SFGate

decoenthusiaste Love the porch and don't hate the pink in front, but what are your favorite colors? My least fav thing here is the clumpy hedges and the lattice under the porch. Is the roof being considered? Taupe with white trim is nice and a navy door, navy cushions in the porch chairs. A mocha shade with white trim and a pale teal door might be a choice. What about light yellow with the navy door? I'd keep the trim white, though. It is classic.

furrytoes I'm surprised you haven't received more comments. It's a very pretty house (except for the pink). What is your husband's objection to white trim? Too bright, too boring, too predictable? Do you have favorite colors? A possible compromise might be to paint the top hand rail (and perhaps the posts) a contrasting color and leave the spindles white.
Drive around your neighborhood to see what you like (or don't like) in terms of paint colors especially on houses similar to yours. Also, is it an "anything goes" kind of neighborhood or traditional? I have friends who painted their house a silver gray, and painted their trim a medium purple! But they live in Berkeley....in my area of suburbia, the home owners association lawyers would have come after me.
I like the houses in your exterior ideabook -- which ones do you like the most? If you go into your exterior ideabook and chose the "edit" button, you can type what it is that you like about each house.

rawketgrl Cute house, awesome front porch. I am with you on the pink though, ugh. Not sure where where you live. that will change the decision. I think a nice pale gray field with bright white trim and any color you LOVE for the accent, would look well dressed. If you absolutely must get away from white trim try Sand colored Field, Mushroom Trim and Sage Accents, pick a color you adore for accent. Here is a link to an article that will hopefully help: http://onforb.es/Qt1sUB
I do agree with decoenthusiaste lose the lattice! It makes it look like a trailer. Here are a couple of options for deck skirts. The railings on back deck of 2x2 material would match the vertical siding better and make the deck look like a part of the house. If replacing is not an option I would paint lattice the same color as the field to help it blend in. Happy painting!

furrytoes I've been looking for "not white" railings -- I never realized they were so ubiquitous. You might try looking at "historic color" collections by different paint manufacturers. "Frenchflair" would work for your taupe with navy trim idea, especially if you painted the spindles either a lighter or darker taupe than the main color of the house.

anitajoyce I would keep the railing white because it will give a nice contrast. A taupe, tan, grey or blue-grey color would look nice on your house. If you choose one of these colors, a trim color that a shade or shades lighter or darker would work very well also.

nikoyam Very cute house as everyone has stated. My suggestion would also be in the gray-blue range with accent pop trim colors of red or black. Your home is a mix of traditional meets victorian. If you really want to be gutsy, you can always mix some very detailed hues of a warm gray with trim colors in various purples and maybe a little pop of yellow. It sounds crazy, but I've seen it and done right it can be very charming. Good luck!

pruner Your home has character Have you also considered adding wider architraves to the window and door frames to boost their architectural definition? I agree with comments above that spindles have more impact than lattice in railings.

Bright white can add crispness in small 'pops' although it can be stark and not 'age' as well as a tinted white, depending on how the light works in your area. With the colour choices - keep in mind that the taller/larger the building, the more a bold colour will stand out. (My mother chose a soft iris-leaf green - however on a large house it isn't so 'soft'!) Paint experts say 60/30/10 is a good balance for a colour scheme (60 eg walls, 30 complementary colour for interest eg door/window frames and barge boards, 10 as a trim for definition eg guttering)... How about combining your choices as taupe walls, off-white door/window frames, spindles and barge-board, with the navy on the top railing, verandah posts and guttering?

Alison What about a navy with celery trim? I like the house and I like the idea of something different and not so safe... You would have to be careful to keep the ceiling of the deck light so as not to make it look like a cave but I think your house is totally cute enough to handle something a little bit more "out there" Or you could do the trim all in black and then paint the house one of your favourite colours... I am a huge fan of black on the outside of the house.... it totally anchors the house and makes it feel strong and safe. You could then do the house an interesting green that would work with all the plants (please paint out that lattice to match your body colour). Have some fun with it.. send in pics when you are done

judyg


I am a white trim kinda gal, but I did find this picture that I do like. The railing being painted the same color as the shutters keeps it important.

BTW, love the pink. Different.

Carolina Photo To Go LLC Ride through other neighborhoods to get ideas! You may see the perfect combination on another house that you love!

Kelley Hickman Thanks everyone for all the feedback! I live in Oregon and it is now the rainy season, so the house will stay pink a bit longer. I will post pictures when we finally paint! Oh and I too hate lattice. It is definitely going!!

claudiann Yellow!!! With gray trim. It would look very cheerful.

Kelley Hickman So I decided to go with a black door. It's very similar to the one I have attached here. I was thinking maybe a light green body with light gray trim? Or maybe taupe as a body color and navy or light grey as trim. What say you? I'm spinning here.

pruner Like the art deco inspired detailing of the glass in these doors. For colour, don't use navy with black! (Black n blue ie bruises)! Taupe would be better as the main colour and cream/off-white would make a sofisticated trim choice. Add colour through planting choices and planter pots.

onthefence Whatever you do, please get samples and paint them on the house and live with them for a few days in different lights.

A neighbor painted his two story house in a shade of green that was lovely on the chip. In real life, it was a large neon avocado. Even HE didn't like it when the entire house was painted but repaint was too expensive for him at the time.

A few different colors I've see around our neighborhood that are quite striking -

-A hot chocolate/taupe that almost has a lavender tone during late afternoon

-Sage/mossy green (seems to look better on the siding house than the stucco house a few doors down)

-Dark charcoal gray w/ red door. Lots of plants/greenery and it's really eye popping.

pruner Agree with samples - L A R G E samples (at least 2.5 x 3 feet) size - on different walls as well.