Choosing Exterior Paint Colors with an Exterior Paint Color Consultation – Project Spotlight

Choosing exterior paint colors can feel even more overwhelming than selecting interior paint. After all, you’re not just picking a shade for one room – you’re choosing the color for your entire home! It’s what your neighbors see, what visitors notice first, and your home’s first impression.

In this post, we will show a Project Spotlight of an exterior paint color consultation with four bonus exterior color palettes. This project was a recent In-Person consultation in the Denver area.

Unlike a bedroom or bathroom, repainting the exterior isn’t a quick weekend project. It’s a significant investment, which is exactly why so many homeowners feel stuck.

As paint color consultants, we’ve seen this overwhelm in action countless times. You collect swatches, drive through neighborhoods, and stare at your house at different times of day. There are just too many choices, so you either postpone the project indefinitely or choose the first color that looks decent on a tiny sample card (which almost never ends well!).

This is when an exterior paint color consultation makes all the difference. When you work with an experienced exterior paint color consultant, the overwhelm disappears. It’s our job to create order from chaos to help you solve paint color decision fatigue.

We evaluate your home’s fixed elements – stone, brick, roofing, landscaping, and exposure – and narrow your options to exterior paint colors that truly work with your home and its surroundings. Most importantly, we help you visualize the finished result so you can move forward with confidence.

And in this post, we’re walking you through our exterior paint color consultation process at The Color Concierge from start to finish, so you can see exactly how we select beautiful, cohesive exterior paint colors that elevate your home.

Even if you’re not quite ready to hire an exterior paint color consultant, understanding the process will help you make smarter, more confident paint color decisions.

*This post contains affiliate links for products I use and love. If you click on some links and make a purchase, I will get a small commission at no cost to you. This helps pay for the costs of the blog, so I can continue to offer great content to our readers.

Choosing Exterior Paint Colors: What to Consider

Before you commit to an exterior paint color palette (Article), there are several key factors that can dramatically influence how colors will look and feel on your home. These are the things we keep in mind during an exterior paint color consultation:

Sunlight & Exposure

Exterior paint colors appear four to five times brighter outdoors, and factors like southern sun, high altitude, or heavy tree cover can dramatically shift a hue.

Stonework & Brick

Because brick and stone are permanent, earthy finishes, your exterior paint colors (Article) should coordinate with their undertones rather than compete with them.

Roof Color & Hard Finishes

Your roof, gutters, and other fixed elements aren’t changing anytime soon, so your paint palette needs to complement those finishes from the start.

Your Neighbor’s House

Your home should feel cohesive within the neighborhood without copying it.

Surrounding Environment

Landscaping, greenery, and even nearby soil tones can reflect onto your home and subtly alter how your paint color reads.

Parts of the Home to Paint

From siding and trim to fascia, soffits, garage doors, shutters, and your front door, each exterior element (Article) needs intentional color placement for a cohesive palette.

The Exterior Paint Color Consultation Process (With Real Client Examples)

There’s clearly a lot to think about when you’re designing an exterior paint color scheme. Our All-In Exterior Consult (virtual consultation) is designed to remove the stress from the process. You can also book an In-Person Consultation in the Denver Metro Area.

We have online options for Victorian Exterior Consultations or more standard All-In Exterior Consultations.

Instead of sorting through hundreds of swatches on your own, you’ll receive curated exterior color palettes tailored specifically to your home’s architecture, fixed elements, lighting, and surroundings.

Each consultation includes a detailed color report, containing:

• digital illustrations of your home with each palette
• paint color names and codes
• recommended sheens
• clear guidance on where each color should be used, from siding and trim to shutters, doors, and accents. 

You can also upgrade your package to include a life-like Photoshop rendering of your home for each paint color palette, so you can more easily visualize how the hues will look on your home.

Keep reading for a glimpse at what this process looks like, featuring a real client color report from The Color Concierge.

The exterior color consult we’re featuring in this post is for a modern craftsman home in Colorado. The images of the home below are the “before” pictures we used when designing their new color schemes. This consultation was an In-Person Exterior Consultation.

Step One: Learn the Client’s Vision

In-Person Consultation (Denver Metro Area)

For In-Person Consultations, we interview the homeowners on-site, to help us understand your vision. We discuss your likes/dislikes, and what type of a look and feel you would like to achieve as we tour your property.

Online All-In Exterior Consult (Anywhere!)

Before your online exterior paint color consultation begins, you’ll complete our detailed pre-consultation questionnaire. This form helps us fully understand your home, your vision, and your goals before we ever suggest exterior paint colors. 

You’ll share information about your style preferences, the surfaces you plan to paint (siding, brick, stone, trim, roofline, shutters, garage doors, and more), and the overall look and feel you’re hoping to achieve. 

The next step is to upload photos of every side of your home to the questionnaire, close-ups of materials, pictures of neighbor houses (so we avoid clashing or duplicating colors), and any HOA guidelines that may apply.

There’s also space to share inspiration images or a Pinterest board, so we can clearly see what resonates with you. This upfront clarity allows our exterior paint color consultants to design a cohesive, customized plan that reflects your home’s architecture, surroundings, and personal style – without guesswork.

Step Two: Build Your Color Schemes

This is where the magic happens!

For In-Person Consultations, we develop your palettes on-site, collaboratively with the homeowner. We use large color card and Samplize samples to test the colors outside together. Some clients only want one palette, but others prefer to have several options. By the time we leave your home, we will have paint colors selected with a color strategy in place.

Online Color Consultations always include four palettes created off-site, using the details from your Questionnaire.

We deliver palettes that align with your preferences but also give you a range of color options. In the images below, for example, you can see we gave our featured Colorado clients a mix of dark exterior paint colors and light exterior siding colors.

Step Three: Create Illustrated Mock-Ups

All of our clients (In-Person or Online) get handmade illustrated mock-ups of your home for each color scheme to help visualize what the colors would actually like on their home and clearly demonstrate how each hue would be used within the palette.

For each palette, the illustrated mockups show the colors in context, include color names and color codes for each hue, and feature notes on color placement. You can see an example of this from our featured project below.

Step Four: Design Photoshop Renderings

This step is an optional add-on to our standard exterior paint consult package, but it is well worth it! At this stage, we create beautiful Photoshop renderings of your home so you can really see the color palette in action. 

These are not AI-generated images of your home. These are hand-drawn Photoshop renderings created by our color consultant and Photoshop artist Maddie Camilli. Every surface of your home gets hand-traced and colored individually, so you get the most life-like rendering of the color scheme possible.

The photos below are examples of Photoshop renderings from our latest project. This client chose to have renderings completed for both the front and back of their home.

Step Five: Deliver Your Color Report

Once we’ve created your palettes, we email a complete exterior paint color consultation report in PDF form. In this report, you get access to all of your personalized color schemes, illustrated mockups and any Photoshop renderings purchased. We also include information on which paint sheens to use, as well as paint testing guidelines.

Online clients can schedule a Zoom video call with us to talk through the color recommendations and answer any questions you may have. 

Step Six: Paint Color Testing

Once you have the color report, we FedEx you large color card samples from either Benjamin Moore or Sherwin Williams. The colors can look very different in person than in real life, so we believe that seeing a real version of the colors is critical.

Now it’s time to test your favorite palettes on your home at different times throughout the day. We provide detailed instructions on how to test paint colors like a pro (Article), but can also answer questions and provide feedback during the testing process.

After you’ve tested your favorite palettes, you’re ready to choose the one to use for your exterior painting project!

The Easiest Way to Sample Exterior Paint Colors

We always recommend that you test paint colors on your home because lighting can change a color completely – especially for exterior projects!  

In the old days, this meant we painted a large poster board with sample pots and a huge mess. 

Although we send large paper color card samples as part of your service, you can also purchase Samplize Peel-and-Stick samples as an upgrade. 

• Samples pre-painted with 2 coats of real paint from the manufacturer.
• Large 9” x 14” samples to see the color better in the lighting.
• Delivered overnight
• Colors are accurate
• Less expensive than painting a large poster board with sample pots
• No mess, and no toxic paint to dispose of

I use these in my color consulting practice for exact results.  Discover Samplize peel-and-stick paint samples:

BONUS: 4 Exterior Paint Color Schemes to Inspire Your Next Project

Now that we’ve shared the process of an exterior paint color consultation, we wanted to share the full results, too! Below, explore all of the color palette options we designed for the client’s home featured in this post.

But first, here’s a reminder of what this home looked like when we started this project.

Sherwin-Williams Granite Peak Exterior Color Scheme

This palette is classic and timeless, with deep blue-gray siding painted with Sherwin-Williams Granite Peak (Article). We kept the home’s body/corner trim white – using a soft off-white, almost greige paint color (SW Egret White (Article)) – to showcase the different sections of this home.

Sample This Palette:

1. SW 6250 Granite Peak: Siding
2. SW 7570 Egret White: Fascia, soffits, gutters, downspouts, body trim, deck fascia, gable and dormer trim, window trim, garage door trim, door trim, gable vent, diamond
3. SW 7640 Fawn Brindle: Shingles, back deck posts, secondary door, garage door, iron railings on back deck
4. SW 7585 Sun Dried Tomato: Front door
5. SW 3046 Pine Cone (Solid Stain): Fence

Sherwin-Williams Rosemary Exterior Color Scheme

This color scheme features Sherwin-Williams Rosemary (Article), which is one of my favorites for exterior projects. The home features rich green siding, with warm and earthy white trim along the windows and roofline. In this palette, we kept the body/corner trim the same color as the siding, which doesn’t break up the home as much.

Sample This Palette:

1. SW 6187 Rosemary: Siding, body trim, deck fascia
2. SW 7036 Accessible Beige: Fascia, soffits, gable and dormer trim, window trim, garage door trim, door trim, gable vent, diamonds
3. SW 9171 Felted Wool: Shingles, back deck posts, secondary door, garage door, iron railings on back deck
4. SW 7595 Sommelier: Front door
5. SW 3046 Pine Cone (Solid Stain): Fence

Sherwin-Williams Accessible Beige Color Scheme

In addition to the darker, more colorful palettes we created for this client, we also wanted to give them a simpler neutral color scheme. We actually created two versions of this palette. Both palettes featured Sherwin-Williams Accessible Beige (Article) siding, but the trim color varied and the first one was a bit lower contrast. Both trim colors were pulled from the home’s gorgeous stonework. 

Sample This Palette (Version 1):

he first palette, shown above features SW Felted Wool as the trim color. This palette shows the corners painted the same as the siding color for a seamless look. Felted Wool was the grout color in the stonework.

1. SW 7036 Accessible Beige: Siding, shingles, body trim, deck fascia, back deck posts
2. SW 9171 Felted Wool: Fascia, soffits, gutters, gable and dormer trim, window trim, garage door trim, door trim, gable vent, diamonds, iron railings on back deck
3. SW 7048 Urbane Bronze: Front door, secondary door, garage door
4. SW 3007 Lodge Brown (Solid Stain): Fence

Sample This Palette (Version 2):

This palette features SW Portico, a warmer color for the trim. Portico was pulled from the colors in the stone. This palette has the corners painted.

1. SW 7036 Accessible Beige: Siding, shingles, back deck post
2. SW 7548 Portico: Fascia, soffits, gutters, downspouts, gable and dormer trim, window trim, body trim, deck fascia, garage door trim, door trim, gable vent, diamonds, iron railings on back deck
3. SW 7048 Urbane Bronze: Front door, secondary door, garage door
4. SW 3007 Lodge Brown (Solid Stain): Fence

Sherwin-Williams Still Water Exterior Color Scheme

The final palette we created for this client was bolder and more colorful – but still just as beautiful! The siding is painted with Sherwin-Williams Still Water, a gorgeous deep blue-green paint color – and the front door features SW Sierra Redwood – one of our favorite paint colors for exterior doors (Article).

Sample This Palette:

1. SW 6223 Still Water: Siding, body trim, deck fascia
2. SW 7036 Accessible Beige: Fascia, soffits, gable and dormer trim, window trim, garage door trim, door trim, gable vent, diamonds
3. SW 9171 Felted Wool: Shingles, back deck posts, garage door, iron railings on back deck
4. SW 7598 Sierra Redwood: Front door, back door
5. SW 3046 Pine Cone (Solid Stain): Fence

Key Learning Points

Choosing exterior paint colors is not as simple as finding some colors you like. There’s a lot to consider when you’re designing an exterior paint color palette.

• It’s important to consider your lighting, location, surroundings, neighbor’s homes and hard finishes when choosing exterior paint colors.
• The Color Concierge’s exterior paint color consults simplify the process and reduce overwhelm for homeowners, providing color palettes, mock-ups and detailed color placement information.
• Photoshop renderings of color palettes on your home can make visualizing new paint colors significantly easier.

Remember: NEVER, EVER use paint matches from a different brand than the one specified. Results are poor and there are no standards for the sheens.  Even though your painter may truly believe it can be done, don’t do it. See results from paint matching here.

No matter what, always test your paint colors. It’s a standard best practice.  Whenever I test my paint colors, they are perfect, and when I don’t test they turn out wrong. Learn how to test your paint colors here.

Online Color Consulting

Still need help picking the best paint colors?  Discover our Online Color Consulting Package.

Related Posts

• Best White Exterior Paint Color Palettes
• Choosing Exterior Paint Colors for Different Parts of a Home
• Best Exterior “White” Trim Colors
• Best Blue Exterior Paint Colors
• Best Dark Exterior Trim Colors

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About the Author

Hi, I’m Michelle Marceny, founder, owner, and Principal Color Designer at The Color Concierge. I believe a fresh coat of paint can completely transform a space. The Color Concierge was born out of my drive to help clients fall back in love with their homes. My clients trust me to help them find the perfect paint color for their home – whether it’s a whole-house paint color scheme or ideas for a single room. 

Since The Color Concierge was founded in 2017, we have completed over 3000 color consultations, both online and in-person.  I am a Certified Color Expert with 7 years of experience creating interior and exterior color palettes throughout North America.

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We love your comments! Please note that the blog is meant as general advice, and it is not possible to give out specific answers to your paint questions. If you want more specific advice, our Online Color Consultations will help you pick your paint colours. Thank you for your understanding.