Another Difficult Color Choice: Vote for Exterior Shutters.

The shutter company is waiting for me to choose a color.

I've tried and tried.

They sent several samples, but nothing worked with my front

door color, SW Urbane Bronze. A gray-green was hopeful,

but it would mean repainting the door.

 

I tried BM's Stratton Blue, and it was so awful, I

didn't take a picture. So, blue was taken off the table.

I also tried BM's Gettysburg Gray, which was beautiful, but

a bit blue-gray, and I'd have to repaint the front door.

Not a biggie, but I love Urbane Bronze with the color of the bricks,

SW's Tennessee Limestone, a muted, creamy gray.

 

For the shutter color, I decided to play it safe and stick with SW's Urbane palette and tried

Intellectual Gray (lighter) and Anonymous (darker).

 

Well. This should be a slam dunk, right?

 

I'd collected a few inspiration photos from Pinterest.

 

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Here's Dr. Will's inspiration photo, mainly for

the front porch re-do.

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I like muted colors, myself.

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After I saw this photo in Veranda (and on Pinterest--see below), I

began a campaign for white shutters,but it didn't work.

"It's a little pale, honey," Will said.

"Ewww," Bandy said.

 

I think it's gorgeous.

Of course, the house in Veranda has a lovely slate roof and the bricks are much lighter than mine.

The doors are white, too. I dearly love it.


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Another beautiful tone-on-tone house.

Traditional Exterior by Woodbridge Architect Huestis Tucker Architects, LLC

 

My heart sped up when I saw a Georgian make-over at Southern Living.

Here's the before picture. 

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 And the after.



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The bricks were whitewashed, and trim colors were chosen to highlight

the slate roof. Pratt and Lambert's "Artichoke" was used as

an accent for the shutters beside the front door. The shutter colors are Pratt and Lambert's Lambswool.

 

"Lambswool" is calm and pretty against the limewashed bricks.

 

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Long ago, I'd gotten bids for limewashing, and it was way more

expensive than painting. I don't regret the decision to paint.

 

However, choosing a shutter color has been a kicker. We're getting

operable shutters, and if the color is wrong, I'm stuck. It's not

like repainting a room -- or ordering a bathroom vanity.

 

The company, Timberlane, will paint the shutters. They're part of the

Endurian line and won't need to be repainted in my lifetime.

So whatever color I pick will stay.

 

 

"Anonymous" is on SW's Shoji White/Urbane Bronze color strip.

But it really doesn't work with my bricks.

 

 

The lighter color will be too anemic for most, but

the darker color just doesn't thrill me.

 

So far, I've only gone through several dozen paint pots. And I
haven't found the Goldilocks Zone.


In sunlight:

Sunlight:

And in shade:


 

What's your vote?

 

A. The darker, SW Anonymous

B. The lighter, SW Intellectual Gray

C. Try crisp white

D. Keep the SW Anonymous and paint  your door white/cream (trim color)

E. Ditch the Shoji strip and start over.