Our design pro offers this reader options for updating the colors of her home’s siding and trim for an updated chic look.
Question:
My husband and I are buying a house. It currently has an orangey-tan roof along with both siding and bricks that are lighter orangey-tan. The trim on the house is green. I don’t like the color combination at all, and would like to change the siding color and the trim color. I’m not sure what colors however will look good with and help “de-orange-ify” the bricks and roof. I’d like to avoid painting the bricks and roof if possible. The house is old, it looks like a fairy wonderland. I’d like to choose colors that are modern and chic. May I request your help in this? Thanks!
Answer:
Congratulations on your house, it’s so exciting figuring out ways to express your style and make the new place your very own! First of all, I appreciate your descriptiveness, so let’s give that color a positive name. Hopefully that will make it easier to accept and live with. How about “terra cotta” or “sandy pumpkin” as options?
Anyway, modern color families that will go with your sandy pumpkin tones are dark grays. Contrast the orange undertones with cool colors such as charcoal or a gray with dark blue or greenish undertones. Trim could be another shade of the siding color, either darker or lighter for an overall dramatic and sophisticated look.
Another option would be to neutralize the orangey brightness with a warmer palette for everything. How about an earthy clay red for the siding – another brick color! Trim could be brown or a darker version of the brick red.
For additional inspiration, walk around your neighborhood to see other houses around the same age as yours, what colors do you like? Pull images from the web or magazines of anything – clothing, dishes, whatever – with colors like your roof and brick, what are other people using? Good luck and let me know how it goes!
-Jennifer Adams, celebrity designer and Ask a Pro member