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pbx2_gw

Painting colors similar shade to your neighbor?

pbx2_gw
11 years ago

Has any1 ever painted their exterior colors in a similar shade to their neighbors?

We'd be interested to hear about the experience & the thought process for or against & the outcome.

:)

Comments (8)

  • chicagoans
    11 years ago

    We had 2 sets of friends who lived next door to each other, both in fairly modest houses. Couple A did a rebuild on their lot, resulting in a much larger home. I don't know why, but they chose the same exterior (cedar shake siding) and virtually the same color as Couple B. It surprised us all because they were right next door, and this is an older town where houses are all different (not like a subdiv where homes are all very similar.) Couple B wasn't happy. Husband B said "now our house looks like their garage." It didn't really, but it was kind of a big house / coach house kind of look.

    When Couple A sold their house the new owners repainted. Personally, I like a different color / exterior if they are right next door (or close by.)

  • phoggie
    11 years ago

    I personally would not like it.

  • mydreamhome
    11 years ago

    In our last house, we went with siding 1 or 2 shades lighter than our neighbor's house & we chose dark green shutters vs. their Williamsburg blue ones. We had a vision for our home and frankly didn't care to waver from it. The fact that the houses were different styles, the houses weren't right on top of each other (lots were ~1 acre), the house colors were pretty neutral & the shutters were different helped. If this were not the case, we may have more problems with it. As it was the neighbors never said a thing about it. Bottom line--I just couldn't bring myself to pull up to an exterior I didn't like everyday.

  • pbx2_gw
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Interesting perspectives - thanks every1.
    A bit more color to the OP:

    Our soon to be new neighbors were 'first' to build their shade of grey house with white trimmings & now we are embarking on our build.

    We want grey + white, but we want to accent it somehow so, visually the two houses will be distinct & distinguishable.

    Our builder said we can do it by accenting some trims to get it 'different'.
    We've done this somewhat & agreed to dark bluish windows as a format element.

    Obviously, we don't want it to go too far away from the grey + white vision (see link) that we have, but would love to hear your ideas!

    Thanks!

    Here is a link that might be useful: [Our template + Requisite YELLOW Door[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/shingle-exterior-traditional-exterior-seattle-phvw-vp~121167)

  • User
    11 years ago

    There's a contemporary subdivision near to me that all of the homes are cedar shake and in some shade of blue or gray with white trim. It's a lovely blend as a whole, very nautical looking, with different whites for the trim and different door colors. The effect is an impressionist painting with each different blue creating part of a picture as a whole.

    However, the next street over had a lovely weathered looking gray house with white trim and the new neighbors who moved in immediately painted their house a grey only a shade or two darker with ivory trim. It looks "wrong" as they are the only two grey painted homes on the street and they are right next to each other. If they had just chosen a steel gray or even a taupe with gray tones, it would have been fine.

    While your color scheme sounds lovely, you need to post a picture of your neighbor's home to see if it looks okay in context. Context is everything. Once we see the neighbor's home, perhaps we can suggest a way to keep what you like about your inspiration while still giving it it's own distinct personality.

  • live_wire_oak
    11 years ago

    Do NOT paint your home the same color as your next door neighbor! Copying what they've done and only changing a bit of it will irritate them greatly and doesn't make a good entry into the community.

    You can still be creative with gray and white as the dominant colors, just don't use the same body color. Go darker. Or much lighter. Or bluer. Or greener. Or tauper. It should be OBVIOUSLY different.

  • jenna
    last year

    I think it depends on the intention of the neighbor. We added an addition & repainting whole house. Out neighbor asked me what colors I planned to use. I told her some sort of green & cream colors but hadn't settled on exacts yet. Before we were ready to paint they put up prmanent siding in green& cream. Grr. I went to a more khaki toned down green. It seemed like she jumped to trump the color & It does bother me when I drive by it. We've never talked about it, i don't do drama. I hope she had already picked it out & just didn't want to say it. I'll never know. We have 3 acre lots so are not too close. Oh well, Time to paint again & I feel free to pick any color now...she's stuck with hers..😉