Expert: Joan Miller - 11/3/2008

Question
QUESTION: I have wood stained garage doors with brown ledgestone around my home.  I am trying to find the best "brown" color to paint the exterior stucco.  Any suggestions?

ANSWER: Thank you for your question Chris. To help you choose the appropriate brown, you need to figure out if you wish to have a contrast look, or if you wish to match directly your ledgestone. If your ledgestone is only one shade of brown, best would be to stain the stucco with a lighter shade of brown, or creams in order to have both decorations stand out, meaning the stucco would have the responsibility of giving value to your ledgestone and vice versa. If your ledgestone has a few shades of brown, meaning a combination of browns, tans and creams, you may want to match the lighter tones in your stone and stain your stucco with that particular color. Remember to keep your brownish tones in light or medium shades, otherwise if you choose a darker color of brown, your home will look heavy and crushed down. Lighter and medium tones are meant to give light and the appropriate uplift! Hope this helps.

Joan

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Joan,

Thanks for the info.  I am definately looking for a contrast look...In the "brown" family, there are just SO many shades that I figured that maybe you may know a specific color that has worked for you on previous projects  The ledgestone is called  "Pro Fit-(color) Mojove"  It does have a few shades of brown but is primarily cream. It looks great with the stained doors.  Is it possible to email you over a picture?

Thanks,

Chris  

Answer
Hello again Chris,

I went over to the Cultured Stone Web Site and found the color of stone your have on your home. Of course, a picture is welcomed so I can have the concept of the home with the color of stain on your doors to make sure that I am putting you on the right track.

At a first glance, I would be tempted to lead into matching the lighter stone of the group, since you are looking for that contrast look.

Please copy and paste this link into your web browser. http://www.adexsystems.com/mainEn.html
This will take you to the Adex Systems. Their color chart is one of my favs. Check out the best sellers section, color W152-2E and let me know what you think.

Best regards,

Joan