I have a small 800 sq house in Guadalupe County Texas. This house sits on a gentle 2 degree slope with some 20 large southern pine trees around it. The native grass lawn varies from green in spring, fall and winter to brown during the dry summer season. The house has a brown roof.

I am presently in the process of having a permanent colored siding installed. I have tentatively chosen a windsor blue (light gray-blue) with a white trim. What do you think of the blue color in this setting? What substitute color might be better? I will appreciate any comment.

-- Harold Arnold (hhullar5@texas.net), October 15, 2001

Answers

The most gorgeous house I've ever seen was a deep hunter green with brick red trim. Sounds absurd, but it was very earthy, and beautiful!

-- Cheryl in KS (cherylmccoy@rocketmail.com), October 15, 2001.

I love that color of blue! It is peacful without being too "blah."

We have a 900 sq. ft. house and it's painted tan with slate blue trim. The blue is such a calming and peaceful color.

With a small house like that, it does help to paint the door a contrasting color to create a focal point ... but I think that your choice sounds really beautiful. We've painted our living room that color ... it was a little daunting to go from plain white to something darker, but I don'tt regret it at all ...

-- Bethany (farewell@tropicalstorm.com), October 16, 2001.

I suggest a color that makes YOU happy, or feel at peace, or your heart sing. However, if that color is pink, purple, bright red, or orange, your heart is singing too loudly! :-D My personal favorite color is green, many, many different shades of it, but I'm in the minority. Lots of people love blue for their houses. I think a muted or grayed shade is best, so a gray-blue would probably be fine. I don't think the brown roof is the greatest with it, but it would be okay. Think about cream color trim, instead of stark white, for a softer effect. A beige or grayish-beige might look better with the roof color. But, again, what YOU like is what is important.

One trick I've learned over the years is to get a PINT size of the color (or one of each of the colors that I am trying to decide amongst), and paint a largish patch on the house, both the sunny side and the shady side. Then stand back and see if you still like the color. If you wear glasses, take them off. This makes the details blur and you can concentrate on the color better. After you decide on a color, you can use up the "wrong color" pints as undercoating for the selected color, as long as they aren't too different (dark or light).

-- Joy F [in So. Wisconsin] (CatFlunky@excite.com), October 16, 2001.

I went the practical route -- I picked out shades of grey that would not show either cobwebs (lots of spiders around) or signs of weathering out. The shingles are done in a weathered oak colour too, and the whole thing blends in well with the trunks of the large mature trees around it and looks like it belongs there.

-- julie f. (rumplefrogskin@excite.com), October 16, 2001.

I would especially take into concideration the fact that the lighter the siding color, the larger the house looks. So when it comes time to resell, an extremely light color can pay off hard cash.

Also, take into account the setting of the house. If it is in the woods, you may want to go with a color that hides mildew, or blends in well with the surroundings. Or perhaps you want it to stand out. Perhaps you want to give it a woodsy, rustic look. If you live out west, you may wish to give it a theme relevant to the area; stained wood siding in Montana, or stucco in Arizona.

The best color theme we ever did on a house was a little one which had a brown roof. I sat in a subdivision, on half an acre, with a few trees around it. It was originally a dark stained color. The house looked very small. We put an extremely light yellow on the siding, and did the trim in white. That place looked larger immediately, and did it ever look sharp! The neighbors all began to paint their houses, and several even tried to copy the colors. LOL

-- daffodyllady (daffodyllady@yahoo.com), October 16, 2001.

Oh, forgot to mention, we put forest green on the shutters and garage door.

-- daffodyllady (daffodyllady@yahoo.com), October 16, 2001.

Personally, considering your location (I'm in NM) and with the brown roof, I would go with a beige/off white or stucco color. Would look very natural with the landscape. I love the gray/blue color, but I'm not sure it would look so good with a brown roof. Just my opinion, for what it's worth.

-- connie in nm (connieandkarrel@msn.com), October 16, 2001.

I agree with Connie. I'm not sure blue siding would go with your roof or the setting you describe. Have you considered a yellow? It would go with the roof and compliment the surroundings.

-- Cindy in NY (cjpopeck@worldnet.att.net), October 16, 2001.

How about a taupe color with hunter green shutters and trim?

-- Susan (smtroxel@socket.net), October 22, 2001.

Thanks to everyone who responded to my querry. I appreciate the many good suggestions. I have decided to stick with my grey-blue main color. I did change the white trim to an off white. I decided to stick with the bluish color after painting a picture of the front and a side with the color. I think this grapphic essentially confirmed my choice what was based on a similarlly colored house nearby. Again thanks to all for your responce.

-- Harold Arnold (hhullar5@texas.net), October 22, 2001.