What's Wrong With This Picture?

If you've lived in the valley for a decade or more, you must be excited about the prospect of painting your home exterior something other than off-white. Navajo white was the color of choice for homebuilders in the 80s and 90s. It's a nice look with Spanish tile roofs, right? And what's good enough for southern California is good for Las Vegas. Times have certainly changed and southern Nevada is ready for color--any color but off-white. But, people are finding that it's not so easy to pick the right colors for the relentless desert sun. Take my photo example for instance. The picture does not even begin to show how bright this home is. They meant well, and it probably looked good when they picked the paint chips. Here's where exteriors can be tricky:

Contrast: They did a nice job wanting to accentuate the architectural features of the home. On the other hand, the color is much too strong, especially in contrast to the dominant color of the home. Subtle color on the garage doors would have been nice, too. The front door is where you can play with vibrant color if you wish.

Illumination: It seems that they wanted to warm and brighten the exterior of the home. The problem is that the main color is much too bright for the desert sun. The light is so intense here that it has a tendency to make warm colors look like they are on fire. Also, stucco has a shadowing effect, so paint appears darker on vertical, stuccoed walls.

If they would have gone with more subtle shades of these colors, it could have come out beautifully. The idea was good, it just needed to be finessed for the environment. It's imperative to test the colors during different times of the day to see what you're getting. I also suggest testing your final choices on the stucco to see if it's what you truly desire. One client called me in a panic because her first color choice (before consulting with me, of course) was a brown tone that looked purple when she tested it on the house. You can never really tell until you see it. When it's the exterior, there's no hiding it until the next time you paint. It pays to do your research to get the home you love.