Exterior Painting Your Home in San Diego - A Quick Guide

Refreshing your home with an exterior paint job is one of the quickest ways to give your house a face-lift. Especially when you live in a place like San Diego or North County where the never ending sunshine bleaches your home color faster then most areas.

When selecting a color scheme for your exterior, there multiple variables to take into consideration - everything from the hue of your chimney to the color theme of your neighborhood can impact your final choice. Add in the fact that there are over 1,000 colors to choose from, and it can turn into quite the daunting task.

With that in mind, here’s a quick guide from SR Painting to get you started in selecting your siding, trim, and accent color scheme:

Stucco or Wood Siding:

Always start by selecting your siding color first, it covers the largest square footage of your home, and it serves as the foundation from which you will select a trim and accent color that best compliments it. While selecting this color, be sure to take into consideration the permanent fixtures of your house - such as the chimney color, and surrounding neighbors homes.

Side note: A large number of homes here in southern California use stucco, it's a common myth that stucco shouldn't be painted but it's quite the opposite, painting your stucco will preserve and increase the longevity of your homes exterior.

The Trim:

Rules can always be broken, but a general rule of thumb for the trim of your house is to keep it lighter than the siding. Whatever you do, never match it exactly to the siding as it will come across as flat. A classic and time-tested method of selecting your trim color is to keep it in the same color family as the siding by simply selecting a hue a few shades lighter. The majority of popular colors used are whites, creams, and light grays for this exact reason.

The Accent:

Here’s where the fun happens. Accent colors are your greatest opportunity to instill some unique personality into your homes color scheme and look. Stand out from your neighbors by making a statement with the colors you select for areas such as your shutters and doors.

A Few Recommendations:

Living in San Diego & North county, consider looking into warm sun-washed tones that will reflect the atmosphere of the beautiful location that we live in. We included a few color schemes recommended by Sherwin Williams specifically for our beach climate to inspire you:

While this guide is in no way comprehensive, SR Painting does provide in-depth consulting to all of our customers as a part of the painting process.