Home accessories: Renovation Diary: Choosing a Color for Exterior Shutters

www.houzz.com
Choosing exterior shutter paint is a challenge.

Aside from durability, the homeowner must consider every aspect of the decor: shingles, house color/texture, door color; lighting.
Do I want the shutters to make a statement or do I want the house to work with the landscape?

photo credit: Houzz

The process of choosing colors can cause a syndrome called "I-Can't-Decide-itis," a which is characterized by disagreeable symptoms: nail biting, insomnia, indecisiveness,
agitation, and even tears.

Oh, why should paint be such a Gollumy hobgoblin?
Why won't a paint chip color actually resemble itself after it goes on your walls or shutters? Why is interior design fraught with potential landmines and expensive errors?

As we all know, shade and sunlight love to play tricks on an un-decorator like myself. Now, with the dark days of winter closing in, it's time to wrap up the exterior makeover and move to the kitchen.

This means that I need to choose a shutter style and color.

reprinted with permission via www.timberlane.com

photo credit: Timberlane.com

Many styles are available, and I like all of them; but I'll probably stick with a traditional louvered design and simple shutter dogs.

source: Rattlebridge Farm

Since the roof is gray, and the front door is a dark, blackish gray, I'd planned to stick with this palette.

But my heart sped up when I saw blue-green shutters at Houzz.

photos courtesy of Houzz. Traditional Exterior design by Cincinnati Architect RWA Architects

However, I've been down this path before. I'll see a photo in a magazine; then I'll spend hours and dollars at the paint store, doubling and quartering formulas. I don't have the sort of "eye" that can look at a photo and go straight to a paint chip. So I was hoping Houzz would have the answer.

Unfortunately, the architect of the inspiration house didn't know the paint color. Several Houzz members suggested Benjamin Moore's Wythe Blue and Stratton Blue.

I pulled out my fan deck.

Here's a virtual sample of Stratton Blue:

Houzz Benjamin Moore

Stratton Blue looks close, doesn't it?
Here's a photo on a sunny day.

photo courtesy of Houzz.

Then I investigated Wythe Blue, BM's "2012 color of the year."

If a color is going out, or "so over," naturally it attracts me.

It's a pretty color.

Houzz features a front door that was painted Wythe Blue. It's lighter and slightly greener than Stratton Blue.

Eclectic Exterior design

Benjamin Moore Wythe Blue

The inspiration house's shutter color is darker than Wythe;

it might be darker than Stratton.

"I-Can't-Decide-itis might be setting in, because I found myself looking at Benjamin Moore's Covington Blue. It's a little greener.

Another look at the shutters.

Traditional Exterior design by Cincinnati Architect RWA Architects

Here, beneath a muddy blue sky,
the shutters on the inspiration house look darker.

Traditional Exterior design by Cincinnati Architect RWA Architects

Stratton Blue looks like a good jumping-off point; Wythe will probably be too light. But Covington could be just right.

I'll paint the old shutters, prop them against the house,

and see which one works with the house.

Naturally the Rattlebridge men will have a say.

The bricks at Rattlebridge were painted SW's Tennessee Limestone, and the color changes throughout the day. On a sunny morning, the house looks white. When the sun shifts, the house still looks gray-white, but creamier.