Soft neutral hues for a classic look

Neutral Hues 

The majority of people love neutral colours when it comes to the exterior of their house.  A classic, timeless look that works with the bright Australian sun, working with the streetscape rather than dominating it.  A neutral colour is one that doesn’t contain too much of one colour therefore making it easy to teem with other hues.  All colours however have an underlying hue.  Some may contain more red, yellow or green so you need to ensure that a colour that appears very neutral appeals to you in daylight.  Neutrals for exteriors need to be much greyer and darker than you would imagine.  Once the sun shines on these colours, the grey washes out and the colour shines through so if the colour is not grey enough, your house could end up looking like a fruit salad!

Dulux Neutrals

A good tip is to paint a large piece of board with your chosen colour.  Use two coats and then move the board around the exterior of the house and view it at different times of the day and from different aspects.  The colour will appear quite different on the south aspect of the house compared to the north which gets more sun.  A colour during the daytime will also appear different in the late afternoon light.

Grey Hues

Subtle Grey Hues for an exterior in a bush setting

Greys are perfect to use on the exterior of a house.  They are sophisticated and sleek.  Greys work well with natural silver windows and silver colorbond trim and are perfect to use in the Australian light.  Dark greys work best on rendered walls and look great when placed next to natural stone.  As with neutral browns, all grey hues have an underlying colour.  This house is painted with subtle green hues that work well in a suburb that is home to many native gum trees.

Grey may seem an uninspired choice but when used with other natural elements, particularly richly coloured timber, it offers a very understated look which is timeless and elegant.

Remember to view grey samples outside.  Only in natural daylight will you see the underlying colour.  Also bear in mind that the larger the colour sample, the lighter it will appear.  A colour that looks very dark on a small paint chip will look much lighter when outside and on the exterior of a house.

Dulux Greys

Remember that even the neutral greys have an underlying colour.  This is often a blue or a green and some greys will appear warm and others cool.  Ensure you select the right one to go with your roof colour.

Neutrals for Weatherboards 

Weatherboard houses are popular in Australia and these lining boards lend themselves to colour.  Greys with a definite underlying colour work well on these houses as the weatherboard creates natural shadow and therefore breaks up the colour.

One Response to “Exterior Colour”