How to choose the right exterior paint.

When someone sees your home for the first time, they make a quick judgment. In less than a second, they can get a sense of your home’s style and mood and even your personality. And one of the biggest factors that creates a good first impression is your home’s paint colours.

If your home’s exterior paint is fading or peeling, it’s time for an upgrade. But how do you choose the right paint colours? Here are three questions to ask yourself before you decide.

1. What Mood Do I Want to Create?

As you noticed in our colour psychology blog, choosing the right colour can impact the mood people feel in different rooms in your house. The same concept applies to your home’s exterior. You can help family members and visitors feel a certain mood every time they approach the house.

Here are some common paint colours and their moods:

• Light blues and greys: These colours create a calm feeling, which you will appreciate each time you arrive home after a long day at work.
• Red: Reds send a bold message of power and energy. Choose red if you want your home to stand out in your neighbourhood. But note that red is also very intense-make sure you’re truly ready to make a statement.
• Pink: The right shade of pink, such as a dusky rose colour, creates a feeling of elegance.
• Blues and purples: These colours bring people inward, as they evoke contemplation and meditation.
• Green: Green symbolizes health and, like light blues and greys, makes people feel calm. But if trees and plants surround your home, you’ll want to choose a unique shade of green to help your home stand out.
• Yellow: Yellow is bright and sunny and increases energy. But you’ll need to choose the right shade, as it can be uneasy on the eyes.

While these guidelines can help, you shouldn’t choose your house colour solely based on mood, so let’s move on to another consideration.

2. Which Colour Reflects My Personality?

Besides encouraging a certain mood or emotion, your home’s colour also sends visitors a message about your personality. Here are a few common colours and the message they send about you:

• Jewel tones (ruby, sapphire and topaz): You are confident and outgoing.
• Neutrals (grey, brown, beige and ivory): You are practical and easygoing.
• Yellow and orange: You are cheerful and welcoming.
• Light blue: You are calm and introspective.

Before you settle on a paint colour, make sure it will send the right message about your family and your personality. If you don’t like attention and prefer keeping to yourself, bright orange probably isn’t the best paint choice.

3. Which Colour Will People Want to Look at Every Day?

Now that you know to choose a colour that portrays the correct mood and personality, you’ve probably narrowed down your colour to a few options. Before you decide on the ideal shade, make sure it’s something you’ll enjoy looking at every day. Lime green may look exciting now, but is it really something you want to see every time you come home?

You also need to keep future buyers in mind. Calm colours like beige and blue appeal to many different people. If you choose a more vibrant colour, you may find it difficult to sell your home.

For these reasons, most people gravitate toward neutral colours. But that doesn’t mean your house has to look boring. For example, you could choose a light blue for your house and a deep purple for the trim. That way, you get a pop of colour that doesn’t overwhelm buyers and neighbours.

Ask a painting contractor for more advice about choosing the right paint colours. An experienced painting company can help you choose a colour that fits your personality as well as your home’s style.