I love your house! I have never heard of haint blue, though I knew a haint is a ghost, so I found an article (link below) explaining that in S. Carolina low country people painted their porches blue to ward off evil spirits! A medium to dark gray for your house would be nice. The flowers would show beautifully against gray and you could paint the trim a fun color.

I think the hubbard squash would look great too. Maybe just do a very different trim color from your neighbor.

I consider myself a yellow house person, but (it's a long story) I recently painted my house gray (BM Heather Gray) and love it. I painted the door cottage red but wanted to do it BM Hydrangea Flowers which is a beautiful pink. I may go back and re-do it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Blue porch ceilings

I love your house and there is great potential. We have a ton of homes like this in our area. My favorite is a light mossy green with creamy white trim. It's stunning on homes like this. If you post a larger picture I can mock up some colors for you.

I think your home is beautiful. How about keeping the color white (and there are thousands of whites) and adding shutters to the first and second floor and then maybe paint the trim. I like the link that caseyrose sent you and there is a picture of a southern house similar to yours with the shutters.

My house looks kind of like yours. I love my green color with a hint of grey in it:

Thank you so much for the nice words about our home! We love living in a home with so much character and also love our neighborhood- a great mix of kids and adults all loving living here.

caseyrose, it's funny that you say that about being a yellow house person in a gray house- I think that's how I might end up as well! I'll have to look up the colors you used, they might just work for me. thank you for the article, I didn't know the back story with haint blue, but love it!

nanabella, I'm not opposed to white, but would prefer to go in a different direction. Sometimes the best things are right in front of you though.

gamecock43, I know your house well from a previous thread. I love the colors of it!

luckiirish: below is a larger photo of my house, any magic you can work with it would be deeply appreciated. I also really like a mossy green, my favorite color combination that I tried out was SW clarey sage with forestwood boarder. The only issues with that were 1. my neighbor's house is green (although a very different green) and 2. what color sash color? Our windows are these beautiful old windows and I'd love to do the traditional sash color.

Here's a sample of the yellow:

and gray (I don't like the sash color in this, I was experimenting)

I don't have a photo of the sage, I loved it but didn't snap a photo in time.

Thank you so much!

It seems like the shades of green and yellow that you are considering are very different than your neighbors, especially when it's all over the house. Those subtle differences add up quite a bit; I experienced that when I was trying to narrow down a sage green for my house. Each sample looked very similar on the chip, but when I did a big board and held it on the exterior in the sun, I could see big contrast. Unless you were looking at a nearly identical body and trim color as the neighbor, I think the variations in tint, sun/shade, landscaping, and architectural style will make your house quite distinct. I'd hate to see you settle for a color you weren't excited about just because another house is in a similar color family.

You house is just wonderful. Just to cause a stir, I would suggest you look at pale aquas, like airy beachy blue/green. In our historic neighborhood, there are several that are just beautiful and look particularly nice with your roof color.

Of course I am not a gray or white house person, so my opinion is tainted. Our colonial revival (1908) is painted a medium green, with cream trim, sand gables and purple at the roof line! We love it!
Diane

Autumgal, I did some mock ups using BM paint colors. That's the easiest for me. I kept all the trim white because I didn't see the samples you did, error on my part, sorry. However, once you get a better picture of the main color you like it's easier to match a trim color to it. I tried to do a little of everything...see what you think, I can come back later tonight and do some more if needed. :c)

castleton mist

Conventry Gray

Crystaline

Dragon Fly

eternity

lush

luxe

Meditation

Newburyport Blue

rattan

rustique

sanctuary

here's some others I forgot to post

adventurine

Whythe blue

Thicket

Lukkiirish you are my hero!!! The wide range of options is a huge help. It's hard to visualize it with even a little bit painted. You've given me so much food for thought. I really can't thank you enough for your kindness- it's just what I've needed I think!

Powermuffin, I'm glad to hear of some CR being painted in a lively way. It seems like there is an unwritten rule that they must all be staid.

equest17, your words of encouragement about not worrying about the exact color are spot on. Even if it does look the same, I should just go with something I love.

Thank you all so much!

Autumngal, you're welcome. So what colors if any, are catching your eye? I'm kind of liking the periwinkle!

lukkiirish all I can say is thanks for showing me also, your different pics. I would love to upload a pic of my house to get some ideas as well. I will have to learn how to do that but would sure appreciate some help. Thanks again.

i really like the white actually, maybe different trim color?
nope, i looked again, i like what's there, just refreshed, then focus on landscaping etc for change of appearance!!

I also love the periwinkle (luxe?), in fact I had decided against blue until this. My husband and I poured over your photos and both of us love the deeper blues. I've been playing on the BM website with the color combinations and have been having a ball. Unfortunately, my computer is on the old side and when I can really tell is when trying to upload my photo to play with color on my own house. I can't thank you enough. Right now my favorite color combo is the newberyport blue with the wythe blue trim and possibly an exotic purple accent. I haven't played around with luxe yet though! I was going so much more conservative than I think I needed to be.

I'm so glad it's helped the creative process! I get a kick out of seeing what people end up doing. When I was masking, Sanctuary looked like a pale lavender or periwinkle. It was super pretty, next time you're on the BM site check that out, it's daring but looked lovely. I love love love the darker colors also, every house I've seen in that color range of blue has been stunning. If you go that route, just be aware that the darker colors can fade so if you're in an area w/heavy sun, that could be an issue. You may want to head over to the painting forum to see if anyone has some feedback about it.

I think you can paint the porch ceiling haint blue regardless of what other colors are on the house. With rare exceptions, of course, maybe such as an olive green scheme.

Don't know if you want to factor this in, but dark colors don't hold up as well in the sun as compared to lighter colors.

Along with a slower computer, my monitor can also be off- Sanctuary looked like a gray with a slight tinge of purple. I'm feeling so much more daring after the photos, who knows where we'll end up. Good point about the fading, we'll definitely take that into consideration and will head over to painting if need be- thank you again! When we decide and I do a sample section, I'll post the results!

Yes, by all means do some reading on the paint forum - there are several experts over there. Here is a thread I started that you may find helpful.

Here is a link that might be useful: painting the exterior of your own house

I think with the grey roof you will do better with the blues or an olive or sage green. The darker blue in the photos above is lovely. The wyeth comes off a bit turquoise on my monitor. If you go with that shade I'd go darker.

I painted the interior wall of my rear porch an olive green (but clearly green not too brown) with a light blue ceiling and white trim and it is lovely. (used Valspar)

BTW, I have a friend who lives in a neighbourhood of colonial-ish white houses and one year she came home from a sabbatical in Mexico and painted her house dark turquoise. It looks fabulous! When I asked her some time later how the neighbours reacted she said lots of people had said how nice it was and then some of them started to paint their houses with colour too. She started a trend.

Our neighbor lives in a similar home which used to be white. They added a very light, pale yellow siding to it and it is just gorgeous and makes the house look bigger.

I like the darker colors but it will make your house seem smaller.

I'm not crazy about the gray though.

A vote for Luxe with the fresh white trim -- and a deep orchid or eggplant on the door.

GREAT virtuals!!!

And a lovely home!

Jan at Rosemary Cottage

I am loving the Luxe, too!

Thanks for weighing in, I love hearing the other voices to go less conservative with the house! How liberating GW is- thank you so much. Time to indulge in my sample addiction again...

We painted our house a Porter Paint color called Sea Sand, with shutters painted a black called "wrought iron". The roof was estate gray. I absolutely loved it, but boy did I chew on it before having it done. We even bought a small can and painted some here and there, but it didn't do the final effect justice. Any landscaping you do, whether greenery or flowers, it all just POPS against the yellowish color (although is is not really yellow). That house now has more curb appeal than it ever did when it was white or gray. Every time I drive up I am so thankful for my choice, because it did what I wanted it to do. A happy color! There is also a color called Umber Shadow (old Porter Paint color) that is the perfect color to paint concrete porch floors. It is the color of wet concrete. I love the idea of painting the porch ceiling a watery blue/green! Have fun with your house! It can really drive you nuts though!

When perusing through the web asking the same question as autumngirl, I found this post. I love how lukkiirish posted your house with mock up paint colors. Can lukkiirish tell me how they did that? I'm in the same boat. We did a pretty extensive house renovation / addition and I'm burnt out on decisions. I've liked my choices fo far but for some reason the house paint color is killing me! I would love nothing more than to see mock ups to help me make my decision. Can someone help? thanks!!!