Choosing Siding and Trim Colour Combinations

Count the colours you already have

Before you open a colour chart, list what isn’t changing. The roof. Any brick or stone. The window frames, unless you’re replacing them. The garage door, the driveway, even the neighbours’ houses on a tight lot. These are fixed colours, and your siding has to get along with them.

Roofs matter most. A brown or weathered-wood roof leans warm. A black or charcoal roof is neutral and goes with nearly anything. A grey roof with blue in it wants cooler siding colours.

The three-part scheme

Most houses look best with three colours doing three jobs:

• Body. The main siding colour, covering most of the wall.
• Trim. Corners, window and door surrounds, fascia.
• Accent. A small amount of something stronger: the front door, a gable, shutters.

Two is fine. Four or more usually looks unsettled unless the house is large and the design is careful.

Combinations that reliably work

• Mid-grey body, white trim, dark door. The safe, tidy choice. It suits most roofs.
• White body, black trim and windows. The modern farmhouse scheme. Clean, bright, and it shows dirt.
• Dark body, matching trim, wood accent. Contemporary and warm at the same time.
• Deep blue or green body, off-white trim. Traditional, with more character than grey.
• Warm beige or greige body, darker brown trim. Works with brown roofs and stone that leans warm.
• Two tones of one colour. A lighter and darker version of the same grey or blue, for lap siding and gable accents. Hard to get wrong.

Match or contrast the trim?

Contrasting trim outlines every window and corner. That’s good on a house with nicely proportioned windows and bad on one where they’re scattered at odd sizes, because it draws attention to them. Matching trim lets the openings recede and makes the house look calmer and often larger. More on this in the HardieTrim guide.

Using a second siding colour

If you’re mixing lap siding with shingle or board and batten, a colour change can mark the change in material. Keep the two colours related, and put the darker one lower on the house or on the smaller area. A dark gable over a light body can look top-heavy.

Test it properly

1. Get full-size sample boards, not small chips.
2. Hold the body and trim samples together against the house, near the roofline and near any stone.
3. Look in morning light, at midday and in the evening.
4. Step back to the street. Colours look lighter across a large wall than on a sample.

Practical limits

The ColorPlus palette offered in Alberta is a set range that changes from time to time, and not every colour is available in every product. Your estimator can show you what’s current. If the combination you want includes a colour outside the range, that piece can be supplied primed and painted on site. Some communities also have architectural controls on exterior colours, so check before you order.

See also colours and dark siding colours.