Happy First Day of Fall, Y’all! It doesn’t quite feel like Fall in North Georgia, but nonetheless, the weather has been beautiful and I never complain when it’s warm and the sun is shining. 😉 Today I’m sharing our exterior house and porch colors, a LOOONNGG overdue post and a topic I receive many emails about on a weekly basis. Thank you for all your kind comments on my somewhat “happy accident” of collective paint colors! Instead of redirecting readers to multiple posts about the colors, today I’m sharing the paint color palette in one easy to find post.
Several years ago, it was time to paint our porch floor because our house was about 11-12 years old and the wood was getting porous and worn. Previously we had a wood stain on it in a dark brown color. The siding has remained the same color since we bought our home. When we decided to use Behr Deckover for the porch floor color, I didn’t find a color I liked for our siding, so we used a Rustoleum Restore color and Home Depot mixed it in the Behr Deckover formula. You can read about the product on an older post I wrote here and a year later update here.
When my husband, Mark, started painting the Winchester color on the porch floor, it was in the daytime and I loved the way it looked with our Hardiplank house siding color, Pewterworks by Duron. As daytime turned into dusk, the color changed and it didn’t look as good as I originally thought! We sort of stopped and assesssed and the next day painted a little more. The more surface we painted, the better it looked and the porch was completely transformed with the Deckover product, so that was a no-brainer. The surface looked more like composite decking and less like a wooden floor porch. It gave things a different look and feel, which after that many years, was such a good thing! After we got all the porch furniture, plants, cushions, etc. back on the porch, we LOVED it! ( NOTE: Any Sherwin Williams can mix and/or color match older Duron colors )
Back porch bench and Adirondack chairs had been painted Mermaid Net by Behr in a satin finish a few months previously.
The door was painted Caribou by Duron in a satin finish at the time.
The new porch floor and old siding needed some interest and new life, so I used Mermaid Net by Behr in a satin finish again!
I have been asked by readers if the siding and floor color are more gray or tan and the answer is this: Different monitors and devices are so hard to get a true color reading on, but this is where my “happy accident” comes in. Pewterworks is right between grays and taupes, so it sort of varies between the two. I have had so many people driving by in our neighborhood over the years stop and ask about our siding color with the same question! It’s another one of those chameleon colors, but Pewterworks is a bit more tan gray and Winchester more gray brown, I’d say. Somehow the two just work together because they’re not trying to be “matchy,” they just compliment each other nicely with the contrast. They both change to a more pink/purple as sunset gets closer, but it’s very subtle and we truly love both colors together after all. (Pewterworks picture image credits to My Perfect Color site.)
2 main things I always try to think about when choosing exterior paint colors for myself or for a client are:
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What are the colors of the other house exteriors in the rest of the neighborhood? What geographic/landscape of the area might affect which colors you use?
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Will the house exterior look pleasing in each season with various accessories, flowers, fabrics, etc?
Our home is a cottage/farmhouse style with a wrap around porch located in a rural area of North Georgia about 20 minutes from Atlanta and the North Georgia Mountains. It was previously farmland and we had cows that used to graze right up next to the back of our property. Soft, subtle, earthy nature colors are what the majority of our neighborhood is, so this was keeping in the same style of our area. I have a little freedom to be creative with the front door color, but I try to keep the rest neutral. And the best thing is that I LOVE this color palette year round! I added a few color palettes showing how the colors have changed a little, but I stayed within the same color families.
Driftwood Weathered Wood Finish product info can be found here.
Below ( pictured left then clockwise: Pewterworks by Duron ( siding ), Caribou by Duron ( old shutters and front door), Swiss Coffee by Behr ( new trim and railing ), and Mermaid Net by Behr ( front door color and back porch furniture ).
The new exterior color palette below is the same as above except the top right dark gray brown is the new shutter color, Urbane Bronze by Sherwin Williams in a satin finish.
I felt like the porch needed a little more depth and contrast with the floor and siding, so I decided to go with a darker gray brown for the shutter color. Urbane Bronze is a great color to use if you want to update your dark browns and give them new life! I share why I love it on this post where I also updated the porch furniture with a grayed dry brush technique. Quick process that gives old porch furniture or dated colors a new look!
I added porch curtains to this outdoor space last Spring, and didn’t do a post on them, but I briefly describe here how we did them. They have been wonderful for adding a little privacy, as well as some softness to the porch. Love them! 
I shared with you a few new porch table settings I did last month where you can see the porch curtains with the neutral paint colors in the background….( beads available in my Etsy shop which is found on the blog’s sidebar )
The final exterior color palette below pictured left and then clockwise: Pewterworks by Duron ( finish looks flat, but check if you have Hardiplank for which types of paint to use. Ours has always been painted professionally ), Mermaid Net by Behr ( satin finish on front door and back porch furniture ), Swiss Coffee by Behr ( semi-gloss finish on front door trim and railing ), Duron Builders Masterpiece White ( semi-gloss finish –the color the builder did originally on railing and trimwork and I can’t find exact white but it was a true bright white. This color was on the railing with the Swiss Coffee on the door trim and they still looked great together! ), Urbane Bronze by Sherwin Williams ( satin finish on shutters ), and last bottom paint color is Winchester, a Rustoleum Restore color mixed in a Behr Deckover formula.
I really do call it a “house for all seasons,” and am really happy with the end result of the color palette. “Happy accidents” sometimes turn out well! I love that because the entire palette is mostly neutral paint colors, I can still change the front door color and not have to change anything else except maybe a few cushions or throw pillows. That’s always fun.
Hope you’re having a great week…. It’s almost FRIDAY!!
xoxo
Denise says
May 19, 2017 at 3:22 pmLoving your colors and am currently busy duplicating this look. Today my very old deck is being redone. Also the
front door to be repainted. Cannot wait to see my results. Thanks for your post and pics. Your home is lovely.
mimirobins says
July 27, 2017 at 1:28 amThank you so much, Denise! I’m so happy to hear that and hope you will be very happy with it all! ?
GAmama5 says
August 24, 2017 at 3:13 amI love this palette! Thank you for sharing it, as I plan on doing something quite similar. We are also about to have our roof redone. I couldn’t tell in the photo what color shingles your lovely home has. I’m a little nervous to pick the shingle color. What is your suggestion?
Thank you!
mimirobins says
November 22, 2017 at 3:41 amHi!
We just chose GAF Timberline HD architectural shingles in Pewter Gray. I’m very happy how it looks with the exterior colors! If you have stone or brick or some feature that’s not easily changeable, my advice would be to choose a roof color that complements that. Paint colors can be changed, hardscape not so much….
Thanks for reading! I’d love to hear or see a pic of what you choose 🙂
Melanie
Shannon c says
October 11, 2017 at 12:29 pmWhat color is your roof?
mimirobins says
November 22, 2017 at 3:42 amHi!
We just chose GAF Timberline HD architectural shingles in Pewter Gray. I’m very happy how it looks with the exterior colors! If you have stone or brick or some feature that’s not easily changeable, my advice would be to choose a roof color that complements that. Paint colors can be changed, hardscape not so much….
Thanks for reading! I’d love to hear or see a pic of what you choose 🙂
Melanie
Brooke Cover says
October 19, 2017 at 5:59 pmHi! What color is on your shutters pictures with the Mermaid Net door?
Thank You!
Brooke
Brooke Cover says
October 19, 2017 at 5:59 pmAnd the trim?
mimirobins says
November 22, 2017 at 3:47 amBrooke,
Most of the trim around my front door is painted in Swiss Coffee by Behr. The railing on the wrap around porch is a high gloss builders white by Sherwin Williams. I’ll see if I can find the name and let you know 🙂
Thanks for your interest!
Melanie
mimirobins says
November 22, 2017 at 3:44 amHi, Brooke!
The current color is Sherwin Williams Urbane Bronze on the shutters 🙂
Hope that helps!
Melanie
Debbie says
November 18, 2017 at 9:08 pmHi, i love your taste! Thank you for sharing your choices. Can you tell me the color of your roof? Thank you.
mimirobins says
November 22, 2017 at 3:53 amHi, Debbie!
We just recently got a new roof and chose GAF Timberline HD architectural shingles in Pewter Gray. I don’t have an updated picture of that on the blog yet, but need to do so. Maybe I’ll post a pic when I get my Christmas decorations up. There are a few shots of the new roof in some of my Instagram pics you can see here.
Thanks for your kind words! Hope this helps you 🙂
Kimberly says
June 16, 2018 at 1:23 pmBeautiful Home! Love your style!
mimirobins says
July 3, 2018 at 2:12 pmThank you so much for the kind words! 💗
LaNae says
June 4, 2019 at 1:42 amLove the colors of your house! I am trying to recreate it, but I can’t find Duron paint anywhere. Any suggestion?
mimirobins says
June 9, 2019 at 12:21 amHi, LaNae! Duron paints can be mixed at any Sherwin Williams Store. Just show them the color and # ID. 😉
Susan Meisner says
June 9, 2019 at 9:56 pmHello, I too love your color choices. You write that the trim around the front door is Swiss Coffee. Is the trim around your windows, walls and roof Swiss Coffer or the high gloss builders white (SW)? Thank you.
Pamela says
June 13, 2019 at 2:34 pmHello, love your color palette. We have a house similar in style with a wrap around front porch in rural indiana. Our house has a light color gray siding. We are redoing our porch. My question is this. Should I paint the porch deck a darker gray, light gray or try to offset the gray and White House by painting the porch some tone of brown? Would love to hear your thoughts.
Carol Tenoschok says
June 26, 2019 at 6:01 amIs your porch floor still holding up well? How did you touch up the steps?
mimirobins says
July 9, 2019 at 2:13 amHi Carol! The Behr Deckover is still holding up well. When I see worn spots or scuffs here and there, I just stir the can of paint really well then keep a spray bottle of water next to me while I touch up the paint. The Behr Deckover formula is pretty thick, so it can get gloppy in heat and sun. A light misting of water while painting thin coats on really helps the touch ups. Hope that helps! 🙂
Jakki says
August 17, 2019 at 2:59 pmHi! I was wondering HOW you got your shutters in the urban bronze color? I have been wanting to do something like this wit my shutters but Most shutters only come in stock colors (black, White, red, etc.). I thought about getting white ones and painting them but have had contractors tell me you can’t paint vinyl shutters darker colors because it will absorb light and warp them. So I’m curious, are they vinyl and did you paint them yourself or did you find a place that you can order custom colors from?
Thanks!
mimirobins says
August 17, 2019 at 3:43 pmHi, Jakki!
You can absolutely paint vinyl shutters with the correct paint with primer. Mine have been multiple colors over the 17 years we’ve lived in our home. I usually have my painter paint them and generally use Behr Ultra Exterior Paint + Primer in a satin finish. Same with the front door. Hope that helps you! Thanks for reading!
Heather says
August 24, 2019 at 9:55 pmHi! I was wondering if you could tell me the paint number for your siding? I cannot seem to find Pewterworks on the Sherwin Williams website. Thanks for your time.
mimirobins says
August 25, 2019 at 2:28 amHi, Heather!
Pewterworks is an older paint color by Duron that can still be mixed at any Sherwin Williams Store. It’s 8763M on the Duron paint card! If you Google “Pewterworks by Duron” it should bring up some of my exterior images, as well as a paint card with Pewterworks and its neighboring colors. Hope that helps you! Thanks for reading 😊
Alicia says
May 4, 2020 at 2:45 amHi! We are getting ready to get new siding and windows on our house. Love these colors! What siding do you have?
mimirobins says
June 20, 2020 at 1:37 pmHi Alicia!
Thank you! We have Hardiplank siding. I love it!
Aubrey Hibbard says
May 25, 2020 at 2:17 pmLove your style! Could you please tell me what color your garage door is painted?
mimirobins says
June 20, 2020 at 1:28 pmHi Aubrey,
Our garage door is painted a standard builders white! I had it painted to match our siding years ago, but it felt too dark. I like the contrast better with the white. I did add some architectural magnets to give it a carriage house look and that adds a great finished detail. Hope that helps! 😊
Heather says
June 20, 2020 at 4:08 amHello I was wondering how you were able to mix the rust-oleum winchester with a Behr deckover since the Behr is already tinted? We already painted shutters and door now we are redoing deck and we are stumped. Thankyou
mimirobins says
June 20, 2020 at 12:49 pmHi, Heather!
Years ago when we originally painted our covered porch floor and deck with Behr Deckover, it was a different formula. It could be mixed to create colors of your choice. I assume that’s still the case, although I haven’t researched it lately. We asked for the color formula from Rustoleum Restore Winchester to be mixed in the Behr Deckover paint because we had read reviews at that time that the Deckover was a better product, but we I didn’t see a color choice in the Behr Deckover that I liked. Hope that makes better sense! I still keep a gallon can of Behr Deckover in Winchester for touch ups. You have to mix really well, then keep a spray bottle of water handy for even coverage. Good luck on your project!
Crystal says
September 5, 2020 at 4:13 pmYour home is beautiful. Do you have any outdoor fans? If so what color are the blades and hardware?
mimirobins says
September 26, 2020 at 2:39 amHi Crystal,
Thank you! We do not have any exterior fans but we have talked about doing that. It would be great to have some airflow on the porch with our hot humid Georgia Summers! If I added some, I would probably do white ones to blend with our porch ceiling. There are some pretty new styles & colors of fans on the market now, so lots more choices. I think the wicker ones are pretty and add a “Deep South” look.
Gina says
September 24, 2020 at 6:31 pmHi. I am doing your colors. But I’m confused on the Swiss coffee and white. What color is the house trim? And what is Swiss coffee ? I bought Swiss coffee for all trim. !!! But is that a mistake?
mimirobins says
September 26, 2020 at 2:27 amHi Gina! The door trim is Behr Swiss Coffee and all other trim is Duron Bright White Builders Masterpiece in gloss. We had our home painted before I changed the door trim, so that’s why only a small portion is the Swiss Coffee. I love the color though and will do the rest of our trim in it when our home is repainted in a few years again. I think you’ll be happy with Swiss Coffee for all your trim! Hope that helps! Would love to see a photo when it’s finished 😊