Do you pride yourself on having a great eye for interior design? Are you someone who loves spending the weekend doing DIY projects for different rooms and rearranging the furniture in your home?

That’s great and all, but there’s one important detail about interior design most people overlook: the home’s exterior appearance.

Having a stunning indoor setting with a sub-par outdoor setup makes your home much less memorable. People won’t be as interested to see everything you have inside if what they see on the outside is a messy yard and a bunch of chipped paint.

A little bit of exterior paint can go a long way.

If you’ve realized it’s time to spend more energy upgrading the outside of your home, use the tips below to make choosing exterior paint colors simple.

1. Research Current Design Trends

Home design is like fashion. There are always new trends coming and going, and it’s worth keeping up with what’s “in” and what’s not.

This is especially true if you can’t remember the last time you painted the outside of your home. It’s not like you have to change your exterior paint colors every time that a new trend becomes popular. But, you may as well use the most talked about design ideas right now to help you decide how to design your home.

2. Pick a Theme

As you’re looking at different design trends and color schemes, keep the architecture of your home in mind and take note of its current exterior colors. Decide whether you want to create a completely different look or if you’d rather touch up the color scheme you already had going.

For instance, maybe you decide it’s better for the main color to stay the same and all you need to change is the front door and the trim. Or, maybe you realize it’s best to upgrade everything at once.

Either way, you have to think about the overall theme of the home’s design. The right colors for a colonial style home are much different from those that would look good on a modern structure. Beyond that, it’s also good to think about the changes of the seasons where you live and what colors will look good throughout the year.

3. Pay Attention to All the Details

Deciding on a design theme helps you narrow down a lot of the different options, but there’s still work to be done. The next step is to start thinking about how all the different colors on the exterior of your home will work together.

It’s smart to create a pop of color with small details like the door, the trim, or the shutters. But, these exterior elements can’t be competing for attention. You have to find the balance between the statement colors you absolutely adore and the neutral tones that tie them all together.

The best way to do this is by figuring out what parts of the house you’d like to pop. Then assign these features the right colors to help them stand out or blend in.

Keep in mind that you don’t necessarily have to include a pop of color, either. One of the most timeless ways to paint the outside of a house is to combine different neutral tones together.

4. Use a Color Visualizer

If you need a little assurance to check whether or not you’re on the right track, use a color visualizer. These are digital tools provided by many paint companies. You can easily find a color visualizer online to test many different exterior paint colors.

These are pretty straightforward to use. All you have to do is upload a picture of the outside of your house then start matching colors together.

The color visualizer helps you see how all the details would go together with the colors you have in mind. It makes it easy to tell what works and what doesn’t, without you having to go through the trouble of painting and repainting your house until you get everything right.

5. Sample, Sample, Sample

Although the visualizer is extremely helpful, it’s smart to sample all the paint colors you’d like to use before you get to work.

Sampling helps you get a feel for a paint’s gloss and finish. It shows you how a paint color catches the light and how it looks when painted onto the different materials around your home – like stone siding or wooden trim.

You may not think it makes much of a difference, but sometimes what you were expecting and what you really see when the paint dries are as different as night and day. It’s worth double-checking that the colors you want to use are actually going to look like you expect them to.

6. Think Long-Term

Just when you think you’ve created the perfect color scheme, take a step back and let it sink in. Look at all the samples you’ve painted on your home and try to picture yourself pulling into the driveway next month, next year, and 5 years from now.

Are you sure that you’re still going to like what you see? As much as you want to be on-trend, you also have to be practical and true to yourself. Your home should be a reflection of you from the outside in, and you need to choose exterior paint colors that you won’t get bored of or regret using this time next year.

7. Don’t Limit the Possibilities

Sometimes the issue with picking exterior paint colors isn’t that you’re trying too hard, it’s that you’re not being creative enough! At the end of the day, there’s no right and wrong to what colors you choose so long as you can be happy with them as the years pass.

Maybe this means you have a green house with cream trim or maybe you want a bold royal blue with a touch of red and tan to tie everything together. It’s not every day you paint the outside of your house, so you may as well make all your design dreams come true when you get the chance – even if they do seem a little crazy at first.

Choosing Exterior Paint Colors to Complement the Inside

Here’s one more tip to keep in mind when choosing exterior paint colors: the outside should be an introduction to the inside.

There’s no sense in going all out and creating a fun, unique exterior look if the inside is more minimalist or traditional. It’s better to make the whole house feel like one cohesive design from the outside in.

For more design tips to get every inch of your house just right, click here.