Question: What are the most common mistakes homeowners make when choosing exterior paint colors?

Answers:

1. Assuming that a colorful and unique color scheme will cost a great deal more for product and labor.
2. Highlighting things such as gutters, downspouts, an ugly garage door, air conditioning units, etc.
3. Ignoring the neighbors: You need to take into consideration the look of the neighborhood.  What other people are doing in terms of colour does influence whether your home stands out in a good way or just looks miss-matched.
4. Landscaping counts: You can draw inspiration from the trees and shrubs in your yard and accent the existing landscaping.  Homes with lots of trees often cast shadows that darken the look of paint colours.  Consideration to landscaping and making sure that it all works is key.

Question: What opportunities do homeowners commonly miss in terms of colour.

Answers:

1. Color is the first thing people see, and you can really make a first impression with the right colour scheme.  Front doors are often painted a vibrant colour to make an impact!  Painting in drab monotone colours can make a place look dated even with a new coat of paint.  Choosing the right colour combos makes a good initial imapct and can raise the resale value of your home.
2. Don’t forget that cool architecure should be highlighted not subdued.  Painting that  features will help them jump out and get noticed!
3. Be observant: Have a drive around Kelowna and look at what people are doing.  Jot down some notes and bring those ideas home to your place.
4. Painting is simply the number one thing you can do to raise the value of your home…for the least amount of money!

Question: What steps should homeowners take to eliminate surprises with colour choices?

Answers:

1. Always pay attention to colours that already exist on the home and cannot change.  The colour of your shingles or stonework is there to stay, so you need to tie-in your paint colours to those permanent colours.  But realize that within stone or shingles there are usually a variety of shades/colours that can be drawn for inspiration on the rest of the house.
2. Colours look different in the store than they do in natural light, so make sure you look at the chip inside and outside.  Better yet buy a quart of the paint and do a test patch on the home to get a bigger view of the actual paint colour
3. Know where you live.  Kelowna gets hot in the summer and painting a house Black might not be the best choice.   Vibrant/dark colours fade easier over time and also soak up heat in the sunshine.

Question: Are there any rules of thumb about color placement on a home?

Answer:

If you are looking at a colour fan, typically the colours on the same page will go well together.  Then you can identify areas on the home that you want to highlight, by selecting a colour that jumps out.

Light colours are good for windows as the reflect the suns heat and will hold up longer than dark colours.

Front doors have no rules…Be Creative!

There are no rules…It’s your house and we will paint it any colour you like!  For advice on colour give us a call today!

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