Four Tips on Exterior Paint Colour Schemes

4 tips on choosing the best exterior colour scheme for your home.

Need help in choosing the paint colours for the exterior of your home? If you are thinking of hiring painters for exterior painting then the first choice is usually deciding on the paint colour scheme. Painters can help you in paint colour selection but it’s a good idea to put some thought into it before you book a painter. Getting your home professionally painted is more than just a touch of paint, exterior painting requires prep work like sanding, gutters, scaffolding and more than one coat of paint. So if you’re going to pay professional painters you want to get it right the first time.

Our painting experience spans over 25 years and as owner operators of our Painting company in Sydney we have painted many exteriors of Sydney’s homes. In fact WPM is Dulux accredited meaning our industry experts recognise our top painting craftsmanship.

Tip One – Let Your House do the Talking

The first tip involves your home and its architecture. Does your house have features that should be standing out? Like render designs on part of the exterior, eg a rendered balcony or columns? If so paint these in a contrast colour. For double story homes a solid darker colour on the bottom section and a lighter colour for the top section looks stylish.

Or does your home already have an aesthetic architectural design? For instance is it a coastal cottage or modern townhouse? Is it a classic brick home from the post war era? You can look up the architecture of your home and see many examples of classic colour schemes.

Coastal homes can opt for classic Hamptons style with light colours like whites and blues. Modern homes often have darker colours like blacks and greys.

Tip number Two – Contrast Colours on the Exterior

Most homes exteriors are painted in at least two colours. The obvious being the gutters and windows painted in a contrast colour. We suggest you think of your home in three sections, whether it’s a single storey or double storey.

• Base
• Middle
• Top

One colour is flat, two colours are a contrast but think in dimensions for the best exterior paint scheme. Your home is three dimensional and paint should highlight the right shapes of your homes. The top is a highlight section, make this a great section to paint in lighter contrast colour to a darker colour on the base. For a single storey it may be that the top is considered to be the top ⅔ of the home and the base the bottom 3rd. This will add shape and dimension. And then the middle is all of the gutters, window frames and even garage doors. They do not need to be the same colour garage doors and gutters are usually not the same.

An example of this paint colour scheme may be dark blue/navy on the base, white on the top and grey gutters/fascia. This would suit many styles of homes from coastal to contemporary.

Tip number Three – Marry the Exterior to the Interior

Contrast is an oft-used term in paint colours and schemes but you will create a better flow and design if you marry not contrast the exterior paint design to the interior paint design. This does not mean you are limited to the same colours but rather the colours create continuity. We can arrange a free 2 hour colour consult with a Dulux colour consult to help you get this design perfect. Research the colour wheel and look at existing colour palettes. Also remember the exterior may use a stronger version of the same internal colour. A good example of this is using a half strength version internally of the same external colour.

Tip number Four – Choose Wisely

Feature colours are easier to change or paint over in the interior of your home than the exterior. We do not recommend a feature colour on a main section of your home like pink gutters or red render. But a pink door or red door looks amazing and also can be painted over easily if taste changes.