Pacific Northwest exterior house paint colors have to look right under a gray sky for most of the year. Sea-Tac averages 226 cloudy days and 58 clear ones a year, according to the Western Regional Climate Center, so a color chosen on a sunny afternoon spends most of its life in dimmer light.
At Paintzone, we offer exterior painting in Seattle for homes and businesses, in the colors you choose and in the exterior paint each siding calls for.
Why do exterior colors look different under Pacific Northwest skies?
Exterior colors look different here because a color depends on the light it is seen in. Sea-Tac receives about 47 percent of its possible sunshine over a year, and as little as 23 percent in December, according to the Western Regional Climate Center. Under that diffuse light a wall reflects less, so a color reads darker than it does on the chip in a well-lit store.
Summer is the exception, with July and August reaching about 65 percent of possible sunshine, so a color picked then is seen at its brightest. For that reason, it pays to judge exterior colors with the darker months in mind.
What does LRV mean, and how does it guide PNW exterior color choices?
Light Reflectance Value, or LRV, measures how much light a color reflects, on a scale Sherwin-Williams describes as running from 0, which reflects no light, to 100, which reflects all of it. Manufacturers publish it for each color, so it is worth checking before you choose a body color for a house that sees little direct sun.
For example, Sherwin-Williams Pure White SW 7005 has an LRV of 84, Light French Gray SW 0055 has 53 and Iron Ore SW 7069 has 6. On a wall that gets little direct sun, a color with a low LRV reflects little light and reads darker still.
Which exterior color palettes suit Pacific Northwest house styles?
A good exterior palette pairs a siding color with a trim color and, where it helps, an accent for the front door or shutters. Each of these palettes is a starting point chosen for overcast light, and each can shift to suit the roof, the stone and the trees around the house.
Craftsman homes with mid-gray siding and a deep forest green accent
A mid-gray body sits near the middle of the LRV scale, so it stays clean-looking on a cloudy day, and a dark green accent echoes the evergreen trees and cedar around it.
- Siding: Sherwin-Williams Light French Gray SW 0055, LRV 53
- Trim: Benjamin Moore Pale Smoke 1584, LRV 64
- Accent: Benjamin Moore Black Forest Green HC-187, LRV 5
Modern homes with deep navy siding and crisp white trim for contrast
With a body color this dark, the contrast comes from the trim, and the gap between 10 and 84 keeps windows and edges sharp on gray days.
- Siding: Benjamin Moore Hudson Bay 1680, LRV 10
- Trim: Sherwin-Williams Pure White SW 7005, LRV 84
Colonial and traditional homes with soft green siding and cream trim
A gray-green body with cream trim gives a traditional house a gentle contrast, since the cream is warmer and softer than a bright white.
- Siding: Sherwin-Williams Evergreen Fog SW 9130, LRV 30
- Trim: Benjamin Moore Gentle Cream OC-96, LRV 71
Contemporary homes with charcoal siding, near-black trim and red door
With trim only a little darker than the siding, the house reads as one dark, simple form, and a red door gives the eye a focal point.
- Siding: Benjamin Moore Gray 2121-10, LRV 12
- Trim: Benjamin Moore Soot 2129-20, LRV 6
- Front door: Sherwin-Williams Real Red SW 6868, LRV 13
Farmhouse-style homes with warm white siding and dark iron trim
A white body reflects the most light on a gray day, and dark trim keeps it from looking flat.
- Siding: Sherwin-Williams Alabaster SW 7008, LRV 82
- Trim: Sherwin-Williams Iron Ore SW 7069, LRV 6
How should trim and accent colors relate to the main siding color?
The relationship between trim and siding is easiest to plan with LRV, because the gap between the two numbers sets the contrast. Trim a few points lighter than the siding, as in the Craftsman palette (53 and 64), gives a soft outline, while a wide gap, as in the modern palette (10 and 84), gives a sharp one. Accents work best on small surfaces such as the front door, shutters or a porch ceiling, where a strong color does not take over the house.
The materials that stay on the house matter as much as the paint. A roof, a stone base or natural cedar siding keeps its color, so the siding and trim colors have to work with them.
Do dark exterior paint colors work on Pacific Northwest homes?
Dark exterior colors can work on Pacific Northwest homes, with one limit that comes from the siding rather than the weather. Sherwin-Williams notes that dark paint absorbs the sun's heat and passes it to the surface underneath, and vinyl siding can warp when it expands too much. Its guidance is to paint vinyl siding no darker than its original color, unless the color comes from its VinylSafe range, a limited selection of darker shades made to resist warping.
On other siding, how long a dark color holds up depends on exposure and on the paint. Sherwin-Williams lists intense sun, chalking (the powdery film weathered paint leaves on a wall), too much colorant and interior colorants used outdoors as causes of fading, and recommends a fade-resistant exterior paint, one of the things that make exterior paint last in Seattle weather.
How do you test an exterior paint color on the house before choosing?
The most reliable test is to paint large samples on at least two sides of the house, one in sun and one in shade, and look at them in the morning, at midday, and on both a cloudy and a clear day. The color you still like on a cloudy day is the one to choose, because that is the light the house is seen in most of the year.
Which exterior paint holds up best on siding in the Northwest climate?
Once the colors are chosen, the type of exterior paint decides how well they hold up. Sherwin-Williams says its Duration acrylic latex exterior paint offers excellent protection from cracking, peeling and blistering and can be applied at temperatures down to 35°F.
In the Northwest, rain and dew limit the work more than cold does. Sherwin-Williams advises keeping the surface above the dew point for at least 48 hours after application, so the best time to paint a Seattle exterior follows the forecast, and July and August, the sunniest months at Sea-Tac, give the widest window.
Sources
- Western Regional Climate Center, average cloudy days per year
- Western Regional Climate Center, average clear days per year
- Western Regional Climate Center, percent of possible sunshine
- Sherwin-Williams, color by room orientation and LRV
- Sherwin-Williams, vinyl siding warping
- Sherwin-Williams, fading
- Sherwin-Williams, Duration Exterior Acrylic Latex
- Sherwin-Williams, exterior product application FAQs
- Color codes, LRV and swatch colors from Sherwin-Williams and Benjamin Moore color data, linked in the palettes
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