When to Paint Your Home Gray
This perfectly neutral and highly versatile color can create subtle distinctions among exterior architectural elements or stand on its own
Houzz Contributor. My name is Bud Dietrich and I am an architect located in the Tampa Bay area of Florida. I am licensed to practice architecture in Illinois, Florida, New Jersey & Wisconsin and I am a certificate holder from the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB). Since 1996 I have worked from my home office and provide full architectural services exclusively to the single family residential market. My passion is to transform my clients' houses into their homes. I strive to have the "new" home accommodate my clients' lives without fighting them at every junction. I look to add curb appeal to encourage a beautiful streetscape. And I design any addition to look and feel like it has always been there.
Our projects have won numerous design awards as well as having...
Houzz Contributor. My name is Bud Dietrich and I am an architect located... More »
| Share: |
|
Gray paint — whether a warm gray or a cool one — is an ideal choice for a home of just about any style, age and location. Also, with this color's wide range of hues, two or more shades can be combined to create subtle distinctions between architectural elements, eliminating jarring contrasts to create a quieter exterior.
And gray can be applied in many forms, from a solid paint to a semitransparent stain. As a paint, the color provides a uniform and continuous color, ideally suited to a material like stucco. As a semitransparent stain, gray allow the complexity and beauty of wood to come through.
So if you're considering a gray exterior, go beyond monolithic and battleship gray to really explore this neutral color's richness and variety.
Related: What to Paint Your Front Door
And gray can be applied in many forms, from a solid paint to a semitransparent stain. As a paint, the color provides a uniform and continuous color, ideally suited to a material like stucco. As a semitransparent stain, gray allow the complexity and beauty of wood to come through.
So if you're considering a gray exterior, go beyond monolithic and battleship gray to really explore this neutral color's richness and variety.
Related: What to Paint Your Front Door
| |
| A warmer-hued gray helps a larger, rambling home, like this one, nestle into its surroundings. It can make the home appear less massive in scale and gentler on the landscape. |
|
by NC Designs
»
|
| On the other hand, a cool, almost white gray gives a home's structure a real presence, especially when contrasted with the blues of the sky and water. |
| |
| In its original configuration, the shingle-style house was covered in wood shingles that took on a lovely gray patina as they aged. Now, whether with wood or a fiber-cement material, the color gray suits this classic American home style. |
A wonderful feature of the color gray is how with just the smallest amount of tint, the color can be transformed. You can take gray to a whole new place with just a hint of green or some other color.
Consider using a semitransparent stain to let the beauty of the wood come through. This can work especially well with a modern-style home like this one, in which the character of the wood siding softens the stark geometry.
Using gray on gray creates a subtle distinction between body and trim, like a gray pin-striped suit with gray piping. These darker window frames in a deep blue-gray contrast with the adjacent lighter gray trim.
|
by TEA2 Architects
»
|
| Stucco is naturally suited for gray. The only caveat is that a darker gray can be a bit overwhelming. Consider instead a stucco in a warm French gray. This can be quite inviting, especially when teamed up with more colorful window frames and trim, as well as a roof that's allowed to weather to a natural gray. |
With all of that gray siding, you'll really want to make that front door announce itself. So use a bold and cheerful color, like a vibrant red, to create that strong focal point.
When to Paint Your Door Bright Red
When to Paint Your Door Bright Red
| |
| Consider a gray trim color if you have a stone or brick home. Find a gray that's already in the stone mix or is the color of the mortar and use that to blend the look together. Browse exterior color palettes |
Comments
moresparkly These are great-thanks-we are looking to use gray on our stone home's trim. I would love specific paint color suggestions as gray can vary so wildly!
6 months ago · Like
· 
1
1
fearingn I would like to see more dark or charcoal gray ideas.
6 months ago · Like
· 11
11
Sigrid My house was battleship gray and I painted it blue. It looked SO much better. Gray can be dreary.
6 months ago · Like
Bud Dietrich, AIA @moresparkly - Pick up on a gray that you find in the stone or the mortar is a good start to selecting a gray for the trim. Take a look at the last photo - where they picked up a gray hue in the actual stone.
6 months ago · Like
· 1
1
apennameandthata When? This is when you paint your house grey: when all other colours are unavailable and you are being held at gun point watching a pig fly over hell freezing over by the light of a blue moon, and even then only if you have no choice.
6 months ago · Like
· 3
3
JAN MOYER What I love about grey: It's a super background for landscaping and plantings of any variety. It can be elegantly formal, or cottage casual. Your trim can go dark, it can go stark white. It looks more finished than a white house, is as neutral as beige and is NEVER depressing unlike that taupy/builder/nothing color that seems to be everywhere. Doesn't bother me if they outlaw builder beige. Forever.
6 months ago · Like
· 18
18
engineerchic We went from a sunny yellow to a deep gray (blueish undertone) and I love the difference it made in our house. The house looks older, but in a good way. It looks more like a classic cape that's been here forever. And ... gray looks GREAT with the brick chimney. Next year I can't wait to decorate for the holidays with lots of red bows & white lights.
6 months ago · Like
· 3
3
lovesmesomepitbulls Beautiful! Gray - or, really, grays - will work with classic, modern, contemporary, and historic architecture, as these fantastic pictures show. Every one of these pictures is appealing. It's gray for me!
6 months ago · Like
· 3
3
JAN MOYER I hardly think gray depressing, has a lot of curb appeal as does...my sister's home! 
6 months ago · Like
· 22
22
Bud Dietrich, AIA @JAN MOYER - Your sister's home is beautiful!
6 months ago · Like
· 2
2
Cheri didn't like my gray house for years ... then I painted the door yellow and I love it now! 
6 months ago · Like
· 14
14
Sean We used a lighter gray with bright white trim and then a dark gray to ground the foundation. 
6 months ago · Like
· 2
2
rgillenwater We are in the process of building a new home. The siding installation should begin in a couple of weeks. After searching & searching the internet and driving around & looking at home colors, we decided on a deep charcoal gray with crisp white trim - very similar to the picture I have attached. By happenstance, Diamond Kote just came out with a new siding color in October called Smoky Ash for LP Smartside. We are very excited to see this new color on our new home! Here is a FB link to the new color. Unfortunately, there are no pics of homes yet since the color is so new. https://www.facebook.com/WausauSupply/posts/424900550899450 
6 months ago · Like
· 4
4
Ingrid The exception....STUCCO. If you want your house to look like a dreary prison paint your stucco house grey. Any shade of grey. Ive seen too many of these McPrisons in the suburbs!
6 months ago · Like
Bette I personally love the color gray for a home. It recedes as the plantings become the show. I have a non descript stucco home "the color of dirt". I painted my front door Ticonderoga Yellow. I love this. I heard my more elderly neighbors complain that we don't continue to paint our stucco boxes "band-aid pink".
6 months ago · Like
phiwwy Just painted my house BM Galveston Gray, bright white trim and black shutters and front door. Came out gorgeous!
6 months ago · Like
· 1
1
ANJUJO INVESTMENTS LIMITED IT'S GRAY ALL THE TIME. IT'S REALLY FANTASTIC
6 months ago · Like
chuycarrillo I just bought this house but it is a bit of gray overload for me. 
6 months ago · Like
· 2
2
mizmolly Being from Atlantic Canada where old shingled homes often reflect the sea and sky, I love grey houses in all their hues. Here is the house my siblings and I co-own in Nova Scotia: soft grey, white trim and barn red doors. 
5 months ago · Like
· 4
4
marlenerobin We want to change the blue top and two white gutters. What advice do you have? 
5 months ago · Like
Bud Dietrich, AIA @marlenerobin - A gray like your neighbor would be the best choice for both the top and the gutters. The trick is to let those elements recede and become background rather than "pop" forward.
5 months ago · Like
· 2
2
Ideabook updated on Dec. 7, 2012.
Latest Ideabooks
People found the photos in this ideabook after searching for:
View over a million photos:
Find Local Pros by Category:
Architects & Designers · Interior Designers & Decorators · General Contractors · Home Media Design & Installation · Landscape Architects & Designers · Kitchen & Bath Designers · Design-build Firms · Closet & Home Storage Designers · Carpet and Flooring · Fireplaces · Tile, Stone & Countertops · Specialty Contractors · Landscape Contractors
Find Local Pros by Metro Area:
Atlanta · Austin · Baltimore · Boston · Chicago · Dallas · Dc Metro · Denver · Detroit · Hawaii · Houston · Las Vegas · Los Angeles · Miami · Minneapolis · Nashville · New Orleans · New York · Philadelphia · Phoenix · Portland · Salt Lake City · San Diego · San Francisco · Seattle · St Louis
