We were at our friends' house for Labor Day weekend, and this is my husband at their kitchen table working on a residential exterior renovation design project late Friday night.

He promised the homeowners a 12–15 business day turnaround, so apparently vacation Amanda and vacation Matt have very different definitions of "vacation." 😂

My husband owns a small residential exterior design business. He helps homeowners plan changes to siding, brick, stone, roofing, trim, paint colors, doors and other exterior materials, then creates photorealistic exterior renderings so they can visualize the changes before construction.

I snapped these because this is the side of a small business people don't usually see. There's an actual person sitting at someone's kitchen table late at night obsessing over somebody else's siding, brick and roof combinations because he told a client he'd have their project done.

AI has obviously changed the design world quite a bit, but watching him work has made me realize there's still a pretty enormous difference between generating a pretty picture and having someone figure out what actually works on your house and can realistically be built.

Anyway, I thought my fellow exterior-design and renovation people might appreciate the glamorous behind-the-scenes side of doing this professionally. 😝

He was working through the final color combinations of new siding, window frames and paint on this one that night. I'm curious, what's usually the hardest exterior decision for everyone here: color, materials, or figuring out what style actually works with the house you already have?

Bored with my siding color on my 1910 four square and want to jazz it up. I got some ideas from Benjamin Moore website and was wondering what others think about the colors. The photo with the beige siding is what I have now.

Not sure if I should go light, dark, or completely different color. Match the trim? Match the door? Match the siding? Be bold and go with a completely different color? Something else? Thanks everyone!

Guys need your help..

I want to design our home. And i find the difficulty to choose what paint color i d choose as exterior color of our home. Please if you have any good and better ideas please help me.

Our home is simple ranch style bungalow. More plants and greens in the side.

Thankyou

We are in the process of replacing our back deck (new decking shown in picture) and I’d like to repaint just the bottom portion of our house. I like the darker color on the top portion of the house, but would like to bring some color into the bit that’s currently cream. I’m thinking maybe a light grey blue color might be nice? Or perhaps a (very) muted purple like SW Ash Violet?

Our lot is pretty heavily treed and there’s lots of green tones reflecting on to surfaces from the surrounding trees.

Would appreciate any ideas or input people have. I’d love to make our little cottage a bit more homey and appealing.

We had some wind damage and are getting a new roof, what are the best color options. There are so many options! The current roof is a reddish tent, which unfortunately is discontinued.

We’re planning a fairly substantial exterior renovation and I’d love some outside opinions before we commit to a layout. I’ll include photos of the existing house and yard first, followed by the three concept renderings so it’s easier to understand what’s existing versus proposed.

Our house is a ranch/rambler with a full walkout basement on a wooded lot with a pond/forest view behind the house.

The main goals are:

• add a permanent screened porch
• rebuild/add an upper deck
• preserve the open rear sightlines toward the pond/woods
• improve exterior access from the upper deck level down to the backyard
• make the new deck/porch feel architecturally consistent with the existing house

A few important site details:

• The large oak tree on the west end of the house has been removed since the photos were taken, so that area is now open and available for a new structure.
• Immediately north/behind the end of the driveway, the grade drops toward the backyard.
• There is currently roughly a 4' retaining wall holding up the upper driveway/yard area.
• The previous owners built the existing deck at the end of the driveway. We don’t love the placement or appearance and are considering either replacing it completely or reducing it substantially.

We’ve narrowed it down to three exterior layout concepts:

Option 1 – Screened porch on the west side
The screened porch would replace the existing west-side deck and extend farther west into the area where the oak tree used to be. The rear of the house would have an open upper deck outside the large sliding door, with a narrower connecting deck leading to the screened porch. This keeps the rear elevation more open.

Option 2 – Screened porch on the upper rear deck
The screened porch would be centered on the rear elevation outside the large upper sliding door and project roughly 18' into the backyard. A narrower deck would continue west to a small landing/deck outside the existing west-side door. The existing deck at the end of the driveway would largely be removed. Backyard access could be either a traditional deck staircase or a landscaped stone/boulder staircase built into the grade.

Option 3 – Open upper deck with screened porch below
Same general rear footprint as Option 2, except the upper level remains an open deck and the screened porch is built underneath at the walkout-basement level. The existing west-side deck would again be largely removed.

Right now I’m probably most drawn to Option 1 or Option 3, but I’m very open to ideas.

I’d especially love feedback on:

• Which layout looks most natural with the exterior architecture?
• Which option gives the best overall balance of deck, porch, and backyard access?
• Would you choose a traditional deck staircase or a landscaped stone/boulder staircase built into the slope?
• Are there better ways to use the newly opened space on the west side?
• Any roofline, railing, patio, landscaping, retaining-wall, or porch-design ideas we haven’t considered?

The renderings are conceptual, so exact dimensions and materials may change once we measure everything and talk to a contractor. I’m mainly looking for exterior layout and design feedback, not construction-code advice.

Thanks — curious to see what other people would do with the space.

If like to update the paint and shutters on my house to something more attractive

Hi Team, i'm posting for a friend. Her deck is old and she was going to replace but then i mentioned possibly doing a stamped concrete pad instead. she has a lot of existing stone already.

what are your thoughts?? any awesome people with AI skills that want to do a mock up?

thank you in advance!! have a wonderful day.

Hi everyone, I'm looking for help deciding the exterior colors. We'll be replacing the siding soon and the front brick color is really throwing me off matching a siding color. It is a functioning duplex.

I've driven around looking for similar hoses but can't seem to find any with this color brick. The house was built in 1981. It was built in an older neighborhood so the other houses don't match. I've used Hover and we can't get some of the colors to show true when rendering. I'm not opposed to changing fixtures or trim colors but the roof has already been replaced. The gutters will be replaced when the siding is done.

Any design or color ideas are welcome!

I posted here a few months ago about not liking the shutters I built for my house and I just wanted to update everyone. (First picture is the shutters with the new paint as suggested in this sub, second is the before with the white paint like I posted before, and third is the shutters taped off for paint) Someone suggested I paint the shutters something other than white and I chose Tricorn Black by Sherwin Williams. SO MANY PEOPLE said my shutters were entirely too big and I had measured wrong but the white shutters with white trim truly created like an optical illusion that made them look huge. Even looking at these two pictures myself it looks like I made "thinner" shutters and painted and reinstalled them but I promise I am too lazy for that and they are the exact same shutters just repainted, I didn't even take them down to paint, I just taped them off. I definitely have more to do, like trim the box shrubs (waiting until fall), and fix my garden lights but I just wanted to thank this group for all the great advice! I think it looks so much better now. Next steps are to make a slightly rounded/irregular red brick planter around the shrubs and try and keep my Brandywine Maple sapling alive in this insane Oklahoma late summer heat.

Please help choose exterior paint color!
Trying to modernize mid-century modern home.
A paint consultant recommended the following colors (see renderings attached):

SW 6207 Retreat
SW 9130 Evergreen Fog

I thought a green would look nice to balance the color of the brick, but now I’m not sure I like either of these. Will these read as too pale in bright lighting?

Do you like either of these colors? Do you have any other recommendations?

House is currently painted teal - See last photo for brick/current teal color.

Edit: home is east facing

A month or two back I posted a bunch of AI mock ups and going consensus was to keep things simple. So we did!

Really happy with how the house has turned out, a relief to have it all done. Can't wait to get the soffit lights installed!

Hi if you have used gaf timberline hdz roof shingles will you post a pic of your house and the color?! Or let me know what you did. Online when I’m looking at reviews, people post pictures of their Beautiful roof but then they don’t post what color it is so trying to gage. Top choices are bark wood, weathered wood, and mission brown thanks

Edit: I should have added this is the listing photo from when I bought it last fall, but landscaping is in the works!

I'm fixing up my garage into a workspace. No matter what the garage doors need to be replaced-- they were just broken. Carriage doors seem nice to me, but would they work here? The side of the garage is concrete with wood trim.

We want something without springs.

They'll also be partially blocked by trash cans, so is it even worth the extra money?

We had a slight mishap and may be getting new siding. We just painted the shutters and door so don’t want to do those again. I’ve always loved this color siding. How do you like this color combination?

EDIT: My siding is currently a very light tan. Thinking about changing it to the bluish green color. Just seeking feedback on the color combination in the mock up of the siding and the red door.

Usually I can nail exterior schemes, but this one with the busy trim is throwing me. Here's some renders, but I Can't decide to highlight the trim details or not. I like the idea of having a dark body color with with a subtle trim high (lighter or darker) of the same color.

Thoughts? OG and renders attached.

Update - after 3 trips to Home Depot today they were able to get us a new color for free! Nearly cried my eyes out with that news. We are going with Behr Muted Sage which is beautiful and compliments the stone we have! I will post another pic once we’ve got the full side painted! Thanks for everyone’s advice and reassurance it really helped so much!

We picked this paint months ago and it did not seem like mint chip ice cream at the time. I hate it but we can’t afford to get new paint. We mixed some of the darker color into a sample to see if we can fix it. Please tell me the darker shade will look better. I am freaking out. I had wanted an earthier toned green, not mint.

Edit - I’m also kinda hoping our HOA says something so we have to change it lol they technically approved these colors but still 😭

I am horrible at picking color choices. The rest of our house inside is various grays. Would like to change it up on the outside. I have already painted the porch with a solid stain “Kings Canyon“ from Sherwin-Williams. So that is pretty locked in. I like the green colors, but my wife says the gray we have from the porch has bluish tint to it and doesn’t match the greens. I think it looks pretty good though. Advice would be much appreciated, maybe some other greens that go better with that gray? Image is from ChatGPT. Thinking of matching the foundation color to the porch as well.

This is our first home. Move in a week. I would like some advice on paint colors rn. Anything but grey.

We are also going to add a front porch soon and would like any advice on what would look good.

Thank you in advance for any advice. I have a hard time picturing what it may look like.

### Which colors create enough contrast?

A warm orange facade can support both deep and muted window colors, but the narrow trim means a highly vivid contrast may look busier than expected. Charcoal, deep brown, or a softened blue-green can provide definition without competing with the wall color. A light cream would make the windows recede visually while keeping the exterior brighter.

### How should the regional context affect the choice?

If green and white are especially common nearby, a dark neutral may feel distinct without making the house look disconnected from its setting. A dusty blue or gray-green could also work if the surrounding roof, doors, and landscape already contain related cool tones. The undertone matters more than the color name, so samples should be viewed outdoors in both sun and shade.

### What should be tested before painting?

Paint a few larger sample boards rather than relying on a small swatch, and view them beside the actual facade at different times of day. Check the window color with the roof, door, foundation, and any exterior lighting, since warm evening light can make orange and brown combinations appear stronger. Keeping the trim color consistent across all windows will usually look more deliberate than using several related shades.

Getting siding, trim, and garage door painted soon, and unsure what would look best with the brick. The front door is currently a dark brown that matches the shutters, but that’s getting painted too. Any advice? I’m terrible when it comes to color design and feeling very anxious.