Exterior Paint Colors

My husband and I have been discussing re-siding or painting the exterior of our house since moving in, October 2009. We have finally paid off most of our debt and are getting to the point where some of our major projects on the house can begin. We have done our homework in researching the color we would like by driving through local neighborhoods and taking note of the colors that we like. We also have taken into account the colors of other houses in the neighborhood. We have stone work on the ground floor of our home as well as for the chimney, the color of which also plays into our decision. Taking all of this into consideration we have decided on a sagey green. Though we have done all of our research, I would like to be able to see what it would look like before we spend the money and time making this change. I started researching photo editing services online and happened upon the Sherwin Williams webpage and Color Visualizer. I easily uploaded a before picture of the front of our house:

Then I followed the directions to highlight the areas that I would paint. Finally, a large selection of exterior paint colors is revealed and you are allowed to simply drag and drop the color of your choice to the photo. Immediately the color is filled into your photo and "voila!" your home or room is transformed! I tried the greens first since that is the color we had decided on, but was not really sold on any one in particular. We had also talked about painting the house red as it sort of looks like a big barn. After trying several reds on the visualizer, I knew that was not something I could live with for any length of time. Finally, I tried several grays and found two that I absolutely love!

This one is called Thunder Gray.

This one is called Downing Stone.

Which one do you like? I like the Thunder Gray but worry that it may be too dark. Thankfully, I still have a few weeks before it will warm up enough around here to be painting outside!

I don't know how I am going to choose, but am so glad that I was able to see the colors I liked before purchasing paint and using a color that I absolutely hated! I usually just buy the cheapest paint available from either Menards or Wal-Mart, but loved this Color Visualizer from Sherwin Williams so much that I believe I will actually splurge for the Sherwin Williams brand paint.

I am also going to upload pictures from several rooms in my house that I have been wanting to paint. I have no idea what color I want to use, but I'm sure that Sherwin Williams will give me plenty of options!

Disclaimer: I have in no way been reimbursed for this commentary regarding Sherwin Williams or the Color Visualizer. I am just passing along information that I found useful and thought could be useful to others.