Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Our 100-year-old Maine farm house is almost ready to be painted. Still have to do more prep work, but we hope to paint within the next week. Here is my question: We have no idea what color to use. Before we bought the house 4 years ago, the previous owner decided to put double-dipped cedar shakes on the top part of the house. So since those are newer, we're leaving them. The problem is we don't know if we should try to match the rest of the house to the cedar shakes or go with a different color. We've thought about going a few shakes darker for contrast, or trying to match the color. (Which is a problem, since the previous owner didn't have any left-over shingles for us to take to the hardware store for matching the color.) Any thoughts? Thanks!
Photo of house. It looks awful since most of the old paint was scraped off to prep for painting:
From the pic the shake looks like lap board- it's so straight and uniform.
Since your set on two of possibly three colors I'd get a color fanbook from your paint supplier and look at different possibilities. Other things to consider, the surroundings (lot of light/foiliage/groundcover, etc.), other homes that might be within sight, and your favorite color(s)- that might go with the existing colors.
So, here's a house with two tones, one a light for the shake, white trim, and a darker color in the same family. Their shake color seems similar to yours.
I think if you paint the lap siding in a different shade but same tone as the shake, it would be a nice look and help to set off the shake. Painting it all the same color, you lose some of the architectural detail. Basically, time to get out the paint fan deck and match up the top color so you can then pick a complementary tone for the bottom.
Get one of those programs where you take a photo of your house and put different colors on different parts to see what it will look like. Too often a concept that sounds great, looks awful when seen in reality and vice versa. I suppose rmeoving the shake and restoring the lap siding is out of the question?
So, here's a house with two tones, one a light for the shake, white trim, and a darker color in the same family. Their shake color seems similar to yours.
I think if you paint the lap siding in a different shade but same tone as the shake, it would be a nice look and help to set off the shake. Painting it all the same color, you lose some of the architectural detail. Basically, time to get out the paint fan deck and match up the top color so you can then pick a complementary tone for the bottom.
Thank you! This is what I was thinking too. I'll post a pic once it's all done. Might be a while though!
Get one of those programs where you take a photo of your house and put different colors on different parts to see what it will look like. Too often a concept that sounds great, looks awful when seen in reality and vice versa. I suppose rmeoving the shake and restoring the lap siding is out of the question?
Here is a video showing some considerations for selecting colors for a Victorian style home. I am sure there is information out there for common color schemes for an early 1900's Maine farmhouse.
Sherwin Williams has a user friendly Color Visualizer. Just download your photo and try different colors. In the store they have brochures divided up into warm and cool color combinations. This saved my life when I was trying to come up with shutter and front door colors to go with my brick house and didn't know where to begin.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
