Expert: Nazim Nice - 4/12/2009

Question
QUESTION: We are going to paint our 60s contemporary house. The brick is white, and there is wood beneath the few windows to the front. We are replacing the double garage door with one with four long, rectangular, horizontal windows. What's a mid-century appropriate color for the wood, garage and front door? The trim and gutters will have to remain white

ANSWER: Hi Michelle,

First, I would point you to a couple resources:

Sherwin Williams has a good Mid-Century Modern color palette (although I don't see one combination that looks right for your house - but some of the individual colors are good):
http://www.sherwin-williams.com/pro/paint_colors/paint_color_samples/paint_color

There are some good colors on this Eichler House paint guide too:
http://www.eichlerforsale.com/painting_eichler_house
Here I could see combining one of the lighter colors for the siding and a darker color for the front door/accent.  

I think you could go darker on the front door than the orange/red color you have now, and I think you could go darker on the wood siding color (but not too dark because you don't want there to be a huge contrast between the white brick and the siding).  If you really want to change the look of the house, then I think the option of painting the brick would come into play.   

The colors you end up choosing may depend on if you want the house to look more 'sophisticated' or more playful/colorful.  It could go either way.  For a sophisticated look, sticking with earthy tones and painting the front door an eggplant color may work (or other deep rich color - a deep blue/green for example could work too).

Also consider your roof color.  If you roof is more brown, stick to earthy warmer colors.  If it is more grey, then stick with gray base colors, or 'cooler' colors.

I hope this points you in the right direction!  Good luck.



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

QUESTION: Thanks so much for the quick response. The shingles have some taupe in them. If I went with a taupe with a bit of purple in it, would that work with the eggplant door? I love the thought of changing the red to something rich like that! Would you say that we should paint the garage door the same color as the wood?

FYI, when we moved in, the wood was painted black! Talk about contrast to the white brick...  

Answer
Hi Michelle,

I think taupe with a little purple would probably look good.  Be careful not to get too much purple though.  We perceive colors differently outside than inside.  My experience is that exterior colors need to be much more grey or brown than we think, with a hint of other colors.

For the garage door, if you want it to stand out, paint it the same color as the front door, or to blend in, paint it the same color as the trim.  I'm glad you said it's not white, though, because that would stand out too much. I usually lean to blending in for garage doors unless yours is particularly pretty to look at.

I always suggest getting about 3 colors to test out on large areas of the house before committing (buy small quarts - some places sell even smaller sizes).  It takes time but is well worth it.  Even with years of experience, I do this to choose colors because even if I've used a color before, the light and surrounding materials will change the appearance.

-Nazim