Color Drenching an Exterior

Painting the body and trim (color drenching) the same color softens the angular shapes of the windows.

There is a general tendency to use white or another light color for exterior trim, with a darker color on the body of a house. I’ve done this many times myself because it is simple and beautiful, especially if you have a classic home such as a farmhouse with great proportions. Some houses have more complicated details though, and using highly contrasting colors on the trim and body draws our attention to those details because our eyes are naturally drawn to contrast. I had a lake house project in the New Hampshire Lakes Region that was not a traditional home but had many dormers and angled windows. When the trim was white, the facade looked busy and angular, highlighting the sharp points of the windows. For the redo, we used one color on the body and the trim, and just shifted sheen. This beautifully unifies all the elements of the house. A bonus is that the dark color also helps the house blend into the surrounding trees and not stick out from its natural habitat.