Need help on the color of the trim for a house

Question

What do you guys feel about the color of the trim for houses? Do you feel that the trim must be darker than the side coloring? Or do you feel that a lighter shade than the siding could look just as good? I ask these questions because I am in a dilemma on picking out the trim color for a house. I'm being pulled in different directions, so I thought I'd come here and see what others thought as well.

The siding for the house will be "Universal Umber" (brownish color), but I can't decide on the trim. I was thinking that a lighter-color like "Lyndhurst Timber" for the trimming could like nice with the Universal Umber siding, but I keep being told that the trimming should always be a darker shade than the siding.

I am even being told to switch the siding for the house to the "Lyndhurst Timber", and for the trim use the "Universal Umber" color, but the thing is, the garage's siding is already the "Universal Umber" color. Isn't just better looking if the house and garage's sidings matched in color?

So what do you guys think.. lighter or darker trim for the Universal Umber siding? *** Also - if you believe you have a color that would look nice with the Universal Umber siding, by all means let me have it :) I'm up for all suggestions for the trim color.

Answer 1

I'm not keen on the idea of having the siding of your garage different to the house, generally speaking, I too think that it should stay the same colour as the existing siding, or it will look like a badly thought out 'add on' - in that case stick to what your gut tells you.

As to the trim, I don't think it HAS to be darker at all, although some houses look fantastic with darker trim, just as many look great with lighter trim sooooo...  my solution when in doubt is to use virtual tools, so here are a few online free virtual paint sites that allow you to choose a home similar in style to your own and pick the paint colours (for trim and siding etc)  so you can see which you think will work best...

http://www.parkerpaint.com/vpainter/park...

http://www.bhg.com/app/colorahome/member...

http://www.mycolour.com.au/#

Have fun and go with what you love, not what others think you should have...