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albryant

Help deciding color of exterior shutters

albryant
15 years ago

We're painting our cottage-style brick house and replacing the shutters. The old shutters were cheap vinyl and incorrectly sized, so we're going to change them to real board-and-batten shutters with working hardware, and they'll be correctly sized (well, as correct as we can for the double windows - they'll be the right size if they were double shutters if that makes sense).

We've decided on Benjamin Moore Hawthorne Yellow from the historic colors as the house, and the trim will be white. The current door and shutter color is black and that has been our choice for the new shutters as well. But today I saw a swatch for Charleston Green which is an almost black green, and I thought it might be a nice alternative, especially since another house in the neighborhood just painted their house yellow with black accents before we could get ours painted :)

What would you go with - black or Charleston green? Would you do the same color for the door and shutters, or a different color for the door?

I know some people don't think you should paint the brick, but it really isn't an attractive brick, and almost every other 1950's house in the neighborhood looks just like ours. There are tons of painted brick houses in town, and we really like the look (and a realtor told us it's personal preference and that we're not committing resale suicide :) OK, just had to get my justification out there :) Thanks for any ideas!

Here's a photo:

{{!gwi}}

Comments (14)

  • nhb22
    15 years ago

    I love CG and have used it on more than one house. I say go with the green. and maybe paint the door a real dark red.

    {{!gwi}}

    {{!gwi}}

  • squirrelheaven
    15 years ago

    Before painting your brick, wanted to show what some other changes might do for your cute little cape : ) Here are the dark black-green shutters and trimwork added to the doorway. Maybe down the road you could do a portico. I painted the foundation and side stair the brick color. May not be the perfect landscaping I added, but just lushing things out. Maybe a wrap around bed, here with an azalea, would look nice with that beautiful Crape Myrtle (?) on the right.

  • squirrelheaven
    15 years ago

    Here are two yellows and door colors, and removing most of my landscaping stuff. Need to check out the Hawthorn yellow.

    {{!gwi}}

  • squirrelheaven
    15 years ago

    Trying to get somewhat of a Hawthorne yellow. Hard to gauge and surely not right, just light and bright : ) Did add some white trim around the door to offset it more. Later put the works back on : )

    If you ever have to do your roof, I think a more grounding color would work better. You can see the difference with a dark charcoal type black. Personally, I think the true black is too strong, but am showing so you can see all, and we all like different things.

    You might toy with the idea of creating a little porch on the side also, to dress that up (last pic).

    (I have not forgotten Scout, Leah, and Marti ... just wandered in and off a bit : )

    Black shutters:


    Softening the shutter color, to blend with the roof better, as it looks like such a cool gray. In a marine blue:

    {{!gwi}}

    {{!gwi}}

    {{!gwi}}

  • squirrelheaven
    15 years ago

    Here's a lighter green, and a blue-gray works really nicely with your roofing.

  • kswl2
    15 years ago

    We have Charleston Green on our shutters and front door. I love the colour. Our grout and trim is a sort of greyish putty, and the roof is a dark greyish architectural shingle. The brick is a Virginia wood mold brick.

    I admit I love brick homes, and would not paint the brick (aothough you didn't ask!). Hawthorne Yellow is beautiful, we have it in our master bedroom, but it is quite loud for an exterior colour. I personally like the photoshopped pictures that show your cape with pretty accents and shutters and not painted. A company that makes the window boxes very reasonably and to order for size is The Right Angle. Check out their website for no rot window boxes that would really dress up your home.

    Here is a link that might be useful: window boxes appropriate for your house

  • mollyjenning
    15 years ago

    Look into BM Essex Green. Think it would look great with the yellow!

  • squirrelheaven
    15 years ago

    bump, in case the OP comes back

  • albryant
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    Wow! Sorry I've been away - had a surprising week. Just found out we're going to have a third baby, and that made me forget all about this post :)

    Thanks so much for all those photoshops, Squirrel! Honestly, your photoshops really sell the yellow for me. I know so many people don't like painted brick, and if our brick wasn't an orange brick I might like it a little better.

    We do plan to build a portico over the front door (though now with another baby that project might get pushed WAY back). And funny enough we have planted a crepe myrtle in the front. I do agree that a darker roof would look better, but the sellers replaced it not long before we bought it two years ago.

    KSWL - we thought Hawthorne Yellow was going to be too loud too, but after painting giant swatches of several colors and putting them outside in the light, it gets really washed out. Some of the paler yellows actually looked cream.

    I'll check out Essex Green, too. Thanks Molly!

  • albryant
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    Oh, and thanks Squirrel for the Right Angle recommendation. That's where we're getting the new composite board and batten shutters and we did love the window boxes. That's a project we'd planned for Spring. I think the window boxes and shutters will do a LOT for the front.

  • albryant
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    DH and I agree that the black shutters with our roof looks terrible. The photo we like best is in the first set of yellow that you did - the last one with the dark door. Can you give me an idea of what color those shutters are? Kind of a green - and is the door black? It's definitely softer than the black and looks a lot better. Thank you so much!

  • squirrelheaven
    15 years ago

    Hi albryant, Congrats! : )

    Glad you got to see the visuals and a sneak peak at how your planned portico would enhance the facade.

    I was just looking around to see if brick colors can be changed with mason stain washes or something. Here's one site, in case you actually do like brick. The color can be changed to something you'd like. There are a number of sites around, I just plucked this one.

    Yes, the shutters were in a dark green and the door a black. You might look at a soft black also, rather than a sharp one. Not sure what type of green you like. With your gray roof, you might look at a muted gray-toned one rather than a rich, golden one. Probably not too gray though with the yellow paint, though :/

    I had pulled out the fan deck, but the light wasn't good. And now it's night and not so good again!

    I believe kwsl steered you to Right Angle, if that's the window boxes.

    You're welcome : )

    Here is a link that might be useful: Brick Staining

  • squirrelheaven
    15 years ago

    Check out BM Dakota Shadow. Holiday Wreath maybe, but too green? Yorktown Green seems to have a good bit of blue in it, which might connect well with the roof.

  • albryant
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    Thanks - I will look at all of those colors. I was looking at the roof today, and it's amazing how much darker the back is than the front. The house faces south and the sun has apparently faded the shingles considerably. We'll definitely try to find a good green instead of black.

    Thanks again for all of your help!