Colors for a Florida lakefront home

Today’s color dilemma…

Thanks for finally addressing the bricks…The front of my home has partial red brick and the rest is stucco. I am in Florida on a small lake.

The house was painted beige with the mauve trim, plenty of trim includes the garage. The house next to me had the mauve color shot and painted their house in it. The color is ok but not fantastic. It is midtone. What color can I use. Should I color shot the mauve ( from the 70s) and tweek it a little?

I like colorful; One house on the lake is a violet periwinkle and is pretty. Also 2 yellow houses on the lake. The house on my other side is white with lt. blue trim. Can you please show your color chip selections I just love that! — Criztina

Kate suggests…

I’m imagining that your mauve tends towards red if it goes well with your brick and if you are happy with that color than certainly tweaking it a bit is an option but it seems that you might be ready for a change.

Yellow and creamy tan are colors often used on homes that have red brick combined with stucco but with two other homes close by already using yellow I don’t think it would be best to have your home in this range of colors.

I like the idea of going with a blue but something that will give you a different look than the periwinkle main color or blue trim of either of your neighbor’s homes.

A blue gray could work well especially if your bricks have a gray cast and your roof has cool undertones. An example of this scheme would be Sherwin-Williams Portal Blue for the main color and Scottish Loch as the accent color.

Since you are in Florida I might use a color that has more blue than gray. Shown here are Benjamin Moore Blue Bay Marina for the body of the house and Lakeside Cabin for the trim.

If your brick and roof tend to have a warmer cast than you could use a blue green hue. I’m showing three colors here not because I’m recommending three but to show you how you can think about your color scheme once you have decided on the color in general.

For example with these three colors from Valspar you could consider a few options. You could use the Aquatic Edge for the main color and either Lake Country or Belle Grove Spruce for the trim.

Going with a darker accent color will focus more attention on the trim while going with the mid-value will highlight the trim but integrate it more with the main color.

Another option would be to paint the body in the mid or darker value and the trim in the lightest value. It really depends on the look you prefer.

As general rule for painting architectural elements I usually first consider the deepest colors for accenting recesses and lighter colors for highlighting details that stand out from the structure but since most stucco homes have traditionally been painted with the trim in a darker color this may seem like the most natural way to place the colors.

When selecting the actual colors keep in mind that colors will look darker if your home is in the shade and lighter if it gets full sun. Also the rougher the surface, the darker the color will appear.

I hope that helps.

***Readers if you have other ideas or suggestions I welcome you to add them in the comments. I’m sure Criztina would love to hear your thoughts too!***

Resources:

• Type in your zip code for a list of Sherwin-Williams dealers near you.
• Type in your zip code for a list of Valspar dealers near you.
• Type in your zip code for a list of Benjamin Moore dealers near you.
• Do you have a color dilemma? Post it in the Makeover Gallery at RoomVues.com and you could be the next reader to have your color question answered on the Color For Your Home blog.

**Please note: Due to individual computer monitor limitations, colors seen here may not accurately reflect the paint colors. Please refer to an actual sample of the paint for an accurate rendition of the color.

Picture of lake from artist Linda Blenheim’s blog. Check out her art and items for sale.