Expert: Nazim Nice - 1/14/2010

Question
Hi there,
         I note that you answered a question earlier about exterior paint scheme involving brick, but I'm not sure if it applies to our house. If you look here -

http://s1007.photobucket.com/albums/af194/timbo59/

you'll see our home in its present state. The structure is built with cinder block, which has been lightly rendered with some kind of finish that partially masks the mortar lines.

I've gone back and forwards for months, driven through neighborhood after neighborhood, and have yet to find a paint scheme that really seems to work with our place. The closest I've come is the paint scheme shown in the two pictures on the right, a three tone green scheme used on a condo complex not far from my daughter's school. As we live on a heavily wooded light here in central Florida I thought the green would help the place blend in with it's surroundings, especially if we highlighted it eventually with some nice plantings. I do have two concerns though. The first is that the place doesn't inadvertently end up looking like it's been camouflaged army style. Secondly, while playing around with the pictures on paintshop, I wasn't quite sure if a dark green gable (as seen in the condo pics) would work on its own at the front of our house directly in contrast to the brick. One other frustrating part is that I can't exactly match up the colors - I've been backwards and forwards with paint chips from various manufacturers, and can't nail either the main color or the dark paint used on the gables and shutters.

Can you think of any suggestions that might work with our house, or know of any houses with pictures online that could provide some pointers?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Tim

Answer
Hi Tim,

I think you are on the right path with your examples, and the kinds of colors to consider.  I was a little nervous about the description of the green, but in the photo it looks more olive green, lots of gray in it, and relatively dark.  That's the kind of green to use if you are using green.  The other colors seem to pull out the lighter colors in the brick on the front of the home, so that is a good strategy.  

I'm a little concerned that the green may to be too high contrast with the white. If you are going with a darker color scheme, consider painting the white elements a creamy color, or even beige and use that as the trim color.  Then consider a darker color for the house body (the one in the photo of the brick house is a little too brown I think), then look at the darker green color (or a dark grey) for the accent color (possibly for the shutters too).  You may find the gables are too 'heavy' painted the dark color. In that case, paint them the body color.  Also in the photos, the garage door is painted 2 colors. I would try to stick with one for garage doors as they tend to be large elements that are not worth highlighting (I'm guessing this is a leftover from the previous owner too?).

Hope this helps. If you want an opinion on a paintshop image you've mocked up feel free to post again.

Nazim Nice
Principal / Architect
http://www.motion-space.com
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