Japanese Maple in Front of the House
This fall, it was time to update the exterior colors of our modest 1960’s ranch house in Western Massachusetts. I wanted a change from the neutral slightly silvery color stain that had been the original color. My choices were nature-inspired for the most part, as you can see from the photos I’ve taken of the foliage that’s around the house. The Pioneer Valley is really lovely year round, but the foliage colors in the fall are amazing.
I did some research on 1960’s house colors, and depending on when in the 60’s, there was a trend toward colors found in nature, so how could I resist? This particular palette is a bit Arts and Crafts meets 1960s’ or 70’s appliance colors meets the autumn woods in 2013.
Colors: Siding: In the foreground, Ben Moore Springfield Sage (510); Trim: Ben Moore Camouflage (2143-40); Doors (including brick in the breezeway): Ben Moore Georgian Brick (HC-50).
The house is rather-well hidden from the street, but here are my amateur photos of the finish colors on the house: starting with the view of the garage door from the driveway, walking along the path along the side of the garage, looking back toward the garage and then entering the breezeway to reach the front door. We have kept the original light fixture in the breezeway (not seen in the photos), the brick in the breezeway is also original (now painted the Georgian Brick color) and the doors and windows are all original, as well (except for the sliding glass doors off the front deck that can’t be seen). The cedar board and batten siding needed repair in a few areas, but is has held up well since 1964!
The breezeway can be dark, so I hope to add some additional lighting in the future, and perhaps a sky-light. I had the painters use the lighter trim color on the siding next to the front door, so at least the light that is available would reflect off that color more than on the medium green color of the rest of the siding.
Happy Fall!
Very nice!
Thanks, Kristi!
Love the color choices, Karen! Perfect.
Thanks, Roger!
I am in love with these color choices! They’re modern yet retro…Definitely does the garage justice! Great choices!
Thanks, Katie!
I am thrilled to find these pictures. Trying to decide on a cool dark color scheme for our 1958 small ranch house. We live in California and have two large redwood trees in front with a south western exposure. Want to capitalize on the shade from the trees. These colors are nice and rich and cool. Also, we have the exact same style of siding, so will be a good visual for my husband too. Super excited! Your place looks lovely. Thanks for posting this.
Thanks, Sue! Glad you found the color choices helpful – the side of the garage that I showed in my photos and the side of the house that has the sliders face west, and I have found the colors to be fine in that light. We have a lot of trees on our land – a mix of evergreens and deciduous species, so I felt that a green-gray color for the house with brighter accent colors would do the trick for us! I’d love to see photos of your house…thanks again, Sue!
What is the roof color on this house? I have a very similar style board and batten ranch with large overhangs that is currently a very similar green with similar tan trim. When we painted the house we had a light brown shingle roof. We now have a charcoal standing seem roof. We have to replace our garage door (currently trim color) and we are having a hard time deciding what color it should be. Since it faces the street and is 16’x7′, it is very visible.
I like the color you did on this garage, but not sure how it would look with a charcoal roof. I would rather not repaint the house just for a garage door, but we are considering re-painting the trim a darker gray-green and doing the garage door the same color. However, I like your idea of painting the garage door and front door the same but different than any other color on the house.
Forgot to mention that I’m in New England as well, just outside of Burlington, VT
Hi, Todd – My own roof is a charcoal color – the house trim color is Ben Moore’s Camouflage, which does go a bit green, depending on the light. As to what color to paint the garage door, it does depend on how much you want it to stand out; I like having my garage door a bright color – it doesn’t face the street, however. If you paint the door the same color as the house, and frame it with the trim color, that would differentiate it from the house a bit. As in many things, there is no wrong answer! It depends on your preference!! Thanks so much for writing!