 10, 2009

Decisions, Decisions!

What color to paint the house? I've been collecting paint chips from Lowe's and Home Depot for weeks, trying to find something that complements the odd redish-brown color of my new roof. Mind you, when I looked at the small roofing sample, the color looked like it would go well with my taupe house. I couldn't have been more wrong. For one thing, a small sample gives you no idea what an entire roof of the same color will actually look like. What I thought was a subtle neutralish brown with a faint red cast, is now a glaringly redish-brown roof that clashes horridly with taupe. It doesn't help that brown is not my favorite color.

So I've been agonizing over house colors. I so don't want a brown house! Thankfully, there is enough red in the roof that I can lean toward brick colors. I also tried several shades of dark hunter green. I've finally narrowed the choices down to the following:

Green: Charcoal Smoke; Gunmetal Gray, Northwest Green
Brown: Mayan Red, Rich Chocolate; Leatherbound; Wine Barrel

Of the above colors, there is only one truly perfect match: Rich Chocolate, which is a rich dark brown with a red cast to it. I'd almost call it a burgundy. The problem is, I need a second color to go with it, because of the way the house is constructed. That's an old photo above, before I had the new roof installed. As you can see, the upper half of the house has vertical boards. The lower half has horizontal boards. I think it would look weird to paint both the upper and lower parts the same color. I've tried a dark hunter green for the bottom, with Rich Chocolate for the upper part, but it looks weird. Then I tried a lighter shade of Rich Chocolate for the bottom, but it looked orange. Next, I tried a hunter green--upper half, and Rich Chocolate--bottom half. Ugh. Then Charcoal Smoke with Gunmetal Gray. Blah.

And then, of course, I have to choose a color for the trim around the windows. I have no idea what colors I'll go with, but in the meantime, the sample colors I've smeared across the front of the house give it a dilapidated patchwork appearance. And as much as I dislike brown, I'm afraid the overwhelming choice so far is Rich Chocolate. Now, to decide on the complementary colors . . .

If you have any suggestions, I'm all ears!

4 comments:

Keira Soleore said...

I'd suggest leaving the trim as is. First find your two colors, paint the house, and then decide from between the roof and two house colors what would look good for the trim. May I suggest, the gunmetal gray for the top and northwest green for the bottom?

Anonymous said...

Have you thought about blue?
There are so many shades that would blend with gray/green
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Shades_of_blue
Your home looks stunning
Carolx

News From the Holmestead said...

Keira, I've actually tried several combinations of your color suggestions, with varying results. The problem is, nothing really appeals to me, because we're into colors I don't favor. It's such a dilemma, because I'll have to look at what I decided on for years!

News From the Holmestead said...

Carol, funny you should mention blue. I had decided yesterday that I need to try some blue and sand-colored shades. So it's back to the paint store for more paint chips. The problem is the ugly reddish-brown roof. Hard color to deal with--and I'm stuck with it for 30 years! *g*