Home Exterior Colors

[The Critic]

We’re in the process of choosing colors for our exterior repaint project. My wife loves medium shades of green. Our realtor friends are cautioning us to avoid green and to select something more gray-ish for resale purposes. Because supposedly…green is an extremely polarizing color and could limit our pool of potential buyers.

My question: why is green such a polarizing color for home exteriors? In general, I have seen very few green houses.

(From left to right: SW Cast Iron, SW Rosemary, SW Pewter.)

 

[dishdude]

I like the SW Pewter. Green can be good as an accent color, but too much green I have to agree is a negative. Can always repaint! If you don't plan to sell anytime soon, what difference does resale make?

 

[Gyro Gearloose]

There are indeed very few green houses. Maybe it's because colors in the same family but different tints can clash and it is difficult to find a paint color that doesn't clash with the grass and trees.

 

[Lubener]

Green is too 70's ish. I like the suggestion of gray , specifically the pewter. Shutters I would go black.

 

[Zee09]

If you're not selling who cares?
Why be unhappy living with a color you don't like...
If you are older why worry about resale? Here in Maryland I see many green colored houses and many are very expensive.

No matter what color you go with inside or out if you sell someone is going to poo poo it to get a deal even if they love it...

If I was going to be in my final home it could be 7500 sq feet with one bedroom if that's what I wanted...
Let some realtor worry about that when I'm gone

 

[Egg_Head]

My question: why is green such a polarizing color for home exteriors? In general, I have seen very few green houses.

There you have it.

 

[demarpaint]

@Zee09 is right. Light gray is a better color for resale, touch ups, and coverage. The lighter the color the less it fades. Having said all of that if you don't plan on selling pick the color you like. OTOH if it were a more permanent finish like vinyl siding resale could sway the decision a bit, making selling the house tougher.

 

[TomYoung]

If resale is the issue, use exactly the colors the realtor suggests. I like that green, and suggest you get what you like.

 

[ka9mnx]

Light gray for the siding and dark gray for the trim. Nice contrast. Wife hates green on a house.

If you live in a humid area avoid white trim. It attracts mold. How do I know?

 

[97prizm]

We’re in the process of choosing colors for our exterior repaint project. My wife loves medium shades of green. Our realtor friends are cautioning us to avoid green and to select something more gray-ish for resale purposes. Because supposedly…green is an extremely polarizing color and could limit our pool of potential buyers.

My question: why is green such a polarizing color for home exteriors? In general, I have seen very few green houses.

View attachment 344242
(From left to right: SW Cast Iron, SW Rosemary, SW Pewter.)

I saw a decent amount of green and tan when I was visiting in Georgia a couple of months ago. There is a recent article that I found that suggested five shades to boost home resale value. Paint colors to boost resale

 

[User_19876]

I like the SW Pewter. Green can be good as an accent color, but too much green I have to agree is a negative. Can always repaint! If you don't plan to sell anytime soon, what difference does resale make?

Ben Moore has a popular tint called “Revere Pewter.” HC-172. I got it run at half formula for a hunting shack I used to have. Trimmed it in simple white. It looked great. Greys, beiges, and “greiges” can be somewhat green.

To OP’s original question, I think green is an uncommon field color because it can be difficult to get right. There are a few lovely green structures. There are a thousand million ugly ones.

 

[Boomer]

Go with the pewter. I agree with green being color that would turn some people off. However, if you are going to live there for the next 40 years, than paint it to suit yourself and repaint it before selling.

 

[JayhawkRoy]

How long between painting do you have to re-do or update?
If you will need to paint before final sale anyway, do what you want color-wise until then.

Daughter has to use specified brand and color for HOA requirements in Wichita, and the "color inspectors" require a SW top level ten year paint changed out at five years due to "unacceptable color variation". We did it when she moved in and will be challenging any future inspections.

 

[Tdbo]

We are going to have new siding put on the house this year, if we can ever get it off on backorder.
We started with a medium Gray with white gables and trim (per Mrs Tdbo's requirements.)
After being informed that that color of Gray could not be had with the type of siding that we picked (after ordering it), we went with a lighter shade of Gray.
Supposed to happen sometime the first week of July. We can only hope.

 

[rstsco]

This house about a block from me just went up for sale. When they painted it several years ago, I questioned how the HOA architectural committee even approved it, assuming they did. The color looks muted in this picture off Zillow. The front and bottom floor are brick, but the rest of the house is this color. Good luck on the sale.

 

[Capt W]

and to select something more gray-ish for resale purposes.

In many locales the bland grey trend - inside & out - has been dying for a few years while more expressive colors are on the way back. These trends change like the seasons.

A lot of this is highly localized. We live on the Texas Gulf Coast where things can be quite beachy in appearance. I painted our siding in "ripe mango," which is an orange hue. We have plenty of seafoam greens, light blues, and pale yellows as well.

A neighbor has a grey house with a black garage door and black trim. It looks ridiculous in this area. He probably has grey interior walls and black kitchen and bathroom fixtures, too. Poor guy watches way too much HGTV.

 

[JeffKeryk]

My next door neighbors painted their house a beautiful green. I like it because it is different then our house.
Personally, unless I hated the color, I would go with a strong resale color. It just makes fiscal sense.

And match your favorite Corolla!

 

[IndyIan]

A bit of color is nice! You just have to get the whole neighborhood involved. This is St Johns, Newfoundland.
Some of you in a HOA, should propose this at the next meeting!

 

[Jimmy_Russells]

Our house used to have natural colored shingles but they started looking grungy after ~12 years so we cleaned them all up and painted them green. (Sorry for the Street View pic, it's all I have).

Not really too concerned about resale and all that. It's our house, I'm going to do what I want.

Before:

After:

 

[BHopkins]

Are you selling in the very near future? If no, why would you pick a house color that you will not enjoy, just for the possible resale years down the road? If you like the greens, and will enjoy the way it looks, then do green.

The current trend of greys is a big turn-off to me. Greys seem to lack imagination. When I used to have to do color analysis of automotive interior trim pieces, we had a booth specifically to do that analysis. So as to not reflect color, and influence the color analysis, all the surfaces in the booth were a specific shade of grey. Grey walls, grey table, grey floor, grey curtain to close off the booth. So when I see grey, I see lack of color. Same with black.

So yea, I'm super unimpressed with the grey/black house color trend. You can tell your realtor that here is at least one person that would not look at a house painted grey, just because of the lack of color.

I'll take the greens any day.