Outdoor paint is the fastest way to smarten an exterior and put a stamp of personality on your home. To help you choose the best outdoor paint colours we revist the time we grilled architectural designer Johnny Holland of Hackett Holland about about his go-to shades of exterior paint for instant curb appeal - a selection honed through years of experience, that he goes back to again and again.
'When choosing the colour of the outside of your house, treat it as you would the inside.'
'Get samples, test big patches, and look at the contrast between different colours as they appear in daylight. If you have a favourite indoor colour that you want to use, you may have to go a shade or two darker for exterior paint. As with indoor rooms, everything depends on the orientation of the house.'
1. '"French Grey" and "Lichen" (below), both by Farrow & Ball, are period sage greens that look particularly good against golden stone. They can be confidently painted on all exterior woodwork, making them a good wood paint, but are also good colour choices for a lighter, prettier front door in town.'
2. 'Farrow & Ball's "Railings" (below), "Off Black" and "Blue Black" in full gloss are very smart choices for a dark front door paint. "Hague Blue" is a wonderful deep dark blue for front doors, or external walls or woodwork.'
3. '"Chocolate" (below) by Little Greene makes for an interesting and authentic early-Georgian front-door colour.'
4. 'Papers and Paints in Park Walk, SW10 can provide excellent advice and the "correct" colours for any period building. "Sevres Green" is shown here.'
5. 'Marston & Langinger, well known for bespoke conservatories, also stocks a wonderful range of colours for outdoor paint. For a more contemporary approach, "Graphite Grey" is a perfectly balanced graphite, and "Pearl Grey" (below) is a prettier, very pale colour. Little Greene's "Lead" is also a good, neutral mid-grey.'
6. 'For a one-stop shop for exterior paint, the Spectrum range from Sanderson) is vast. It is made from natural mineral-based pigments, so the quality of the paint and depth of colour is excellent.'
Read part one and part two of our series on house exteriors
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