Expert: Rikki Nyman - 7/27/2009

Question
RIkki - I have a house color question with no house picture. I hope I can describe this, and i need to know soon, so I appreciate your help. We have a 1987 small 4level split(on a 3 acre suburban lot) with very light gray aluminum siding. The roof is medium grey. THe huge Shop, very close to the house, is medium grey steel siding with dark grey steel wainscot and roof. We are replacing the 3 ft high brick in front of the house. I was leaning toward dark greys, but it looks very cementy and cold. I've narrowed it down to chilton full-color or maple-ridge blend. The blend is 40% chilton full-color and 60% chilton ledgestone (chilton ledgestone is light greys and mauves). Or I can switch the percentges for a custom blend. Chilton ledgestone seems too light and washed out. Will the full-color be too adventurous and contrasting with the siding? Does the mapleridge with more greys be better? thanks for your help. I couldnt find a pic of the full color, but it's like the maple ridge with a lot less greys and is more colorful.
http://www.halquiststone.com/blends/maple_ridge.php  

Answer
Hi. I went to the site and looked at the various stone options. The Maple-Ridge blend is very nice, but I was struck by your comment about the full-color being too adventurous. Because you are working with several different shades of gray, but didn't mention whether the existing grays are on the warm or cool side, I'm going to steer right down the middle.

I think you might easily create a custom blend by increasing the amount of color in the Maple-Ridge blend. The effect would be striking, I think, if you used 50/50 or even 60/40. It's an extremely attractive blend anyway. You have so many grays that a bit of extra color (and adventurousness) could take it from fine to fabulous. With the right plantings you could tie everything together. (I really like grasses with stonework.)

Of course, this comes with a caveat that it's hard to be absolutely certain without seeing a picture of the buildings, the existing colors, setting, landscaping, and so on. That said, I think it could be a handsome choice and one I could see myself making.

Because of the cost though, I recommend doing some kind of mock-up so you can see what it's likely to look like before you commit. There's nothing worse than making a mistake that is literally set in stone.

The vendor could probably help you find someone with design capabilities who could create a rendering for you if they don't have someone with that capability in-house.

Hope this helps a little.

Rikki Nyman
www.antiquehomestyle.com