paying for peace of mind...and the right color

We're having a 100 degree heat wave in Maryland this week, so what have I been doing? Exterior color consults! The timing is funny considering that we had unseasonably cool weather (windows open and cool breezes blowing) LAST week and I had no exterior color consults that week!

On Monday I stopped by this great house with vertical wood siding, on a pretty tree-filled lot. The owners want to apply a solid color stain and wanted an expert opinion before taking on such a large job (or, paying a painter to take on the job). What they were really paying for was no surprises when the stain went up! Peace of mind is priceless.

Here's a look at the house now.

They had some sample colors painted on the garage door when I arrived, but we quickly decided they weren't exactly right. I guided them through a few other options and offered to load a picture of their house into an online color visualizing program (Sherwin Williams' has one that I like) and "paint" it for them so they could "see" it before one stroke of stain went on.

We settled on the house and trim stain colors, SW Sequoia (reddish brown for the house) and SW Yosemite Gold (warm gold for all trim). I then suggested they paint the front door black, but the color for the garage door and front porch were still up in the air. They wanted to "see" the options.

Here are a few of the online "painted" options I sent them...(of course you know that all online colors are just guides, never go by the colors you see online, always look at color in the area you will use it).

I put in my vote for my favorite and they agreed -- the "winner" is:

The house has a lot of great lines and peaks, but in order to keep it from becoming a big red building we had to ground it with some black on the porch and garage. It gives it depth and anchors each side of the house.


In the end, they paid for more than my color knowledge, they paid for peace of mind. I was more than happy to take the stress out of this decision for them! I'll drive by when it's complete at the end of the month and post pictures.


Tomorrow I'll visit a Baltimore City rowhouse -- this one should be fun! After we scheduled our color consult, the client (a favorite past client and friend) said, "I’m confident our house will go from ugly stepsister to homecoming queen!!" I used to live on her street and the colors on the architectural elements on the surrounding houses are amazing! I'll let you know what we come up with for this queen!

{Baltimore house before being crowned homecoming queen!}

Happy decorating! If you need me I'll be in the air condition between color appointments!