One of the critical steps in designing your home is how it will look on the exterior. Paint color plays a huge role in your home’s curb appeal, so it is important to take some time and be thoughtful about your selection.
Here is a guide and some tips to help you think through and make your decision on what works best for your home in its location that matches your design preference.
Color Selection Factors
Your home’s environment: the landscape
This is a critical first step because your home is impacted by its surroundings and you cannot change these colors. Do you want your home to blend into the natural environment or stand out? Many of our customers want their homes to connect to nature, so select colors that complement their surroundings, whether it is soft greens or warm beiges in the mountains or light blues and clean neutrals in the beach areas to reflect the sky and sun.
Some customers want to stand out and create a statement with their homes with more vivid colors that complement their surroundings but do not blend in. Perhaps they want to evoke a certain building style or trend. These people might select a bright white or muted black color.
Often homeowners realize they need to go one or two shades darker or warmer than initially thought in order to get to the color saturation you desire. On such a large scale, especially if you are dealing with lots of sunlight or expansive blue skies, the color will appear lighter or sometimes even “bluer”. We have even seen colors turn a bit “greener” when surrounded by forest or trees.
Pro-Tip: Consider different times of days and seasons when thinking about your colors. That dark green forest in the summer might be rich yellows and reds in the fall or darker browns in the winter.
Your home’s environment: the neighborhood
While many of our homeowners build in more remote locations, a lot of them also build in new or existing neighborhoods. In this case, you will want to look at what the other home colors are like and how your home fits in with them. Is your home surrounded by homes with specific architectural styles that dictate what colors would be appropriate? Do you want to fit in or stand out? Some neighborhoods and homeowners’ associations have strict limitations on home colors so you will want to research that first.
Your home: The roof
Your roof color has a huge impact on your home’s appearance. It is usually the second largest area beyond the siding. The roof color and siding work together to create your home’s curb appeal so they must work together.
If your roof is a black or neutral gray, then you have less to worry about your siding color clashing with your roof. Or perhaps your specific architectural style will already dictate your roof and siding color combinations. The roof composition and texture may also be important to consider.
For example, if you are installing a classic metal roof on your home (and they can look fantastic), you would want to consider its flashiness or reflection in matching your color. Perhaps you really want to make a statement with a copper roof and need a color to match.
Pro-tip: Do a google search for homes with the type of roof and siding colors you are considering. For example, “metal roof with brown siding” or “black roof with white siding”. This can not only help you visualize what you want but avoid any potential mistakes.
Your home: Decking and Overhangs
Many homeowners want to extend their living areas with decks or extended overhangs on their homes. It could be a Classic Mountain Timberframe porch or even a wraparound deck around their entire home. Pay attention to the deck color and textures that not only add visual interest to your home exterior but should complement your siding color. Even pay attention to the siding underneath the deck that may be shaded.
Your home: Foundation
This can have an impact on your home’s appearance if it is used as a design element that you want to highlight, such as a stone wall foundation. It can add not only add visual interest to your home but may replace the need for accent or trim colors on your siding.
Your home: Doors, Windows and other architectural details
There are also a variety of other home details that you will have to match with your siding color. Consider what style and color your garage and entry doors as well as window trim and style might be when thinking of colors. If you are including other architectural details like wood soffits or a wood entryway, you will need to coordinate your paint color with these as well.
Paint Color Selections
Collections
Because exterior paint selection can be so challenging, we have done some of the work for you by creating some color collections.
One of the most successful exterior palettes, or collections of color, is a “monochromatic” approach or colors that vary in shade but not hue. This is an effortless way to create a subtle, sophisticated effect. Deltec has curated these color collections that build on four color hues. You cannot go wrong layering these shades on your home in siding, trim or soffit details.
You can check out our collections in this blog post.
Additionally, these shaded collections also allow for an easier comparison of intensity of color. For example, if you want a light-colored home vs. a dark one, seeing the shades in relation to the other colors provides a better visual reference point.
Customizing the collections
An easy way to get the benefit of our curated collections but still add your own unique stamp to your home is to add some pops of color or textures. An entry way is a fantastic opportunity to add in a unique element. Add in a pop of color or accent siding at the front door for added interest and curb appeal.
Or a natural wood soffit to contrast the painted siding.
Pro-tip: Many of our Deltec homeowners are very artistic and have built some extremely unique homes. Searching through our site or on Pinterest you may find some homes that provide inspiration for you.
Matching your windows
With Marvin as our exclusive window supplier, we have paired their colors with ours and offer a range of appropriate color options. We currently have 6 selected colors.
If your exterior colors are earthly with warm beiges and reds like our Western collection, consider looking at bronze, cashmere or pebble gray window frames. But the clear, cooler colors of our coastal collection are perfect for a bright stone white window frame.
If you are looking for an air of architectural sophistication that will stand the test of time, our black and bronze widow frames might be ideal for your home.
Pro-tip: Do not assume that stone white will work with any color combination. Sometimes a bit of color in your window frames is much better than white.
Don’t go overboard
We have carefully selected the colors in our collections to complement each other and work together. Often, anything more than three colors or different materials may look disorganized and break up your home, making it look cluttered.
Our Solar Farmhouse is a perfect example of making your home stand out with a distinctive look and oodles of curb appeal by using carefully selected colors and textures limited to three: all white siding, contrasting black window frames and natural wood accents.
Testing it out
It is very beneficial to see the color in real life. Colors on monitors are never accurate and even small color swatches might be misleading when you are painting a large surface like a house.
We are happy to send you a brush out sample including the colors you are considering.
Pro-tip: Purchase test sizes of the colors and paint them on large pieces of poster board. Using your existing home, move the poster boards with the colors around the different sides of the home at different times of the day to get a sense for how the color looks in different lighting. If you are not building remotely, you can do the same on the property location to test the colors out with the actual lighting conditions.
Ordering it from Deltec Homes
We understand there are a lot of materials to be specified so the Deltec Design team has created a spec sheet for all the materials that will need to be selected for 360 Collection homes as well as Renew Collection homes. You can find these on the Customer Portal or request one from your designer. Here are two examples:
