Need Accent Colors for Painting the Outside of Our Beach House!

by Lisa
(Ohio)

Dilemma:

We want to paint the peaks of the house and the beauty bands (the wooden boards that go around the entire home).

All the railing is white, so we don't know what color to paint these... we were leaning towards a sea-foam color, white, or a lighter grey than the house.

I have no talent in decorating so please help me!!! Thank you very much.

Critique:

Hi Lisa! I think it's a good idea to add a little color to the peaks and trim pieces. It will be a pretty easy makeover, and a nice change to the overall look of the house without doing anything too dramatic.

Now as far as the accent color, I say the gray idea is out because you already have a lot of gray on and around your house. To make your painting project worthwhile (that is, to actually liven things up), you need to add a punch of real color, not more gray.

Next, white is also not a good option here. The thing is, the white of your railings and lattice is too bright for the wall color, and the result is already a bit disconnected and harsh. Adding more wrong (white) won't make things right (or better).

But I do love and approve of your teal idea, and here's why:

1) A blue-green color will coordinate beautifully with all the different shades of gray and brown I see present in the wood shingles and fences.

2) The right shade of teal will serve as a "bridge" between your too clean white and too murky gray/brown, and correct the color imbalance (next to teal, the white will finally look like it belongs in the scheme).

3) And last, a sea-foam hue will relate to your inground pool, tie it all together with one common thread of color, and reinforce the "beach house" color theme. Win-win-win.

So let's look at the actual shades I'm recommending.

This one is an aqua color that sits almost perfectly between blue and green (it's called Nostalgia from Valspar Paints):



And this teal is leaning a bit more green, to give you another great option (this one is called Baritone from Olympic Paints):



Keep in mind that both of these colors could be one shade darker, because color is so different outside (it kind of dissipates like sound does, and bright sunlight can especially wash it out).

So as always, be sure to sample everything. In your situation, put some on an extra piece of wood/cardboard and stand back, because from a distance is how exterior colors should be viewed and judged.