As the weather warms up, hopefully, you find yourself spending a little more time outdoors. This means it is also time for yard work and spring clean up. To start, take the time to do a thorough inspection of your home’s exterior. Is it time to repaint it? If so, don’t hesitate to take a little extra time to make a decision on the colour. While your interior paint colours are a personal choice, the exterior is more about durability and curb appeal. Here are a few tips to help you with your decision.
Plan to spend a little more money
The Markham winters can be tough on the exterior of your home. Actually, all of our seasons can be. The warm summer sun can also damage the outside of a house, so the exterior paint is one area of the maintenance of your home that you don’t want to be stingy with. A premium product that can withstand all of the seasons will keep you from having to repaint it too often. Let’s face it, you don’t want to be up on scaffolding or paying someone to do the work any more than you have to.
Think about your other exterior materials
Do you have some exterior brick or a concrete foundation? You want to take these materials into consideration when choosing a paint colour. Take into consideration the underlying tone of the materials. For example, if you have a cool concrete foundation and want a brown exterior paint, choose one that had a peachy undertone to contrast with the concrete. Generally, you will want to stay away from cool on cool tones, or warm on warm. You want the exterior of your home to have some dimension.
Test it out
You can purchase test cans of any colour at most paint stores. Paint out samples on both the north and south side of your home. Also, test near the trim and any exterior materials. You’ll want to allow test paint to completely dry and then look at it at different times of the day. Sun and shade will drastically change the look of exterior paint throughout the day. You will want to view it up close and from afar to get a true depiction of the colour.
Don’t forget the trim
Once you get that new exterior paint colour on, defects in your trim paint are going to shine. So it might be time to consider repainting the trim as well. You might as well get everything done at once. If you don’t want to go with the traditional white paint, consider a few shades lighter than the colour you have chosen for the home. It is very trendy to try a darker trim colour as well, especially if you are picking a grey tone for the house.
If you need some help picking an exterior paint colour or want to know what is a good colour for resale, contact Martin MacFarlane today. Martin is happy to help you in any way he can.
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