Shake It Up Color Contest Winner

The dream of earning a college diploma came true for this Virginia homeowner earlier this year. Now a second dream has become a reality for Ms. Delgado. She is the grand prize winner in the 2015 Shake It Up Color Contest. Please join me in sending her a big, colorful congratulations!!

Fake Shake Roof
I hope she enjoys remodeling her home and that her new look inspires you as you think about improvements for your own home. Below I give you the top down approach to creating Ms. Delgado’s winning look.

When thinking about making improvements to the outside of a home, my approach is to create an cohesive look and I encourage you to do the same when making changes to your exterior. By thinking about the essential elements that create a home’s overall appearance and style it will make the selection process for products and color easier.

Let’s take a look at the thought process I used in picking colors and materials for this year’s winner.  If you follow this same type of process you will be able to make your design decision like a pro.

The smaller size of this cute cottage style home coupled with the homeowner’s desire for a rustic look make the DaVinci Multi-Width Shake a great fit. The tiles are the right size and the uneven rows offer a contrast to the straight, even lines of the siding. Almost any color available would have worked on this home. Keeping in mind that I would be looking for a barn red for the siding I chose rich Tahoe for the roof color.

Many times a home has other elements or fixed features that need to be taken into consideration when choosing the color scheme. These would be things like brick, stone or existing roofing. This home didn’t have any other elements I needed to keep in mind as I moved forward developing the color scheme.

On an exterior red can go bright very quickly. To tame the color and fit with the rustic chic style requested I chose cottage red. It is a deep red with a touch of brown. This color will give the home a big personality without shouting out too loudly — “I’m red!”

To show off the new Fypon trim and railings, I wanted white trim but a cool, bright white would be to stark a contrast. Cloud white is toned down just enough to work well with cottage red.

The missing front door on the porch was replaced with Therm-Tru Classic-Craft Canvas Collection door. I considered a door with a pretty doorlight but because this home has windows all across the front a solid door was a better choice.

For the front door I could have gone with a color not seen elsewhere on the home — blue, green, or teal could work — but I liked the way it looked to continue the brown down to the front door. To find the right paint color I looked at the tones in the roof and then found a rich, medium brown that blended with the shingle colors. This color in a glossy finish will draw attention to the homes entryway.

To help you to follow these steps and add value and curb appeal to your home, I put together two ebooks –FRESH Color For Your Home Exterior and FRESH Home Exterior Colors: 5-Steps To Finding The Perfect Hues For Your Home.  GET COPIES OF BOTH EBOOKS FREE from DaVinci Roofscapes.

See the 2014 Color Contest Winner for another example of how to select color and products for a winning exterior look.