Wattyl shares their top colour tips
Choosing the right exterior paint colours for your home can make all the difference when it comes to your home’s curb appeal and even add value to your property. But with thousands of exterior paint colours available, it can be a daunting task choosing the perfect palette.
Our friends at Wattyl Paint have been making quality, high-performance paints and coatings for over a century, so they know a thing or two when it comes to your paint project. They’ve pulled together their top tips to consider when choosing an exterior colour scheme for your home.
What is your style?
If you haven’t already, we’d recommend you check out our blog on ‘Finding your style’ as part of our Exterior Design series earlier this year. This is an essential first step, as a style keeps you on track when making design decisions and allows each area of your home to flow and feel connected.
To help make navigating your personal design style simpler, we’ve created a quiz that identifies your individual taste and matches it to a design scheme. Carefully curated by our expert interior design team, you’ll discover your style along with all our recommended materials, finishes and colours to recreate this look in your own home! Whether you’re going for ‘Coastal Hamptons’ or ‘Industrial Warehouse’ – we have you covered. Take the quiz now.
Wattyl Tip: Remember to consider the full picture! From roof tiles and brick colour to the timber features, front door and fence – each element is going to have an influence on your colour selections.
Council requirements
Don’t forget, depending on your location some areas may be restricted to certain colours due to council requirements and heritage listings, so be sure to check in with your local council if you are unsure.
Highlight or hide features
Colour can be used to either highlight or hide certain features of your home. Does your home have any specific architectural features to be highlighted, or perhaps something you want to hide or blend in with the surroundings? For example, generally downpipes are not a feature. By painting them the same colour as the substrate, they will appear to be hidden and won’t draw attention to the eye.
Consider lighting
Be mindful to view your sample swatches and colour cards outside under sunlight to ensure you are getting an accurate view as to how the colour will appear in an exterior environment. This is an important consideration as the appearance of the colour can change significantly when viewed inside vs outside as well as at different times of the day. Paint colours will appear much lighter in the sunlight, creating a saturated, ‘washed out’ look.
Use three to five colours
To keep an exterior palette from looking bland and two dimensional, Wattyl recommends using three to five colours to create visual interest. Don’t forget, these colours will include the roof, gutters, wood trim, bricks, render, cladding, wood trim, fencing, paving etc.
The most important thing to remember when making design decisions is to be true to yourself – and have fun with it!
Our friends at Wattyl offer a free personalised colour consultation with a colour expert to assist in curating your ideal palette. Interested? Check it out here.
If you’re still feeling like you need some guidance, our team is here to help. At BGC we work alongside you to create your dream home, guiding you through the complete process and providing professional advice on colour, style, fixtures and much more. Contact us here or visit our showroom to get started on your home building journey.
