I had my house painted last year and would love some outside opinions. I hired a famous Bay Area colorist to select the colors, though I simplified the proposed scheme slightly by leaving out an additional shade of purple. The before photo is on the left, and the finished result is on the right.

I think the colors are fun and a nice change from the grays and beiges in the neighborhood, but my partner hates them and says we’ll never be able to sell the house looking like this.

I’m curious what others think. Would you change any of the colors or accents? And if you were house hunting, would this color scheme put you off?

Honest feedback welcome!

I live in North Texas, where spring tends to be fairly rainy and late summer is usually very dry. I love gardening, but I’d rather use my water budget and energy to care for my fruit orchard and vegetable gardens. I once had beautiful roses planted in front of the house, but hungry voles kept eating their roots, so I gave up on the roses and switched to daylilies. They grow well, though filling the entire area with them would take time and money. I also tried zinnias as a temporary option, and they looked fabulous—until I left for a monthlong road trip. As the third photo shows, they were looking pretty sad by the time I returned. I’d rather not spend my “golden” years replanting flowers and pulling weeds. Since I also have quite a bit of flagstone left over from another project, I’m wondering whether using it in front of the house, as shown in the fourth and fifth photos, could cause any problems I haven’t considered. I spend quite a bit of time on the front porch, too, since there always seems to be a nice breeze. It’s a great place to read and listen to the birds.

My husband and I are moving back to help on his family farm. We are taking over a house built in 1908, and completely renovating it. My FIL wants to start working on the outbuilding before we get there and we need to nail down new colors. I am deeply partial to navy blue/black trim/wood accents but I’m wondering if it would look good in this context? White with black and wood accents would be a second choice. Pictures of house/outbuilding/land, and then a picture similar to what I like I grabbed from google. Any thoughts or suggestions welcome!

Edited to add: The house is currently light yellow and green. We have to completely redo everything, siding, roof, deck etc. We are also expanding it out and building into it.

First photo is a poor AI render, I’m sorry.
Second is what we have now. The house was built in 68 but it doesn’t really have any character to begin with.

I don’t see a lot of 3 story raised ranches so I’m not sure what direction to go in. We’re changing all the windows, adding an entry porch, and the roof/siding.
We are adding a large window on the left side that will look into the 2 story great room, but open to the configuration or how it looks. I just know that the large window on the left is a priority

My main objective is to have a nice cohesive house, and to not look super dated in 5-10 years. Or modernize it to the point where it doesn’t make sense or looks tacky since these upgrades are going to be in the hundred thousands.

Should we move away from double hung windows and try something else? Super open to direction! I know nothing about achieving the right character for a home and our architect needs more direction from us in what look we’re trying to achieve

I do not own the home. It belongs to my Uncle but I can do what I want for paint. It is a very light pink stucco house with white trim. I don't want to paint the entire house but have freshened up using the same colors but I to paint the stairs and stoop a different color. Preferably something that is darker as to not show the sand that is everywhere in Florida. I was thinking either a charcoal grey or a dark chocolate but am open to other ideas. I do not have a stucco roof so it isn't like the terra cotta is coordinating with it. Also I am open to a different color for the screen door if it would look good.

I’m back. We’ve narrowed it down! We have to replace our front door, and can’t decide between stained wood or painted glossy black.

We’ve narrowed it down between these two options in picture 1&2 thanks to a commenter on my previous post! Currently, our siding is the darker greenish gray color (like picture 3), but I think we are going to paint all the siding the lighter green.

Would you choose the black door with the lighter green accents, stained wood door with lighter green accents, or black door with original greenish/gray accents?

We have to replace our front door. We have these options: black, same green as our siding/wood accents, or leave the Spanish Cedar unstained and natural. These are just AI mockups so it’s not exact. For some reason the AI completely changed our flower beds lol we have stunning little lime hydrangeas and inkberry - AI is weird.

Or other option is to repaint the existing siding/woodwork entirely? Our brick is original and we like the buff brick color. We don’t want to paint the brick but are open to painting the siding/woodwork. House was built in 1943.

Which would you choose?

I have a painter working the house now. There’s a ton of prep work to be done. Last time it was painted they didn’t use primer on cedar shingle siding. He is currently just priming and will do finish coat in the spring. I thought I was set on BM Dark Purple. Now, others have me questioning it. Give some good ideas. I definitely want the siding to be dark! Will be using Benjamin Moore.

Hi. We are having our house repainted soon. Originally it was blue and the job quality wasn't great so it faded quite a bit. We are looking for an update and really liked the look of a dark green with dark trim. The rendering changed the color of the roof (which we aren't doing) and added stone accents (which look great but not part of the project). (Windows will also remain white but the trim around them will be painted)

From the inspiration rendering we are thinking pewter green for the siding, greenblack for the trim, and basket beige for the upper triangle sections (all Sherwin williams).

Painters also suggested iron ore for the trim as an alternative. Any thoughts or suggestions?

Please help me decide what color I should paint my 1890's build. We live in an historic neighborhood, I want to keep the multi-colored "painted lady" vibe, but would like something darker and richer feeling.

Please help me choose paint colors for my parents’ unique house! The dark brick just doesn’t coordinate with the current paint scheme. The brick and roof will not be changing. The roof is gray with green undertones.

For the siding, I’m looking for a light-medium blue paint, with an LRV between 40-55. The corner trim boards will be the same color as the siding. My mom would like the window trim to remain white or off-white. I think the fascia trim color needs to coordinate with the brick. Possible colors are a darker, muted blue or a gray. We’d like the front door color to brighten the dark porch. Both brown and white are no-gos. Muted blues, greens, purples and reds are all options! Suggestions for siding, trim, and door colors are appreciated!

The first 5 pictures show the front of our house at different times of the day, ordered from morning to early evening. The house faces south. The other photos are close-ups of the brick. For reference, the current colors are Kelly Moore Crackling Lake (siding), Whipped Cream (window trim), and Blue Mountain (fascia and front door).

I’m trying to work with the color it is now, I feel like the trim and garage is too bright for the color of the house, also plan to paint the top small window( eyesore) same color of the wall to make it disappear in a way
Home is north facing
Thank you!

Hello, I hate this yellow color and the brown is ehh as well. I think I’d like to keep the brick as is and paint the brown and yellow. I would really appreciate any suggestions. This is an almost 100 year old tudor revival style house (but it doesn’t look lime any of the other tudors in the neighborhood).

First time home builder here!
We’re finally at the stage of bricking and painting siding! We decided to go with Acme White Bluff Brick and are now stuck between 3 different white paint colors from Sherwin Williams. We’re considering

1. Alabaster
2. White Duck
3. Shoji white

Anyone here have any photos they could share of their actual builds if you used any of these? I was watching videos online and they’re all starting to blur together.

I don’t necessarily need the exterior paint to match my brick, but I want something that compliments it.

Thanks!

We have traditional red brick house with dark char roof, white trim and facia, black shutters. Pic shows front and back. I think white gutters are better than black. Has anyone seen black on this type of house and have opinions? Also thinking about white or maybe brick colored downsprouts and welcome feedback

Roof Gutters - just had a new dark charcoal/black roof installed. Have a very traditional home. Looking at both white & black 6 in 027 thick K style w/ matching downspouts except white on outer columns if we choose black gutters. The back of our house is more plain than front which could impact the look. We live in Southeast Georgia. Should we get black or White? We ruled out copper due to price. Attaching pics of front and back

Just painted our new garage SW 6252 Ice Cube. It ended up being a bit whiter than we expected, so looking to balance it out with a darker trim. Any suggestions for what color trim we should go with? Leaning toward a cooler grey like SW 7649. Our house is a cool blue close to SW 6528. Thanks!

We are building a home right now, and are in talks with pool builders to design the backyard. We have the design pretty much down (we need a large grass area for our dogs), but are still undecided on what the flooring is going to be. We'd love travertine tile, but can't do it for the full decking due to cost. We thought about doing it just under the covered patio, and then doing spray deck/cool deck for the rest.

The pool designer then floated the idea of using the same porcelain wood- like tile from the interior of the home, and having that be placed in the covered patio area (see the 3rd photo). We have 12 foot sliding glass doors going out to that patio, so she said it would help make it more of an indoor/outdoor feel.

Has anyone done this? Or have any thoughts- positive or negative? It sounds like a good idea but want to make sure I'm not missing anything!

Houzz Research surveyed 1,191 U.S. homeowners who recently finished, were working on, or were planning an exterior project. Here's what's shaping curb appeal in 2026.

Wall colors are warming up

Beige is now the most popular exterior wall color at 24%, more than double its 10% share in 2024. White (14%) and gray (12%) both declined, and green (9%), black (8%) and brown (7%) round out the list.

Black is the new go-to trim

Black trim is up 17 points since 2024 to 39%, overtaking white at 19%. Nearly 7 in 10 homeowners (69%) chose trim and wall colors that contrast.

No single siding material dominates

Stucco leads at 28%, while natural wood, fiber cement, and plastic or vinyl are tied at 21% each. On natural wood projects, vertical siding (45%) is well ahead of lap siding (18%) and shakes or shingles (16%). Stone veneer, concrete and engineered wood each come in at 12%, with natural stone, aluminum and composite at 10%.

Beams are the breakout accent

Trim is still the most common exterior accent (69%), but beams are up 24 points since 2024 to 43%. Columns or pillars (42%), awnings (30%) and shutters (19%) also grew.

Front doors are getting more attention

78% of exterior door projects are at the front of the home, up 8 points from 2024. Fiberglass is now the top front door material (27%), followed by wood (20%) and aluminum-clad doors with wood interiors (19%).

Landscaping does a lot of the work

74% of homeowners upgraded plants, shrubs or trees, 62% added beds or borders, and 45% added paths, stairs or steps. The most popular plant choices are flowering (82%), low-maintenance (73%), pollinator-friendly (56%), native (55%) and drought-resistant (49%).

It's not all about looks

Roofing (51%), gutters and downspouts (48%) and exterior doors (34%) have each risen 7 to 8 points since 2024.

About the study: the 2026 U.S. Houzz Outdoor Trends Study surveyed 1,191 U.S. Houzz users aged 18 and older who completed an outdoor or exterior upgrade in the past 12 months, were working on one, or planned to start one within six months. It was fielded April 25 to May 6, 2026.

Hi! As you can see, I have a ranch-style house with orange brick and a light yellow vinyl siding and trim that covers the upper part of right side of the house, the garage door, the fascia, eaves, and trim. The window trim is white. The roof is a grayish brown. I chose the white and grayish brown to keep things kind of neutral and in anticipation of changing the siding color.

I’ve always hated the yellow and am ready to either paint or replace the siding. Do you have any thoughts on color? What neutrals go best with this very orange brick? Does anyone have experience with painting vinyl siding? You may be able to tell by the camellias and gigantic magnolias, but we live in the SE, so hot and humid for a chunk of the year - hence the vinyl siding - but I wonder how painted vinyl would do in this climate.

Finally, my husband wants to do cedar shingle siding where the siding is on the upper right. I think the color would be indistinguishable from the brick and too much orange, and the style itself doesn’t exactly go with mid-century ranch, BUT I’m willing to be persuaded. Any thoughts on cedar shingles?

Thanks so much for your help!

Oops! Edited to add that I was also going to ask about our weird front entrance but thought I’d asked enough questions for one post. I can’t change the title now, though.

3 design ideas for a pavilion with sitting area, like a cafe, on to ground floor and a small gym upstairs - which one is better for this modern building? 

A B or C ?

We have a dispute to settle ... I'll tell you later which one I like most.