While most never consider drastically changing the exterior of their home to sell, some absolutely should, and many more would likely benefit. Not suggesting you NEED an all-new exterior to get your house sold, but an updated color scheme can easily turn the dated to modern, the chaotic to calm, or the boring to bling!
The most obvious reasons to update would be peeling paint, irreversible staining, or siding that’s just very, very dated. Worse yet, if your house is already on the market and your exterior colors are getting negative feedback, it would likely be in your best interest to make a change. But don’t let those be the only factors to prompt you!
Painting everything the same color when you’re dealing with funky, mismatched additions, fixing past ill-chosen colors, or blending in dated brick accents with the rest of the siding can also give your home a fresher, more cohesive feel. And if you’re thinking of painting over dated brick in general, you can read more about that here.
I recently watched a house with old, dingy white clapboard siding and faded green shutters get a fresh coat of Behr Paint’s Galley Gold with cream colored trim and matte black shutters. The results were absolutely stunning! And for the record, if you’re afraid of painting vinyl siding, Sherwin-Williams has a line of exterior paint called VinylSafe made for this very purpose. From what I’ve seen and read myself, it does exactly what it says it will do with proper application.
If you’ve got cedar or wood siding that’s been stained, or even a deck or fencing, consider re-staining it to brighten it up or painting over the old stain with a semi-solid or solid stain color. A number of years ago, I gave this advice to one of my clients and the old mud-brown stain that had been plaguing that home for decades was given a semi-solid stain update in burnt almond and it looked like a brand new house! Please note: If you plan to do this, consult a pro. It is important to know if the original stain was oil based, and prep work is essential.
Those considering replacing the siding altogether (or even your roof) and want to see what color combos might look best, I’m a big fan of CertainTeed siding and roofing and they have a clever little, easy-to-operate tool called ColorView that can give you a preview of what your new exterior colors might look like, and plenty of siding colors and roofing materials to choose from.
