Natural surroundings, neighboring color schemes, exterior color trends, and your own personal preferences all play a role in choosing colors for your home exterior. From always-popular grays and neutrals to pretty pops of bolder colors, your home exterior palette is an expression of your style.
Homeowners typically use three to four colors when creating an exterior color scheme. When planning your exterior paint color palette, consider trim, windows, garage doors, shutters, and other exterior elements. Hues found from existing brick, stone, and roof colors also add to your exterior palette.
Follow these tips from our color experts to choose your exterior paint colors with confidence.
White paint acts as a blank canvas. As seen in here, an off-white exterior lets this lush green front lawn and pillared entryway take center stage.
We can’t get enough of endlessly chic exteriors in rich, dark hues. Consider these colors schemes:
Dark-hued exteriors can be amazingly versatile. Dragon’s Breath 1547 is a deep, dark brown that breathes drama into any space, especially when paired with bright topiaries. Other browns we love for home exteriors include:
Black paint gives this home a distinct appearance, especially when surrounded by lush landscaping. Get this eye-catching look with:
Create a welcoming exterior with soothing blue-gray hues. Grays and blues make a statement, while keeping it cool. We love:
On this front porch, Meditation AF-395—a mix of gray, brown and green tones — brings an intriguing depth to this home exterior. Check out these deep neutral paint colors we love to highlight architectural detail:
A. When it comes to choosing exterior paint colors, the best inspiration often comes from simply stepping outside. Consider hues that are compatible with your neighborhood, as well as your home’s architectural style and natural surroundings.
Homeowners typically use about three to four different paint colors on their exterior, including trim and railings, shutters, front doors, porches and patios, decks and more.
A. Start your exterior paint color journey by considering the region where you live. In the northeast, for example, popular home exterior paint colors tend towards black, gray, neutral and white. You can also lean into style-based color palettes, like coastal and tropical for inspiration.
Dark, dramatic exterior paint colors are an ongoing trend that our color experts now see as a mainstay. For dark exteriors, homeowners love colors like Black Satin 2131-10, Black HC-190, Kendall Charcoal HC-166 and Dragon’s Breath 1547, to name just a few. For a lighter palette, White Dove OC-17 remains one of the most popular white hues for exteriors.
A. Light, airy colors can make a house’s exterior appear larger from the outside. White Dove OC-17, one of Benjamin Moore’s most popular hues, is a favorite white paint color for exteriors. Others we love include Cloud Cover OC-25, Swiss Coffee OC-45 and Distant Gray OC-68. Explore more white paint colors in the Benjamin Moore Off White Collection.
If you are selecting a vinyl siding paint color, check out the Colors for Vinyl palette. From tried and true Revere Pewter HC-172, to rich New Hope Gray 2130-50, to classic Simply White OC-117, we’ve got a range of designer-essential paint colors you’ll love.
A. Many homeowners use the same color on their window shutters as the paint color on their front door. Others choose shutters that are a shade lighter or darker than the front door, which adds subtle contrast and individual style.
When looking for front door color ideas and inspiration, consider the color cues that are inside your home, like your entryway color schemes. While black tends to be the most popular paint color for a front door, green, gray and blue doors are popular alternatives, especially when contrasted with undertones on a home’s exterior.