Many homeowners don’t spend much time thinking about the paint on the exterior of their home. They spend plenty of time and money matching the colors of their interior walls to their furnishings because this is seen as extremely important to the comfort of their home. However, the paint on the exterior of your home should be just as important. Homeowners miss out on huge opportunities by failing to choose the right paint options.
When choosing exterior paints, you should make sure to take a few things into account. You should choose an exterior paint according to its durability and how it will affect your home’s curb appeal. By taking these factors into account, you will not only make your house more beautiful, but you will also increase its retail value.
First, let’s talk about curb appeal. Painting the exterior of your home can disguise unattractive elements of your home like gutters, sewage lines, high-lines, and fences. For example, by painting a gutter the same color as the wall it is attached to, you can make it virtually disappear. Colors can also add more dimension to a home. By taking into account your home’s windows, roof color, and landscaping when choosing the color, you can make your house look more vivid and interesting, which will improve its curb appeal.
That being said, there is more to take into accounts that just curb appeal. At Quality Exterior Services LLC, they tell all their customers that the color of paint you choose will affect your home’s energy efficiency. Light colored or even white paint will reflect the sun’s light and will, therefore, heat up much less than darker shades. This means that your house will stay cooler and you won’t have to run your air conditioner as much. Plus, choosing a light color doesn’t mean you have to completely give up on aesthetics. A light colored house will make your landscaping and the color of your trim really pop.
For those who like summaries, here are 8 points to consider when you’re choosing paint for the exterior of your home.
- Change your safe-choice to a better-looking alternative–Instead of just going straight to white, try going a few shades lighter than what you already have.
- Trial packs are meant for trial! Use them– Stores offer a variety of products for testing out colors. Buy a trial sized bottle of paint and paint a small patch in the front and back of your home. As the light changes over the course of the day, go out and look at how each patch of paint looks. Then choose the color that looks best during all times of the day.
- Spend extra time choosing the exterior paint– Exterior paints, unlike interior paint, cannot be undone easily. The coatings are fairly permanent. So, spending a little extra time making sure you’ve made the right choice is a good decision.
- Don’t ignore the materials on your home’s exterior-Match the color of the paint with the existing permanent material that has been used to lay the foundation of your house, and is visible. Make sure the bricks, stones, rampage, or roof texture match with the paints you put on the walls. This will give your home a coherent look.
- Use technology to choose your color scheme-There is a lot of software out there that can take the existing colors that surround your home and suggest a color scheme that fits well with those colors. Don’t be afraid to take advantage of this software.
- Choosing two shades-This always turns heads: Choose two colors belonging to the same color family that is a few shades apart. Use either the darker or lighter for the body and the other for the trim. Doors and windows can be painted in contrasting shades to that of the walls.
- The porch of the house should look welcoming-Natural colors are a good option if you want your porch to look inviting.
- Light shades, make a house look bigger and spread-out. Darker shades make a home look smaller, but also crisp and eye-catching.
As you can see, a lot goes into choosing a color for your home. Neutral shades were traditionally considered safe and thus, most people didn’t bother to play with interesting colors for their home’s exterior. However, the prejudice that interiors can be decorated, while the exterior should be subdued is rapidly changing. This means that there is now a much broader catalog of exterior paints. Get to a paint store to see some of the interesting options available these days.