Hello my friends! I know, I know it’s been…awhiiiiile. I apologize!
Two weeks ago we traveled to the Dominican Republic for our 5 year anniversary trip and it was absolutely amazing.
From the luscious green jungle outside our room…
the warm green water and white sandy beach…
Meeting these amazing birds…
My first time on a boat and snorkeling…
All the way to our last day when we went horseback riding (my first time, Anthony’s first since he was a kid)!
It was the trip of a lifetime and we miss it so much that we are already trying to plan when we will be back.
But anyways I’ve been trying to catch up on life these past two weeks and I think I am finally almost caught up.
The last major item left on the agenda is choosing new exterior paint colors. Back in September we put a deposit down to have our house painted. I knew that I needed to choose the colors before the 4th week of October so that our HOA could approve it during their November meeting but I thought that surely that would be plenty of time to decide, right?
Who was I kidding haha?? Here we are in the middle of October and I’m still undecided! To those of you that know me that should come as no big surprise.
So today I want to share my favorite colors that I’ve come across so far in case any of you are needing color ideas. And just maybe it will help me organize my choices a little better. So let’s get to it!
Base:
Let’s start with the base color. I have always envisioned a nice warm gray also known as “greige” which a mix of gray and beige. I picked out three Sherwin Williams colors to get samples of: Adley Gray, Versatile Gray and Requisite Gray.
They are all really pretty and at first glance they look pretty much the same, right? However I know from experience that colors can look completely different from the sample once they are painted. Different times of day can really bring out the undertones so the only real to decide if a color will work is to test it out.
This is how the three look on the house.
Yes the order is a little mixed up from my samples above and that’s because I created it based off the order that I thought I put the samples up. Yikes! After doing a couple more larger swatches I thankfully realized my mistake–disaster adverted.
Based off of the paint chips I actually thought that I would like Adley Gray the best, however once I put the sample on I was surprised to see that it came out more tan than gray.
Requisite Gray seems to be just the right mixture of warm and cool and therefore is my current favorite!
Versatile Gray is nice too but I’m worried that it may be a little too warm.
I set out to the internet to find real life examples of houses painted in these colors but I was shocked to see how limited examples really are.
I first found this one but couldn’t source the color. It looks pretty similar to Dorian Gray which is a little darker than my 3 picks but after seeing it I kind of want to try it.
This one is done in Requisite Gray I believe. I found it on Google but am unable to find its original source.
This one is Versatile Gray.
The fact that the roof is almost the same color as ours and that they used white trim helps me envision what it would look like pretty well. Which brings me to my three white choices: Pure White, Alabaster White and Snowbound White.
Trim:
Of course it was a no brainer that I want white trim since you all know how near and dear that color is to me in all of my decorating choices!
In the pictures above I just put some off the shelf white paint that I had on hand up so that I could see how much each color contrasted off of the white. But I really want to nail the right shade of white–just like the base, not too cold and not too warm!
It always drives the hubby absolutely batty when I start rambling about shades of white on a paint chip because to him they all look the same. However if you get samples and look at them in different lighting you can really see the differences between the undertones. Yes, even he can see them when I point them out this way!
After a little bit of research I decided to try Sherwin Williams Pure White, Alabaster White and Snowbound.
Once again, looking at the online samples they all look pretty similar right?
Here’s a look at the three on the house.
The camera didn’t capture their differences really well, probably because I painted over such a dark color. So you’ll have to take my word for it that they are indeed very different in real life!
I was surprised to see that my original favorite which was Pure White is actually not the brightest.
Alabaster White is super popular and a lot of people choose it because it has a nice warm glow to it but is still nice and crisp.
Snowbound has just the slightest cool hue to it and to me is the brightest. Although I think it looks fantastic with cooler grays I worry that it may clash with a warmer gray base and our warm brick.
Which reminds me, you probably want to see what our house currently looks like!
It drives me absolutely batty how the cool gray clashes with the warmer white trim, brick and roof. And don’t even get me started on how the garage door is a different shade of white entirely!
Accent:
Truthfully, this is probably what I am stuck on the most—to accent or not to accent!
We don’t have shutters so if I do choose an accent the only place it will be used is the on door.
I’m currently drawn to these three dark grays that actually look almost black in the online samples.
The hubby thinks that a dark door will quickly fade since we face the evening sun. However I am totally smitten with how pretty dark doors are!
I have yet to get any samples since I’m not sure if I’ll go through with it but I better decide quickly!
So there you have it, my favorite neutral exterior paint choices! Have you recently painted your house? If so I would love to hear all about the colors you chose in the comments!
I hope you all have a fantastic weekend. We will be super busy having fun with fall activities and working on the powder room. It’s actually getting close to being done and hopefully I’ll have an update for you guys next week. See you all then!
Linking up to these awesome parties!