How to Choose an Exterior Colour Scheme for Your Home
When it comes to house painting, choosing the exterior colour scheme for your home can feel like an impossible task. Not only do you have to love it, it’s also the first impressions visitors and passersby have of your home and your personal style. Making the right decision doesn’t just highlight your personality, it can also help bring out particular architectural features, complement the surrounding garden and give older properties a much needed refresh.
Whether you’re looking for more traditional exterior house colour schemes or you’re after something more modern, it can help to think about your home’s exterior as a coordinated palette rather than just picking and choosing colours at random.
The 3 Things To Remember
If you take nothing else away from this guide, these are the three factors you should keep in mind when it comes to building a colour palette for your home’s exterior.
Dominant colour: this should be the main colour that you choose to cover the majority of the home's exterior.
Trim colour: use this for features like windows, doors, eaves and any architectural details you want to highlight in your home.
Accent colour: use this as a smaller, more noticeable colour on any areas or features you want to draw particular attention to.
Once you know how these three colours are going to work together, choosing house colour combinations becomes a whole lot easier.
Start With Your Home's Existing Features
Before you start looking at colour wheels, take a look instead at the features that aren’t changing. Think about your roof, any brickwork, paving, fencing and the surrounding yard to influence the colours you choose.
An example of this is a home with a warm-toned brick roof may suit earthy or creamy colours best, while a home surrounded by dark grey fencing and pacing should choose cooler neutrals instead.
You don’t need to match these existing features exactly (as that would be an impossible task) but making sure your exterior home colours complement the existing features is going to provide you with the most cohesive look.
Three-Colour Exterior Scheme in More Detail
As mentioned above, the three-colour scheme is a simple way to make sure your home looks cohesive, and makes sense. Here’s a more in-depth explanation of each colour, and some potential colours you could use for each section.
The Dominant Colour
The dominant colour is the main shade used across the exterior, and depending on the property, this might cover rendered walls, weatherboards, cladding or any other large surfaces. Because it occupies the largest visual area, the dominant colour has the biggest influence on how your finished home is actually going to look.
For something timeless, neutral shades such as off-white, beige, grey, cream and muted taupe are a perfect place to start. But if you’re looking for something more modern, deeper greens, blues or charcoal shades can add a bit more personality, without being too overpowering visually.
The key is to consider how the colour will look across a large surface, it’s also key to remember a colour that appears subtle on a small paint sample can feel much stronger when used across an entire exterior.
The Trim Colour
The trim colour provides definition and contrast and white is a traditional trim choice, but it isn't the only option.
For a softer look, you could use a trim colour that is just slightly lighter or darker than the dominant shade. Alternatively, a darker trim can create stronger definition around windows and architectural features if you want to draw particular attention to those areas.
The Accent Colour
The accent colour is where you can introduce a bit more personality. Because it’s typically used on a smaller area, you can afford to be more adventurous with an accent than with the dominant colour.
Common accent areas include:
Front doors
Shutters
Gates
A bright red against a neutral exterior, for example, can add character without feeling like too much. Similarly, a dark navy, muted blue or rich charcoal can provide contrast if you’ve chosen a light dominant colour for your home. The main thing to keep in mind is that the accent colour should still feel intentional, rather than mismatched.
Popular Exterior Home Colour Schemes
Neutral and Classic
A neutral dominant colour combined with a light trim and darker accent can create a timeless look that is going to look great for many years to come. .
Think:
Dominant: warm white or soft beige
Trim: crisp or creamy white
Accent: charcoal, dark green or deep blue
This approach works particularly well if you want flexibility when choosing doors, garden furniture and other exterior details.
Soft Contemporary
Modern homes often benefit from choosing less intense and bright colours.
Try combining:
Dominant: light grey or warm greige
Trim: slightly lighter neutral
Accent: charcoal or black
This type of palette creates a clean appearance without needing a bunch of competing colours.
Earthy and Natural
If your home is surrounded by gardens, trees or natural materials, earthy colours can help connect the property with your yard in an intentional way.
Try:
Dominant: muted sage, olive or warm taupe
Trim: cream or soft beige
Accent: dark brown, charcoal or deep green
These combinations look great on homes with timber, stone or other natural materials.
Bold but Balanced
If you want more personality, you don't necessarily need to make the entire house a bold colour. Instead, keep the dominant and trim colours relatively restrained and use the accent colour to create interest.
For example:
Dominant: soft grey
Trim: white
Accent: bright red or forest green
This gives you a noticeable colour feature while still maintaining a bit more balance.
How we can help
When it comes to choosing the exterior of your home, it can often feel like there are too many options. Remembering the dominant, trim and accent rule is key to choosing your palette and keeping it consistent across the home.
If you're ready to transform your home's exterior, explore our projects for inspiration and examples of completed painting work. When you've found a direction you like, you can request a painting quote to discuss your home's colour scheme and painting requirements with a member of our expert team.
