2021 Color Trends for Exterior Paint Colors
Updating your exterior is one of the quickest ways to increase your home’s value, and using the right colors instantly adds curb appeal. What are the “right” colors for 2021? Keep reading to find out 7 of the top trends for this year.
I’ll begin with neutrals since those are always an excellent choice for a home. For the past few years, gray has been the reigning neutral. Top color trend predictors know that gray isn’t going away but that you will see it warm up. Greige, taupe, and gray with colorful undertones join true gray in the limelight. This year beige (yes, it’s back) and other earthy neutrals will inch higher up the range of sought-after hues as we move away from classic gray exteriors and see a move toward more earthy neutrals and colors.
PPG Paints color trends palettes show a move away from cool and neutral grays towards warmer gray, greige, and beige. Their trend colors include Mercurial PPG1006-4, a mid-tone, tree bark gray with a warm cocoa brown undertone. Shadow Taupe PPG14-01 a soft, fresh greige with a red undertone. Transcend PPG1079-4 a mid-tone, brown sugar beige with a gingerbread undertone.
Left to right: Mercurial PPG1006-4, Transcend PPG1079-4, Shadow Taupe PPG14-01
Benjamin Moore only has one gray among its 12 trend colors for 2021, and it is in name only — Kingsport Gray HC-86. This color is a deep, warm greige — a color that melds gray and beige or brown. Silhouette AF-655, another trending color, combines deep charcoal gray with rich brown to create a warm, sultry hue. You can already see how much the gray tones are warming up.
Left to right: Kingsport Gray HC-86, Silhouette AF-655
Sherwin-Williams named a similar deep hue, Urbane Bronze SW 7048, as their Color of the Year 2021. Urbane Bronze is another deep neutral that walks the line between brown and charcoal. It is a wonderfully rich hue described by the company saying its “natural simplicity and nature-inspired energy cultivate a sense of calm from the ground up.” In looking at all of Sherwin-Williams trend colors, you’ll see that the only ones close to true gray are Crushed Ice SW 7647 and Cyberspace SW 7076.
Left to right: Urbane Bronze SW 7048, Crushed Ice SW 7647, Cyberspace SW 7076.
Likewise, Behr’s color trends include more colors in the warm gray to the beige range, including Barnwood Gray PPU24-07, Almond Wisp PPU5-12, and Modern Mocha N150-4.
Left to right: Almond Wisp PPU5-12, Barnwood Gray PPU24-07, Modern Mocha N150-4
How to Use Color Trends on your Exterior
I never recommend selecting the primary colors for your exterior based on trends. You can get trendy on your front door, but trends do not play a crucial role in the direction of your overall color scheme. You can learn more about the five things that influence your color choices in my e-book, available free from DaVinci Roofscapes, FRESH Home Exterior Colors Guide.
The complex and classic neutrals currently on-trend are an excellent fit for most houses. As more homes incorporate mixed materials – brick, stone, slate, shake, copper – on the exterior, the warmer neutrals are the best color to connect these elements into a cohesive exterior scheme. The warmth and earthiness blend with the environment and surrounding houses in all regions of the country.
Warm neutrals evoke a sense of wellness, and this was an influence mentioned in many different trend reports. The cool spa colors, while still popular, are giving way to their warmer counterpart that evokes feelings of being cared for and nurtured, not only calm and relaxed. The overall theme of Benjamin Moore Color Trends 2021 palette is to “nourish the spirit with the comforting, sunbaked hues that radiate warmth and wellbeing.” Even their color of the year, Aegean Teal 2136-40, an intriguing blue-green, invites us to reflect and reset.
Benjamin Moore Color of the Year 2021 Aegean Teal 2136-40
Behr suggests elevating your comfort zone and creating an experience in every space by pairing neutrals with the blues, greens, and other nature-based colors that have a sense of being grounded and stable and link us to the earth.
Give Your House Personality
But not all of this year’s colors are neutral. Anything but! There is a range of deep rich tones and exuberant, bright hues.
Sherwin-Williams invites you to move fearlessly into the future with modern hues such as Commodore SW 6524, Swimming SW 6764, Limón Fresco SW 9030. These colors might not be right for the whole house but can give your front door tons of personality.
Left to right: Commodore SW 6524, Swimming SW 6764, Limón Fresco SW 9030
There are many ways to use the 2021 color palettes both inside and outside your home. PPG Paints, whose trend colors always seem to be closest to those I predict based on my research, include “versatile tones that can be used as either the supporting or dominant color in the room.”
This year rather than a color of the year, they chose a Color Palette of the Year that includes three colors. Transcend is a mid-tone oatmeal-colored hue that draws on earthy influences and nostalgia. They describe it as “the antidote to an era of cool greys, this cozy neutral emulates the feeling of a warm latte on a cool morning or warm sand on a sunny summer day. Big Cypress, a shaded ginger with persimmon undertones, is the equivalent of a big, comforting hug for your home. Misty Aqua, a watercolor cerulean blue, provides an unexpected pairing of freshness against the other warm, earthy tones.”
Left to right: Transcend PPG1079-4, Misty Aqua PPG1147-3, Big Cypress PPG1062-5
Thinking About Updating your Home?
If you have been pondering updating your home, the 2021 Color Trends Palettes offer you plenty of inspiration. To help you coordinate the trend colors for your new roof, come back next week to see many beautiful palettes of colors that complement your gorgeous DaVinci Slate or Shake roof.