Exterior House Paint Color Scheme

The Hubster and I have been stalling big time on picking an exterior house paint color, but we finally did it! Choosing the color has been so nerve-wracking and difficult, but the painters came today to start prepping and I can’t resist filling you in! We need you to keep your fingers seriously crossed for us. I’m so excited and so nervous about this that I had to share, even though there’s no before and after pictures yet.

Right now our house is gray-blue with red accents. In the front, the color looks really gray, but in the back it looks really blue, like in these pictures. It’s amazing the difference lighting makes. Here’s the house how it looks now, in full sunshine:

Deciding on the exterior house paint color scheme has been such a roller-coaster, so I’ll just get right to it. Here are the colors we’re going with, all Benjamin Moore:

• White for the trim
• Flint for the siding
• Blue for the front door

We thought we knew exactly what color we wanted—the same color we saw on a home we drive by all the time: navy blue. But when it actually came right down to it, I started to doubt the navy blue scheme on our house. The house we love has thick, bright white trim. I was concerned that navy blue would look terrible next to our brown-trimmed windows and reddish roof. And painting the window trim isn’t an option, nor is adding trim to the windows (much as I would love to do that).

So, we got a paint fan from the paint store, and my stomach dropped out. Have you ever held a full blown paint-fan in your hand? They’re enormous and the variety and shades of colors is maddening! You can find any color you want and make any color seem completely different just by holding it next to a different color. I started to lose hope.

We had to have some exterior carpentry done, so we desperately avoided making a decision until that was done, and we could no longer put the color decision off. This is how our house currently looks:

We knew we’d be changing the garage doors to white and changing the trim pieces to white, so when I saw those brilliant white trim pieces on the garage doors, it warmed me up to the idea of navy blue. We even asked the homeowners of our inspiration house what color the house is so we could get the exact color. Turns out it’s vinyl in a color called Natural Slate. Yes, you can bet I asked the vinyl company to send me a swatch of the color so we could have the paint store match it. 😂 When we received it, we were floored. It looks like very dark gray, not navy blue at all! The color wound up matching a Benjamin Moore color exactly, called Flint. The Hubster spent a ton of time at the paint store getting us a million samples, including Flint. We put them on and knew we had to go with Flint. It was the clear winner!

The last decision was the front door. I’m most worried about this color choice. We still hadn’t picked out a color by the time the painter’s van pulled up this morning, and we made a split-second decision about it while our toddler distributed granola crumbs throughout our entire living room, couch, and kitchen area. Talk about making a decision while distracted!

The color we picked is just straight-up “Blue” by Benjamin Moore. (I can’t believe I managed to find a paint color that is simply the name of the color, “Blue,” instead of “Caribbean Passion Clouds” or some ridiculous name.) We could be crazy, and we can’t really put swatches on the door, so we’ll just have to wait and see how it comes out. 😬

Here’s a mockup I made on the Benjamin Moore site. It’s just a stock picture of a house they let you fiddle with; I wish the front door wasn’t obscured, but what can you do.

Keep your fingers crossed for us about the front door! I’m really nervous it’ll come out looking terrible, but if it does, at least we can be your “what not to do” inspiration! We are hoping it comes out looking like this inspiration pic:

I can’t wait to show you the pictures once the paint is on! Have any of you changed house colors dramatically? Did it make you sweat? I am the only one who has this hard of a time choosing an exterior house paint color? It’s making me so nervous!