Select an exterior image to test colors for your outdoor space. Try to match the style of your house with the image using the filter to see the best results.We are excited to unveil our 2016 Home Color and Design Report! Home is where the heart is — and nothing is truer than that for 2016. Whether you're looking for the romance of opulence, the untethered simplicity of ranch life, the excitement of glamor-filled globetrotting, the nostalgic comfort and ease of summer camp, or just the fulfillment of every human's need for quiet and tranquility, 2016 is designed to take you right where you belong. Click here to read the full report.This morning I met up with my design bestie, Elizabeth Scruggs, and we took the 2017 Antiques and Garden Show by storm! Of course, I want to share a few of my favorite things about the longest-running, largest, most respected show of its kind. I’m a lucky girl to live in Nashville!   This show is […] After spending about 10 days bedridden with a wicked upper respiratory infection, a girl can get a little stir crazy.

Sadly, I missed the Real Estate Staging Association® convention in Las Vegas because the astounding amount of mucus I was generating would have been, well, a bit off-putting . . . and consequently, I missed […]christmas decorations for big events This is the third in a kind of series about decorating with an antique bed. interior home decor catalogsThe first was about putting away a bed that I had been sleeping in for 28 years to make way for a new one, the second was about transforming an antique bed with paint, and this one is about freshening […]decorate a christmas tree ideas If you’re painting the outside of your home, don’t be afraid to take a little time with the color decision.room decor ideas student

“Your interior is about your personal color tastes,” says Tom Lee, Senior VP of Consumer Marketing for Behr, “but the exterior is really about durability. black home decor accentsIt’s about protecting the biggest investment you have.” decorate your home for springIt isn’t an easy decision to redo, so don’t rush it. With that in mind, here are some tips for choosing a paint: Plan to spend a little more money. Investing in a premium paint such as Behr Marquee Exterior Paint & Primer in One is a wise choice. You don’t want to be climbing up a scaffold again anytime soon — or paying for someone else to do it — so paint needs to cover well, resist stains and stand up to weather. Think about your permanent materials. If you have an existing brick or stone foundation, patio, or accents, work with their underlying tones as you’re choosing a paint shade.

If you’re stuck, try pairing opposites in terms of color temperature. For example, if you have a warm red brick foundation and you want brown for your exterior paint, choose a taupe with cool gray/blue undertones instead of a peachy tan. Take advantage of technology. You can usually bring in a sample of permanent materials to the paint store for computer color matching. Behr also offers an online tool called that lets you choose an initial color, recommends matching/coordinating colors, and helps you experiment with color combos on images of a home exterior so you can imagine the finished look. Don’t forget the trim. If you want something other than the usual white, try your exterior color just a few shades lighter for a subtle, elegant effect. Ease in with swatches. Buy test sizes of the paint colors you’re considering and paint some brush-outs on the exterior. Be sure to put some color on both the north and south sides of the house, where lighting can differ dramatically, and near any trim you’re coordinating with.

Visit your paint samples at different times of day to get the best idea of how the finished product will look. To give you a head start, here’s a cheat sheet of popular Benjamin Moore exterior colors courtesy of Andrea Magno, Benjamin Moore’s color and design expert: Neutrals: Shaker Beige HC-45, Alexandria Beige HC-77, Pashmina AF-100 Grays: Stonington Gray HC-170, Thunder AF-685, Storm AF-700 Blues and Greens: Phillipsburg Blue HC-159, Guilford Green HC-116, Soft Fern 2144-40, Santorini Blue 1634, Wickham Gray HC-171 Trim:  Navajo White 947 (also OC-95),  Frostine AF-5, Simply White OC-117 Front Doors: Lucerne AF-530, Flint AF-560, Breath of Fresh Air 806, Black Satin 2131-10, Silhouette AF-655, Super Nova 1414, Pomegranate AF-295 Pale Gray to Go Choosing exterior colors for your house can be daunting. Choosing them for a 125-year-old home that's smack-dab in the middle of a community obsessed with historically accurate color schemes can be downright intimidating.

That's what John Stone and Sally Peterson, owners of the latest TOH TV project house, found out when selecting colors for their clapboard-and-shingle 1887 Queen Anne, in the Avon Hill neighborhood of Cambridge, Massachusetts. When they bought the house for themselves and their two young daughters last fall, they agreed on a couple of things: that the dated, awkward interior needed to be revamped and modernized, and that the house's pale-gray paint had to go. John, more concerned with interior carpentry than exterior color, was indifferent about the options. "He expressed an interest in green, and when I said no, he changed his tune to 'whatever you want,'" says Sally, who wanted a scheme that felt "fresh and exciting." Shown: The house was painted a light gray when John and Sally bought it. "This wasn't a common color for siding at the time this house was built," says Maycock. At the same time, her goal was to avoid overdoing it. "It seems like many houses from this period have every part of the facade painted a different color," she says.

"Our house is pretty simple, and its details are straightforward—and we want to keep it that way." Shown: TOH TV general contractor Tom Silva (center) discusses paint options with architectural historian Susan Maycock (second from left) and owners John Stone and Sally. To help them envision the right hues, the couple turned to Susan Maycock, an architectural historian and a color specialist with the Cambridge Historical Commission. Such experts are invaluable resources for owners who want to maintain the historic character of a house, says TOH general contractor Tom Silva. "In addition to being familiar with the history and customs of the neighborhood, these folks often have access to drawings, photos, or documents from when a house was built," he says. Shown: Color consultant Susan Maycock first suggested brick-red siding with taupe trim and black accents. But the homeowners weren't smitten. "The red felt a little too 'Victorian' for us," says Sally. Benjamin Moore's Baked Clay (1), Baked Cumin (2), and Black (3)

For Sally and John's house, there was no such documentation. So Maycock dug up other resources, showing the couple paint-company brochures from the 1880s and 1890s with color illustrations of period houses. "The colors that were popular then were deep and rich—lots of golds, russets, and olives," says Maycock. There was a huge array of paint colors available at the time, thanks to the growing availability of ready-mixed paints that could be shipped via the railroads. "Pale colors, like the gray of this house, were very rare during the Victorian era," says Maycock. "Such colors didn't come back into vogue until the 1890s." After hitting the books, Maycock presented a variety of color schemes. Her suggestions for the siding ranged from brick red to sage to a deep mustard yellow, each with a complementary color for trimwork and an accent color or two for movable parts, such as windows and doors. Shown: John was a big fan of this green base color, paired with off-white trim and red accents.

"It was too muted," she says. Benjamin Moore's Rolling Hills (1), Grant Beige (2), and Cottage Red (3) Of all the options Maycock presented, Sally was most taken with the mustard scheme, which was paired with cream-colored trim and black accents. Wanting to get a better sense of what it would look like in real life, Sally had the colors applied to a digital picture of her house, using photo-editing software. "That was a big help," she says. "It gave us a sense of the direction we wanted to go in.""I didn't like it," Sally says. "It looked, well, sickly. Mustard may have been popular back then, but I wanted something brighter." Since there are houses of similar design in the neighborhood, she and John hit the streets in search of inspiration for a color scheme that suited their tastes. Shown: Sally and John both liked this palette of deep mustard, cream, and black, but wanted a yellow with a bit more pop. Benjamin Moore's Camel Back (1), Montgomery White (2), and Black (3) The Winning Yellow Scheme

That inspiration ended up coming from a nearby house, which happened to be painted yellow. "It was a much different hue than the mustard tone we'd been looking at," says Sally. "It was brighter and more cheerful, and to us it felt right for the house." After she and John told their painter, Mauro Henrique, about the place they'd seen, he snapped a photo of the house and took it to a local paint store for a color match. Then, armed with two slightly different color samples, he painted large swatches on the house's siding so that the couple could compare them. This is something Maycock always recommends, making sure that swatches are big enough (about 2 by 3 feet) to get a good idea of how each color will "read" in different light and weather conditions. "Computer visualizers are great, but screen colors aren't accurate," she says. "A color might look nice on your laptop, but once you put it on the siding, it's a whole different story." Luckily, John and Sally's story has a happy ending.

Though they didn't go with Maycock's recommendations, they say her advice helped tremendously, and they are confident that the palette they picked suits their home and neighborhood. The base-color yellow is warm and sunny; cream highlights corner boards, columns, and eaves; and black window sashes conform to the darker accents of Victorian times. "To mix things up, we might paint the front door red," says Sally. "But we're still trying to find the right shade." Shown: A house in their neighborhood with a similar paint job led the couple to select this cheery palette. Benjamin Moore's Marblehead Gold (1), Navajo White (2), and Black (3) Digital Aids for Choosing Color You don't need to hire a color expert or learn Photoshop to find the right hues for your house. If you have no clue where to begin, use one of the many free or low-cost online color visualizers out there. Nearly every paint company has one, and technological improvements have increased their usefulness dramatically in the past couple of years.

Here are three we like. Paint Your PlaceBehr's online helper lets you upload your own pictures, "paint" them to your liking, save them to a workbook, and order color samples right from the tool. Olympic's website tool and mobile app work hand in hand, so you can create and save color schemes at home or on the go. Can't decide on a favorite palette? Post the options to Facebook or other social-media sites and let your friends cast their votes. This online tool catalogs the offerings of several major paint manufacturers, so you're not limited to a single company's palette when trying out colors on your photos. Free 30-day trial, then $12 per month; Beyond Exterior Paint: Projects Underway Inside The House A renovation as drastic as the exterior color change is taking shape in Cambridge—see the action via webcam. Relocating The KitchenBefore: The outdated kitchen was located, inconveniently, on the second floor.In The Works: This room is being moved to the first floor, where it will occupy an area that had been a bedroom facing the street.