When your home is in need of a fresh coat of exterior paint, choosing the right color helps protect your home value. Blending in with the neighbors should be your top priority.
Live in a community that has a homeowners association? Check with the association before buying paint. You’ll likely have to choose your paint colors from a list of allowed shades from a couple of specific brands. Be sure to buy the exact color or you could have to repaint.
Live in a condo? The association is almost certainly in charge of your exterior maintenance, including paint.
Consider Neighbors
If you don’t have a community association, you can paint whatever color you like. However, choosing a color that’s out of character for the neighborhood not only detracts value from your home, it can hurt the value of neighboring homes.
That’s because homebuyers make judgments about your street, as well as the individual homes on it, when they decide how much to pay for a home that’s for sale.
When you change your home’s colors, select hues similar to the other homes in your neighborhood. If the homes in your neighborhood typically have a lighter or softer tone, don’t pick a dark blue, and vise-versa.
Color trends come and go, so unless you want to paint again very soon, pick colors that will endure. Whites, tans and grays are all safe choices.
Regional Colors
Exterior paint palates also vary by region. Earth tones are popular in inland areas, while beach homeowners like to use pastel colors.
When picking colors, consider your home’s other materials, such as brick or stone fronts, the color of your roof and colors in your landscaping plants.
Trim Colors
Use trim color to highlight the architectural features of your home. With trim, homeowners tend to use more personality and you’ll see everything from soft colors like lemon yellow to more somber colors like burgundy and olive. Just stay away from loud trim like school-bus yellow or fire-engine red.
Still Not Sure?
- Visit nearby new home developments to see what’s popular for homes similar in size and cost to your own.
- See what your home (or one like it) would look like painted different colors using Sherwin-Williams’ paint visualizer.
- Contact me for a referral to a decorator who can pick home colors that protect your home’s resale value.