E-DESIGN: 2 Exterior Colour Facelifts!

I LOVE exterior painting season. Now, if you live in the south, you might have this season all year round, sitting in your swimsuit sippin’ Sangria. However, here on the rainy west coast of Canada, this short-lived season lasts from approx May-September (if we’re lucky) – and then the galoshes come out.

Here’s a shot from one of last year’s exteriors…

And things have been HOPPING this season with clients sending me some great ‘after’ photos of their projects. I have to pick and choose what I can share, as not all photos can be cleaned up enough for my blog (it’s the nudes that really throw me) – and it’s DAMN hard to get a good exterior photo, so mad props to those who get it done.

So, while I know these photos might not be magazine ready, they should give you some great ideas for how you could update your OWN exterior this season!

Project 1

A Stone and Brick Facade Face Lift

It can be tricky trying to marry up brick, stone, roof, paint colour and trim. Every product has its own specific needs and they don’t ALWAYS match up! So, I’m SUPER happy with how this gorgeous exterior turned out, giving some worn-out trim and siding a much-needed makeover.

BEFORE: Love the stone (you can’t really see much of the brick in this shot), but the OVERLY purple siding colour was fighting with everything.

You can also see how there was a different siding colour on the front left portion – more of a beige with a pink undertone to it, making me think they painted this section the same as the trim.

AFTER: As you can see, sometimes it’s not about making a HUGE shift on a home, but about making the RIGHT shift into better undertones…

A photo like the one above is hard to take when the back of the house is getting hit with a different light from the front, but it definitely shows you how things levelled out on the whole (even though the 2 siding areas still look different).

BEFORE: You can get a good eyeball of the brick in this next shot. Notice how the body of the house is too purple for the stone, brick and roof and the trim around that bay window is slightly too pink/taupe.

AFTER: It’s like the whole home took a nice DEEEEEP breath, and I took a nice DEEEEEP swig of wine and gave myself a personal high-five.

From the options I gave my client, she chose BM Metropolis for the siding and bay window surround with BM Smokey Taupe for the trim.

BEFORE: Oy vay, check out how the garage door colour was clashing with the siding colour. The garage door colour actually wasn’t BAD with the brick, but it was a hot mess with the stone and just wasn’t doing much for the overall palette.

AFTER: This image isn’t as bright as I’d like, but it certainly will give you the idea! I don’t like to over-edit things, I want to show you things as close to real as I can get them!

BEFORE: That purple was just hitting the brick so hard, made me a lil’ twitchy.

AFTER: I LOVE this before and after as it REALLY shows the magic of the colour change…

And check out BM Wrought Iron on the side garage door. It’s also on the front door, but I couldn’t get the photo to brighten up enough to really see the beauty of it.

Read more: The Best Blue Paint Colours for Your Front Door

Project 2

A Red Brick Rancher Remodel

BEFORE: Not bad by any stretch…but also not good.

The yellow-green undertone of the house wasn’t sitting well with the roof. And while it was an ‘okay’ compliment to the brick, it was no screamin’ glory.

AFTER: Now the funny thing is that the grass actually looked better in the before photo! But for the sake of climate change, I don’t mind seeing a lil’ yellow grass.

And my client actually DID send me a photo when the grass was green, but with the way the sun was in its full glory, it was harder to get a read on the house colours – still damn pretty though!

And look at those flippin’ shutters! Adding shutters instantly took this home out of the ’80s and gave it a great personality (the same thing happens when I straighten my hair instead of leaving it natural).

Of the colours suggested, my client chose SW Sensible Hue for the siding and Cyberspace for the shutters and front door with Pure White trim. She originally was hoping for a sage green, but I felt like sage green would be too strong for her roof, Sensible Hue nods towards her personal tastes while blending them with the needs of her home!

Want to know the best paint colours for YOUR exterior?

Check out my E-design for your own personalized colour palette! 

Chat soon,