By EA Paint & Light Carpentry7 min read
At a glance
- Sample for
- About a week, morning to evening
- Sample size
- At least a couple of feet square
- Colors
- Usually 3–4: body, trim, door, accent
- Check first
- Historic district, condo or HOA rules
How do you choose exterior paint colors for a New England house?
Start with the house’s style: colonials suit white, soft yellow, gray or deep red; capes suit white, gray, muted blue or natural shingle; Victorians were designed for three or more coordinated earthy colors. Assign body, trim, door and accent roles, then test large painted samples on the house in morning and afternoon light before deciding.
Start with the architecture, not the paint chip
A house’s style was designed with certain colors in mind, and the palettes that look most at home on New England streets usually follow those traditions loosely. That does not mean every colonial has to be white. It means the starting point is the house itself: its style, its roof, any stone or brick, and the houses around it.
Fixed elements matter more than people expect. The roof, the foundation, brick steps and stone walls are not changing, and a body color that fights a brown roof or an orange-toned brick will never look settled. Choose colors that work with them.
The street matters too. A house is seen next to its neighbors, and on a street of quiet whites and grays a saturated color stands out far more than it does on a sample board. That can be exactly what you want, but it is worth deciding on purpose. Walking or driving through older neighborhoods nearby is one of the best ways to find combinations you like on houses similar to yours.
Exterior colors by house style
These are broad traditions, not rules. They are a useful way to narrow hundreds of chips down to a short list.
Two notes on history. Many eighteenth-century houses were originally painted in deeper colors such as reds, ochres and grays, and the all-white colonial owes a lot to the Colonial Revival that came later; either is defensible on an old house. Victorian houses, by contrast, were designed for several colors at once, picking out brackets, window hoods and trim bands, and they can look flat when painted a single color.
Colonial and Colonial Revival
- Body colors that suit it
- White, cream, soft yellow, gray, deep barn red
- Trim, shutters and doors
- White trim; black or dark green shutters; red or black door
Cape Cod
- Body colors that suit it
- White, gray, muted blue, sage, natural or stained shingle
- Trim, shutters and doors
- White trim; shutters in black, navy or deep green
Federal and Greek Revival
- Body colors that suit it
- White, pale gray, cream, light stone tones
- Trim, shutters and doors
- Crisp white trim; dark green or black shutters
Victorian (Queen Anne, Italianate)
- Body colors that suit it
- Earthy greens, ochres, browns, deep reds, stone colors
- Trim, shutters and doors
- Two or more contrasting trim and accent colors
Farmhouse and New Englander
- Body colors that suit it
- White, pale yellow, gray, barn red
- Trim, shutters and doors
- White or dark trim; simple, strong door color
Ranch, split-level, contemporary
- Body colors that suit it
- Grays, taupes, muted greens and blues, darker neutrals
- Trim, shutters and doors
- Low-contrast trim; door as the main accent
Body, trim, door and accent: what each color does
Most good exterior schemes use three or four colors, each with a clear job. Simple houses such as capes and ranches often look best with two or three; a Victorian with brackets and turned porch posts can carry four or five. The test is whether each color is describing a real part of the house or just adding noise.
- Body: the main siding color, and the one you see from down the street
- Trim: corner boards, window casings, fascia and rake boards; usually clearly lighter or darker than the body
- Door: the place for the strongest color on the house
- Accent: shutters, window sash, porch details or a Victorian’s decorative trim
- Gutters and downspouts: usually match whatever surface they run along, so they disappear
Tip: Painting the window sash a dark color, such as black or a very dark green, is a traditional New England detail that makes windows read crisper from the street.
How New England light and seasons change a color
Exterior colors almost always look lighter and more saturated on the house than on a chip, because there is so much more light outdoors. A gray that looks quiet in the store can read as pale blue in bright sun. A soft yellow can turn bright. A white with a cool undertone can look stark next to a warm cream on the neighbor’s house.
The light here also changes through the year. Summer sun is high and strong, and the house sits against green leaves. In fall the backdrop turns orange and red, and in winter the low sun and snow reflect a cool, bright light onto everything. A wall facing north will look cooler and darker than the same color on a south wall. Pick colors you like in more than one season.
Sample big, and look for a week
A two-inch chip cannot tell you how a color will look across a whole wall. Paint large samples, at least a couple of feet square, on boards you can move rather than directly on the siding. On a house built before 1978, that also avoids disturbing old paint that may contain lead.
Put the boards on more than one side of the house, next to the trim color you are considering, and look at them in morning, midday and evening light, on sunny and cloudy days. Then walk to the street and look again. That is the distance most people will see the house from.
Check historic district, condo and HOA rules first
Many Massachusetts towns have local historic districts with a commission that reviews exterior changes. Some review paint colors, and many exempt them, so the only way to know is to call your town’s historical commission before you choose. Condominiums and homeowners associations often have their own approved palettes or approval steps.
Getting approval before buying paint or scheduling a painter avoids the worst outcome: a finished job that has to be redone. If a commission does review color, ask what it wants to see, such as painted samples or a written list of colors by surface, and how long review takes, so the approval does not push the job past the good painting weeks.
Common exterior color mistakes
Most color regrets come from a handful of predictable decisions:
- Choosing from a small chip indoors, then finding the color far brighter on the house
- Ignoring the roof, foundation or brick, which stay the same color whatever you paint
- Too little contrast between body and trim, so the architecture disappears from the street
- Too many strong colors on a simple house that was designed for two or three
- A bright white trim next to a creamy body, or the reverse, that makes one of them look dirty
- Picking a color in summer without imagining it against snow and bare trees
Tip: If you are torn between two shades of the same color, the slightly grayer, less saturated one usually looks better across a whole house.
Choosing colors that wear well
Color affects how a paint job ages. Dark colors absorb more heat, which is harder on the paint and the wood, and they show fading and chalk sooner on south and west walls. Some very saturated reds and yellows also fade faster than earth tones. On vinyl siding, very dark colors can overheat the siding itself unless the paint is specifically rated for vinyl.
Sheen matters too. A flat or low-sheen finish on the body hides surface flaws in old siding, while satin or semi-gloss on trim and doors is easier to clean and adds definition. If you are making a big change, especially from dark to light or the reverse, ask each painter whether they plan a primer and how many finish coats, since that affects both the price and the result.
Talk to a local crew
EA Paint & Light Carpentry is a painting and light carpentry company based in Northborough, MA. If you would like the house looked at, call (508) 466-5846 or request a free written estimate. Related services: Exterior Painting.
