Picking A Perfect Color Scheme For Your Colonial Style Home

If you are wondering about the best way to choose colors for your home exterior then I have some great news for you. I’ve taken my years of experience choosing colors for hundreds of homes and put it into easy to follow steps for you to download for FREE in the DaVinci Roofscapes Color Studio.

Colonial Home Drawing

In my first ebook FRESH Home Exterior Colors: 5 Steps for Finding the Perfect Hues for Your Home I introduce you to my FRESH approach for picking your colors in five steps.

In the second ebook FRESH Color Schemes for Your Home Exterior I provide step-by-step color guidance for seven different home styles. You will see how I use a “top down” approach, giving you insights on adding eye-pleasing color palettes to your home exterior starting with the roof, then working your way down to consider your siding, window frames, front door and trim. As you see how I create these looks you will quickly learn how to do the same for your home.

Here is an example of selecting a color scheme for the colonial home you see above rendered with the suggested colors. Just as you will do for your own home, I considered each part of “FRESH”, the homeowner’s like and dislikes, their personal style and vision they had for their home. These are the steps I took for this home. You can see examples of the other six styles in FRESH Color Schemes for Your Home Exterior.

 

 

The existing polymer shake roof is color has variations in the tones but the overall color is a warm natural Cedar.

 

 

Recently installed windows with Pine Green grids need to be treated as a fixed feature. When window grids are a distinct color it is the one time they will weigh into your color scheme decisions. The reason window grids aren’t usually taken into consideration is because they don’t carry much visual weight in your overall scheme. Often they are white or off-white and will fade into the background of your façade. For this reason you don’t have to take their color into consideration when you plan your scheme.

 

 

This home already has two colors. Now choose the third by thinking about what colors could work with Cedar and Pine Green. Shades of brown, yellow, blue, warm grey or beige/tan are the natural choices. As you consider colors there may be one you like with the existing colors not as your main color. Might it make a good accent color? If so, keep it in mind but don’t choose the exact shade until you reach the point in the process for selecting that color. For example, add to our two set colors, Cedar and Pine Green the possibility of using blue in the scheme, and look for a main color that will work with all three. I selected Colonial Revival Stone. It is a warm neutral that will blend nicely with the cedar color of the roof, will allow the pine window grids to stand out and will be complimented by a blue.

 

 

If replacement windows are being put in and you want a color other than white or off-white you need to select that color now. If your windows will remain the same select your trim color. If your home has shutters, now select the color for the shutters. In this example, I chose Rookwood Dark Brown, a tone slightly darker than the roof. Choosing a color that is in the same neutral tone as the main will allow the Pine Green windows to be the prominent color at the window. Not choose a trim color that harmonizes with the colors in your palette at this point. Classical White was my choice for the trim.

 

 

On the colonial-style home the front door is often the main focal point on the façade. A contrasting color is often chosen for this reason. This is your opportunity to give even the most classic colonial some personality. Teal Blue was my choice to give character to this scheme.

Finally step back and ask yourself, “Is Any Other Color Needed?”

Look carefully at your home. Make note of which of the colors you have selected will be applied to each architectural detail of the exterior. Is there an area of the exterior that you haven’t chosen a color for? On a colonial this might be a porch ceiling or floor or garage door. If so, choose it now. Once you’ve looked at the entire home and selected the colors for each element following my FRESH approach, congratulate yourself…

 

 

Now you see how easy it can be to find the perfect colors for your home exterior. If you haven’t already downloaded the download for FREE ebooks in the DaVinci Roofscapes Color Studio go do that right now. Then make sure to stop back here over the next few weeks as I share more of my experience and insights on choosing exterior colors.