The exterior is finally painted, and other than a few touch-ups, the exterior design and color is fully finished. Let’s compare what we ended up with to our original plan and inspirations.
This picture gives the best evidence of the look we were trying to achieve. The garage has larger panels, and the dark grey stands in contrast to the light grey lap siding on the rest of the house. Details such as the windows, roof fascia, and deck edging, are in a dark color to provide an accent.
The charcoal frame of the windows was the first piece in place. Those were ordered when construction started, and installed back in February.
The fascia around the edge of the roof was installed in April and May. We were limited by the colors available in the metal, so we decided on a dark bronze. It was just shy of black to avoid too stark of an accent, with just a touch of warmth from the bronze.
Unfortunately, this didn’t quite work out. The dark color of the metal highlighted the flex and imperfections in the metal due to the height of the fascia. After some trials of different installation techniques and different materials, the roofing contractor decided to use a thicker metal. This cut down on the warp and flex of the metal, giving a smoother look. However, the colors in this metal were different than our original colors! The fascia ended up with more brown in it, as an espresso color.
At the time, we decided this would be acceptable, as the color was not directly next to the charcoal of the window frames.
The paint colors are the largest applications of color and really define the look of the house. ‘Dark grey’ and ‘light grey’ and not specific — there are thousands of varieties of grey in all different shades. Colors look different under different light and against different colors. Not only do we have the window trim and the fascia to compare against, but we have the reddish wood on the deck, and the neighboring houses. The house directly next to ours has a blue theme, while the first house has a bit more of a bluish-grey style; but the house across from ours (which is not painted yet) is aiming for more of a brown/cream palette.
In our original design meetings, well before construction had started, we had picked out a couple of candidate pairs of colors. One was a bit cooler, and the other was a bit warmer, but they were fairly close together. These were not chosen under realistic conditions; the samples were small and the light artificial. Once we painted these on some pieces of siding to compare against the window trim, deck wood, and neighboring houses, it was clear neither pair were right for us. The cooler pair was noticeably blue against the window and decking. The warmer pair was noticeably brown against the other houses (in fact, one of the shades matched the dry dirt around the house rather well).
We took another look, and came up with two more palettes. The first was Dovetail and Dorian Gray. The second pair was Attitude Gray and Unusual Gray. The Dovetail/Dorian pair was a touch warmer, and was a good match for the existing colors. However, it matched a bit too closely, and ended up looking bland.
The Attitude/Unusual pair has a bit of a green undertone. It works with the rest of the colors, but gives a more interesting look. The green pairs well with the trees and foliage around the house, but the colors are still grey enough to appear as such to the casual observer.
The surprise came once the paint was applied. The colors look good, and we’re pleased with them. However, there is large variability in how the color is perceived. In bright sun, the light color is a nice light shade of grey, almost a bit cream-colored; while the darker color has a noticeable green tint.
In shadow, the lighter color darkens up noticeably, but gains a bit more green.
Right next to each other with some sun, the lighter color gains a touch of blue.
Overall, a bit more contrast between the colors in the shade would’ve been nice (as shown by our initial inspiration picture), since Seattle isn’t known for its abundance of sun.
The other problem at this point is the fascia. It is noticeably browner, especially when compared to the various accents painted to match the window trim.
Ultimately we think it will be OK, but we’re tweaking the colors near the entry to prevent too harsh a comparison between the various shades.
At this point, the exterior of the building is largely done. There are still some details left — deck rails, stain around the door, a little more trim paint — but after that, it will be more or less in its final shape!