My house is the L-shaped ranch style. Therefore, my garage is out front. My brick has orange, browns, and cream. My roof is brown. My front door is a maple wood. My shutters are currently black and I think it is okay, but too much contrast. My garage and trim is currently cream. I have found a pretty dark brown that I thought about painting my shutters, should I paint my garage door that color too?  Should I paint the trim the cream or the dark brown around the garage? –Kristi

Kate Suggests:

I think that from what you share about the colors in your brick that brown is a good choice. If you think that the brown shutters will look great than certainly make the change from black.

I think I would also use the same brown the garage door and if the trim on the rest of the house is cream, I’d go with the cream around the garage also.

If you are repainting the trim here’s a tip to help you find the right color. Whenever a home has brick or stone work I look at the color of the grout and then find a trim color that has the same undertones and a similar value (darkness or lightness).

For example I would bet that with your brick color the grout may have more of warm undertone that matches the color cast of the bricks. If this is the case your trim color will look best if it too has the yellow undertones and is a bit more muted similar to the grout rather than a bright, clear cream.

I have a question regarding brick. I have a two story house. Red school house brick on the bottom half, shakers on the top. Dark grey roof. I am thinking of a grey with green undertones. The motar in my brick is grey. How deep a color can I make the grey without being top heavy. I am thinking of doing shutters and door in a chimney color (dark, grey). Will this make my house too dull. The trim will be a french white, outling window and bay window. could I please get some feed back.

Barbara suggests:

You have raised a good question. Because your brick is  on the lower portion of the house, I am imagining is is a deeper color.

You can probably use a gray of the hue you described, and when you go to the paint store to select the color ask them to show you a color that is on the deeper side of “base 2″ or the lighter side of “base 3.” The “base” designation refers to the depth or saturation level of colors that are possible within a specific range, with “base 1″ being the very lightest.  How they are set up will depend on the brand you choose.

RE: dullness – how about a beautiful accent color for the shutters, and a brighter or more vivid color for your front door—something like a deep pumpkin, just for example. Your shutters might then be a rusty color. But, this is just a non-visual guess since I have no idea from your description of what you mean by .”RED brick.” There’s so much variation in actual colors of brick and color names, too, for that matter. Often, if you look closely at brick, what looks “red” also includes hues of rusty orange/brown, mauve/ lilac, deep purple-gray.  You can use those colors as a cue for your accent colors for shutters and doors.

I am really struggling with this – trapped by brick around the lower half of my house (yellow-beige with almost no variation in the brick) and dark brown vinyl window frames. Currently the siding, doors and trim around the windows is painted dark brown as well. We would like to go lighter on the siding but are really stuck about what might fit with the two “set” colors. Most of the neighborhood is 1960’s muted – whites, taupes, grays. Both of our neighbors have mostly white houses. Any ideas?

Barbara suggests:

Try something earthy but not of the same color family as what you currently have that can’t be changed.  Perhaps a gray-green-something mossy or sage type. Maybe it could be just a little deeper in color than the brick.  It’s hard to say exactly, but this could be a color direction you might try.

Another idea in a different direction: Rust type. But as I often say, it’s hard to make a recommendation without seeing even a picture, so you will have to test,test,test, on large areas, and view the colors at different times of day on different areas of the house – to see what looks good.

Suggestion: Use Tru-Hue test boards or poster boards, at least two of each color and at least 24 inches square for your testing.

If you use poster board prepare them just as if they were the actual siding by starting with a coat of prime.  If you use the Tru-Hue test boards they are already prepped so you can skip the Prime.  Then roll two or three coats of your color.

You will be able to move them around, tape them to the siding, etc.  Do NOT do little brush strokes of colors on the side of your house, it won’t give you a true idea of the color and just leads to being more confused.

Your advice is wonderful, and I’m hoping my home can be helped as well. Here’s why: Built in the 80’s, my country style home has 4 brick colors: a few tan, mostly orange, very few charcoal brown, and some a light orange. Currently, trim (over garage and all around, is slate blue. Shutters are blue with white trim. also have a country railing (white) around front porch. (all windows are those 80’s brown) My husband won’t repaint until I choose a different color, and we must paint extremely soon. I hate orange and brown…

Can you help?  ~Donna

Bethany*suggests:

Yes!!  To start off with, notice all the different colors in the brick.  There must be a color in there that you can embellish, such as the tan.  The tan/beige colors also will look very well with the slate blue.  Also, slightly changing the existing brown color will make more of a difference than you might think.

A color of past decades is repeated years later altered slightly gives it the updated look.  A slight change makes all the difference!!

Another idea would be to take out the slate blue color altogether and replace it with the dark charcoal brown, 6076 Turkish Coffee, you have mentioned for the trim.  This color will look fabulous when coupled with a lighter color (pulled out of the brick conglomeration) such as Sherwin Williams Tatami Tan 6116 for the shutters.  Instead of just plain white for the rails, you can choose a white version of Tatami Tan: 7124 Crescent Moon- this slight change will give the home a cozy glow.

*Not just Any Beth

We have a rather large bedroom which includes a fireplace with standard, red/pinkish brick surrounded by a medium cherry/maple color mantle. There is also a bay window, also surrounded by cherry/maple trim. We have medium cherry stained furniture, dresser and panel bed, from Restoration Hardware more of an arts and crafts style.

The walls are currently a mauve color, probably to pick up the color in the brick. There is also a master bath (very small) off the bedroom, also in the mauve/pink paint. We plan to completely re-do the bathroom, but have not tackled that project yet.. Please suggest a paint color scheme for both the bath and bedroom, as I am stuck! Thanks,
Monique

Barbara suggests…

I understand your dilemma, and the desire to arrive at a decision for a color scheme for your bedroom and master bathroom.

Your description indicates a dominance of red-based colors, from the fireplace to the mantel, to the furniture. My thought is that rather than “pick up the color in the brick,” I’d recommend that you use colors that complement the brick and not try to replicate its color.

You didn’t describe the light conditions in either room, therefore I’ll recommend a middle-tone color—not pastel, and not too saturated. Your room is “large” so perhaps you would consider an accent wall color, maybe behind the bed—and that color can also bring out colors from your window treatments and bed coverings.

Incandescent lighting will make any color you use have a yellow cast, which in the bathroom will probably be a bit intensified if there are not windows to add the daylight element during the day time. A gold-based color is something you might want to avoid for the bathroom.

You also did not include any information about the floors in either – so, it’s hard to assume correctly what they might be–carpet? wood? tile?– and what color and material? In any case what covers the floor is an important ingredient when considering wall colors, which are not in any way isolated from all the other qualities of your space.

Ultimately, when you re-do the bathroom you will also want to consider the type and color of the hardware and fixtures you use.

Rather than give you specific colors—which may or may not be what you like—I’d just like to direct you to some basic things to consider when you are looking at paint colors:

• the kinds of colors you like, that resonate with you
• lighting in the room: natural and electric
• floor color and material
• decorating elements: fabrics and art work
• size of the room
• the feeling you want to create: intimate, lively, fresh, historic, etc.

Hello, color mavens! Enjoyed the article in the Post. I wanted to ask a quick question – we are getting ready to paint the exterior of our house, and have been working on colors. We don’t have that much siding to paint, our house is mostly brick dominated in the front sadly by a protruding brick garage. Any suggestions for colors that would bring attention away from the garage while bringing some warmth to the house? Thanks, DG

Kate suggests…

Having a garage is great but having one that dominates the front of your home can be a design challenge.

The biggest mistake homeowners make is drawing attention to standard or unattractive garage doors. I’m glad you recognize that this is not the way to go.

Let me start by giving a few very general DO’s and DON’Ts for painting garage doors:

• DO paint the garage doors in the same color as the house itself and not the trim color or white (unless white is your house color). Painting the garage doors the same colors as the body of the house will make your home appear larger.

• DO paint the trim around the doors either to match the door or to match the trim on the rest of your home.

• DON’T paint the garage doors in the same accent color they chose for their front door or shutters. This draws too much attention to the doors and chops up the facade of the home.

• DON’T highlight the details of a standard garage door by painting the door in more than one color. There are historic or special doors where this may be appropriate but for the majority of garage doors this would not be the way to go.

In your case rather than find a color that is very close to that of the body of your home (brick) you may want to identify the color cast of the brick and use that as a guide for selecting a paint color.

The bricks in your home may basically be red but will have a cast of another color such as beige or gold or gray. Your best bet is to find a close color match to the cast color.

For example if your bricks have a beige cast paint the siding and garage doors in a shade of beige. This guarantees that the siding and garage door colors will harmonize with the rest of the home and give you nice curb appeal.

This will begin to make your home feel warm and inviting but you will want to continue to draw the focus away from the garage and to the entrance of your home by selecting a beautiful color for the front door.

You can also draw attention to you entry with lighting, colorful plants and flowers, or an interesting bench or other tasteful element near the door.

Resources:

• 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.

You see, replacing stone or brick is expensive. However, using these fixed features as your color inspiration, or seeing them as part of your overall color scheme, can help narrow down your color choices.

For example, if the majority of your house is shingle and/or clapboard and the entry area is brick, start by identifying the color cast of the brick element. If the brick is essentially red, but has a golden yellow or beige cast to it, find a close color match to that golden yellow or beige for the house body. Voila! You’ve got your house color. The brick or stone element that you felt stood out like a sore thumb now fades into the overall house color.

Next, think about using a complementary color for trim. If your brick is essentially red and the grout is gray think about looking directly across the color wheel to red’s complement green then draw on the gray tone from the grout and choose a gray/green for the trim around the windows and doors. Using this dual approach (using a color similar to the grout, while complementing the brick) makes the brick appear less dominant and overpowering.

Offset your house body and trim colors with an interesting and “weighty” color for the entry doors, shutters and garage doors. Once again, this serves a dual purpose. It “grounds” the house while drawing attention to these elements as accents. To really make your house stand out from your neighbors, use a high-shine finish on these accent elements. This will highlight the details.

I hope that with inspiration from these design ideas, you too will create an eye-catching look for your homes exterior.