Reader Laurie has been hard at work fixing up her 1966 ranch house. She’s been working to get the interior painted and clean up the yard and even found new mid-century style doors at Lowe’s and had them installed. Now Laurie is ready to pick paint colors for her front door and trim. She has a few ideas, but wants our input and help to decide on a color scheme so that when painting weather rolls around this spring she can get right to it. What colors do you recommend?
Laurie writes:
My house was built in 1966. I bought it last year and spent time painting the interior and fixing up the yard so the house didn’t look abandoned. I need some help choosing proper paint colors for the exterior. I bought new doors at Lowe’s that were just installed a couple weeks ago and the weather is such I can paint the doors soon. The trim will have to wait until spring, though, I think.
I was leaning towards white for the trim and blue/green (not turquoise) for the door.
The shrubs in the front will grow to be three feet tall and stay green all year.
I just painted the inside this fall. Tackling the outside next. This house has been a lot of work for me the past year. It’s coming together though. Thank you for your help.
Laurie
Readers — what colors would you choose for Laurie’s mid century brick ranch exterior?
Laurie already had some ideas on how she wants to paint the trim on her house. The mock up above is my guess at how Laurie is envisioning her house will look after she paints all of the trim white and the door a “blue/green (not turquoise).” Did I get the door color right Laurie? To get a better idea of how the new paint will look in summer, the snow on the roof and yard was minimized using Photoshop and larger shrubs were added where Laurie already planted some that she says will get to be three feet tall.
Kate’s solution: Retro cheerful
My look for Laurie’s exterior is retro, playful and full of cheer. For the trim on the soffits and most of the porch columns, an earthy peach blends nicely with the orangey brick without being too stark of a contrast.
My color suggestion reminded Pam of a house color scheme she profiled back in 2009, painted with a combination of Copper Haze and Sweet Potato. The same colors would work well on Laurie’s exterior — using Sweet Potato for the trim and soffits and Copper Haze on the six squares on the porch columns. This would make the decorative squares stand out a little without screaming too loudly. For the door, a medium aqua tone really pops off the color of the brick and makes Laurie’s new door the focal point of the front of the house. Adding some fun accessories like a hot orange bullet planter from Hip Haven that could be filled with anything from flowers to decorative grasses and the retro oval metropolitan collection house numbers from Home Depot really makes it feel like 1966 again. To add even more happy to the front of the house, brightly colored flowers like Black Eyed Susans or Zinnias make the entry feel even more inviting. Once the front porch is fixed up, Laurie is going to want to sit out there more often, so finding a comfortable patio chair or two like these vintage Homecrest rocker chairs from Etsy seller Moderninspiration should also be high on her list.
Pam’s solution: Front porch focus
What a lovely house you have, Laurie — and it is lucky to have found you as an owner! Looking at your house, my key idea is to really play up the front porch and particularly the front porch columns, which are keepers. Their geometry actually reminds me of breeze blocks.
#1 — Add square-diamond trim to the front porch columns: As you can see, I suggest you add a second layer of square trim to the front of each of the three decorative squares on each column. You know those square toppers they put on wood fence posts? You might just be able to buy those and screw them on — that would sure be relatively easy and inexpensive. Something like this (I found this at Lowe’s) — but not too dinky — you may need to look at the larger ones, okay? You want to pretty much fill that square with a diamond, I think:
#2 — Slate blue for the front door and diamond trim — As for paint colors for your new diamond trim pieces and for your new front door, Kate and I played with her Photoshop until I found a shade of slate blue that I thought I looked good with your brick. Not too neon… toned down, greyed out a bit. As you can see, I selected this color for the door and the decorative fence cap.
#3 — Outline the diamonds in the roof color — See how the diamond trim has a bead on the outside edge? Kate and I even put a DIFFERENT color on that bead — to “outline” the diamonds and make them pop. Try the roof color grey-brown from the fascia trim for this color — you may need to darken it up a bit to “see” it on the diamonds from the street — you’ll need to eyeball this.
#4 — Color for the fascia trim — Use the roof color: For the house trim, I wanted to see what it would look like with the roof color painted onto the fascia — that’s what the trim right under roof edge is called. I think my idea here was to keep the line of your house overall long and lean and to not call excessive attention to the trim along the roof line.
#5 — Color for the frieze board and porch trim — Use the color of your concrete porch with the sunlight hitting it: Okay, so now I know that I am sounding like Mrs. Blanding choosing paint colors, but that’s how it works. For some reason, on this house, I think I would not use Super White for the trim. Because the house is relatively small and not tall, I am thinking an off white with a hint of gray-brown ala the roof color. So, I had Kate copy the color of your porch at a spot where the sunlight hit it.
#6 — Decorate the porch — I found two vintage Homecrest patio chairs on ebay that might look good on the front porch. I liked the upholstery because it played up your colors… and because it added some 1960s flair to the area. Be careful not to overdue the decorating, though, or the small front porch will start to look cluttered.
Thanks for sending us your Dilemma, Laurie! Be sure to send us “after” photos!
Tracy says
How about a plum or eggplant sort of purple? My house is the same orangey brick and we have a green roof and door with some eggplant purple accents and I love the combination. If you’re doing blue, Sherwin-Williams has a great one in their Suburban Modern collection, Stratford Blue. http://www.sherwin-williams.com/homeowners/color/find-and-explore-colors/paint-colors-by-collection/historic-collection/suburban-modern-exterior/
Robin, NV says
I was just thinking that if you went with harvest gold as the trim color, a dark navy blue door would look pretty nice.
Robin, NV says
Sherwin Williams has their Suburban Modern collection – there are some great options in there. They even suggest combos of colors for trim, door, etc. http://www.sherwin-williams.com/homeowners/color/find-and-explore-colors/paint-colors-by-collection/historic-collection/suburban-modern-exterior/
For this house, I like the Stratford Blue, Superwhite, Plymoth Green combination. I would actually leave the door white and apply the colors on the trim and porch supports (maybe just one trim color since there seems to only be faschia trim and no window trim). Another idea would be to use Pam’s 2014 color of the year – harvest gold. Although in that case, I would paint the door a complimentary color. Maybe a slightly darker or lighter shade of the harvest gold used on the trim.
My recent foray into exterior work revealed a huge surprise – my white house was actually originally blue. It was, in fact, very close to the Stratford Blue in the Sherwin Williams collection. You can see pictures here: http://www.atomictraveller.blogspot.com/
I still need to post pictures of what the house looks like now that the new siding, door, and windows are in.
Mary Elizabeth says
I agree with Robin that your should also hike over to Sherman-Williams (Home Depot has their colors) for mid-modern inspirations, too. (As far as I know, Benjamin Moore doesn’t specify any mid-century colors in their historic line, but that may have changed.) They also will give you sample colors relatively cheaply.
Not sure about the shutters. If you look on this site at time capsule houses, some have, some don’t have. It may depend on the area of the country. In New England they love shutters on every style of house. You’d think that’s because of blizzards and hurricanes, but the funny thing is that 99% of those shutters are decorative.
One more thought just came to me. A red door is traditional and an orange door is MCM. What do you think of combining them and picking a red-orange? That says to the world, “This house is hip (mid-century jazz talk) and also nods to tradition to become home-like.”
You have so many color suggestions here that I think are totally appropriate for your house. Look at them all, and then go with what you like. Can’t wait to come back later today and see what Pam and Kate suggest!
Dawne says
I would go with dark brown trim and either a tangerine, green or blue green door. I think the porch support would look good with it being brown and the squares a different color like the tangerine. Perhaps that is a little too wild for you.
Gracie Manasco says
I would do an olivey green… and definitely paint the concrete with some porch paint… my grandfather always used a grey so I’m partial to it, but a brown would look nice with the olive green. Think mid century state park buildings colors… 🙂
lynne says
I’m going in totally opposite direction. I can’t envision blues or greens at all. A dark cream and goldenrod combination.
Lori D says
I love how the new door echoes the decorative porch supports-great job! Teal would be great for the door and I think I’d paint the supports the same color to make them stand out. I think white or a similar light color would look weaker next to the bright door and brick color and get dirty quickly. I could see an apple green color for the front door, too.
tulsatammy says
My 1957 L-shaped ranch has the same color brick. My trim is white and my door IS turquoise, SW Synergy. I eventually want to replace the aging vinyl siding and paint the trim another color.
DanCF says
Pant the trim and the door a pale blue, think Tiffany blue.
June Cahill says
What a DARLING home you have! I love the variegated roofline – and your choice of front doors is super! Love doors that let light into the home!. I also love the windows, although I’m thinking they’re original and maybe single pane? I’m NOT good with paint colors – I used to rehab homes and my contractor and I would always ‘fight’ about what color to use on the trim. I like the idea of your door not being ‘turquoise’ but a softer blue/green. Trim cream? Have fun! It’s a labor of love!