Pick three colors
Three jobs, three colors, one house
Most exteriors work with three colors: a body, a trim and a door. Roof, brick, stone and the neighbors' houses are fixed, so we start from what stays and choose around it.
We bring chips to your house, put them against the real walls, and check them again in the afternoon. Then we paint a test square, and you decide on the wall, not on a screen.
Start from what stays: roof, brick, stone, shutters you keep
Look in morning and late-afternoon light
Test squares on your own wall
Three boards
How the same three jobs play out on different houses
Examples of how we describe a board. Yours is built on your house, with your colors.
Brick body, cream trim, black shutters
The brick stays as it is, so the choices are all in the woodwork.
Body: the brick, unchanged
Trim: warm cream
Door and shutters: black
Painted brick, soft gray, black accents
Painted brick turns the body into a color choice, and the trim into a contrast.
Body: soft gray-white on the brick
Trim: bright white
Door and shutters: black
Yellow siding, white trim, dark door
A warm body needs a trim that stays clean and a door that grounds it.
Body: warm yellow
Trim: white
Door and shutters: dark green or black
The visit
How a color visit goes
- 01Visit
Step 1: We walk the house
We note what stays, what the light does, and what the neighbors' colors are.
- 02Same visit
Step 2: Chips against the wall
Latrina brings a fan of chips and tapes them up at the body, the trim and the door.
- 03A few days
Step 3: Test squares
We paint a square of each on your wall so you can watch it through a day.
- 04Sign-off
Step 4: You pick three
You choose, we write the colors and sheens into the estimate and the packet.
Rules we use
Six rules, in no particular order
Start from what stays
A roof or brick is a color too, so it counts.
Trim is not the body
Lighter or darker, never the same color.
One loud thing
The door, or the shutters, not both.
Check the afternoon
A color that works at ten can turn at five.
Sheen changes color
The same chip looks darker in gloss than in flat.
Look at the street
Match the street's mood, not its exact colors.
Bring the chips. We will bring the tape.
Ask for a color visit and we will start with the colors you already like.