The exterior color of your home may influence how your visitors feel when they approach your house, and changing the color of your home may provide a needed refresher to its appearance. When updating a major part of your home’s exterior, such as the siding, roof, or doors, you’ll need to have conversations on colors and whether your home might benefit from an update on hue or shade.
Choosing a Roofing Color
The roof of your home keeps its occupants safe from inclement weather and protects the family’s possessions, and it also creates a statement based upon what type of roofing is chosen, as well as the color. You’ll likely want to choose a roofing material that will last a long time, but you’ll also need to consider a new color.
Consider that the color of your roofing shingles might help you save on energy bills during seasonal highs and lows. Not only can the roof keep your attic at an appropriate temperature, but shingles may also help to reflect or absorb sunlight, which helps cool or warm the home.
Generally speaking, exterior paint colors:
- Lightly colored shingles help reflect the sun’s rays and will keep your home cool during hot summers, which may reduce the stress put upon the home’s air conditioner.
- Darkly colored shingles will absorb the sun’s warmth and are terrific for homes in cold climates where heating bills tend to skyrocket in the winter.
You’ll also need to make sure your roof color complements the rest of your home’s colors. Interior design blogger Maria Killam recommends the following for your roof’s color:
1. For the average, traditional house, stay away from an overtly coloured roof.
2. If the style of your home does not dictate choosing a colour choose a dark neutral.
3. If you have a stone or brick house that will never change colour, that’s when your roof colour should be very carefully chosen.
Deciding Upon Exterior Paint Color
No matter the material used for your home (even brick), you’ll need to think about color. While it’s perfectly acceptable to refurbish your home’s exterior with new siding and a color that matches exactly the old color of your home, there’s no harm in exploring new color options. “Better Homes and Gardens” offers some terrific advice on figuring out what might look good on your home:
“As you prepare to choose colors for an exterior painting project, tour neighborhoods and note which colors catch your eye. Pay particular attention to homes that are similar in architectural style to your own.”
One of the primary things to consider when choosing your home’s exterior colors is how the color will appear on the side of a large house instead of on a small color swatch or inside a paint store. Note that colors tend to look brighter when they’re outside on a house instead of under the display lights of a store.
Tip: Consider painting a few large pieces of poster-board and attaching them to the exterior of your home. A large-scale representation of a color will give you a much better idea of how that color will look on your home than a speck of paint on a little card from a paint store.
Get Advice On Your New Home Exterior Today!
Are you thinking of remodeling or expanding your Indianapolis area home? Contact Gettum Associates for a Consultation or give us a call at [dynamic_phone].
