House exterior · Coastal · colors from 7 paintings
Coastal Exterior Paint Schemes
Coastal exterior paint schemes work when the body color is quiet and the trim is clean. The four houses here each take their body, trim and door colors from one painting, and each comes with a roof color that stays.
Quick answer
For a beach or lake house, choose a sand #CFC5A1, gray #A7A7A7 or deep blue #4D6974 for the body, #D4D3D2 for trim, and a darker door and shutter color. Match the roof color first, since it will not change.
Every wall, trim and door color here was measured from one of these public-domain paintings.
4 complete exterior color schemes
Walls, trim, front door and roof together. Each scheme takes its colors from public-domain paintings, so the pairings are ones a painter already put side by side.
Gray Shingle
Walls #A7A7A7
Trim #D4D3D2
Front door & shutters #534A2E
Roof: charcoal
A mid-gray body with light trim and bronze-olive shutters suits a two-story house by the water with a charcoal roof.
Exterior paint is seen in much stronger light than a room. Full sun bleaches a color by a shade or two, while the shaded side of the house and overcast days pull it cooler and darker. Test a large sample on two sides of the house.
Color
Swatch
Full sun
Overcast
In shade
Golden hour
Driftwood Gray LRV 39
Salt Marsh Green LRV 30
Deep Harbor Blue LRV 13
Beach Sand LRV 56
Sea Foam Gray White LRV 65
Try these colors on a house
Pick a color for the walls, the trim, the front door and the roof, and switch between house styles. Shadows and siding lines follow your choice.
Roof colors are typical shingle, tile and metal colors, not paint. Every other color comes from a painting on this page.
Colors for the walls
#A7A7A7LRV 39
Driftwood Gray
A mid-tone neutral with an LRV of 39, good for siding that should look weathered but clean. It comes from Anna Claypoole Peale's Portrait of a Woman, and Sherwin-Williams SW 7659 Gris is a very close match.
A mid-tone with a green undertone and an LRV of 30, suited to a lake house among trees. It was measured from Monet's Water Lily Pond, and Behr 730D-5 Village Square is a near-identical match.
A deep, cool blue with an LRV of 13, strong enough for a bold coastal body color. It comes from Pier Francesco Mola's Cain Slaying Abel, and Sherwin-Williams SW 9141 Waterloo is a very close match.
A light color with a warm yellow undertone and an LRV of 56, the lightest body color here. It was measured from Turner's Whalers, and Sherwin-Williams SW 7732 Lemongrass is a very close match.
A light neutral with an LRV of 65, used as trim, fascia and garage door color on all four schemes. It comes from Fritz Petzholdt's German Landscape, and Sherwin-Williams SW 7661 Reflection is a near-identical match.
A deep color with a warm yellow undertone and an LRV of 7, used for the door and shutters on the gray house. It was measured from the Petzholdt painting, and Sherwin-Williams SW 6160 Best Bronze is a close match.
A deep red-orange with an LRV of 7, used as a door and shutter color on the green house. It comes from Francesco Solimena's Jacopo Butera, and Sherwin-Williams SW 2839 Roycroft Copper Red is a near-identical match.
Sherwin-Williams SW 2839 Roycroft Copper Red
Near-identical
Behr S180-7 True Copper
Close
Valspar 1011-4 Posh Red
Similar
Farrow & Ball No. 43 Eating Room Red
Similar
#A07E3CLRV 23
Brass Ochre
A mid-tone with a warm yellow undertone and an LRV of 23, used on the door of the blue house. It was measured from the Petzholdt painting, and Sherwin-Williams SW 6404 Grandiose is a near-identical match.
A mid-tone green with an LRV of 22, used on the door and shutters of the sand house. It comes from Paul Gauguin's Arlésiennes (Mistral), and Sherwin-Williams SW 6438 Dill is a very close match.
How do you choose coastal exterior colors for a house?
Start with the parts that will not change: the roof, any brick or stone, and the foundation. Every scheme here comes with a charcoal or black roof, so match yours to the closest one before you choose a body color.
Then pick the body. The sand #CFC5A1 at LRV 56 is the lightest and the safest for a house in strong sun. The gray #A7A7A7 at LRV 39 is a calm, weathered look. The green #969674 suits houses near trees, and the deep blue #4D6974 at LRV 13 is the boldest.
Keep the trim the same across all of them. The light gray-white #D4D3D2 gives clean edges on every body color.
How much contrast should trim and the front door have?
A light trim around a mid-tone or dark body gives a crisp edge, which is why #D4D3D2 at LRV 65 works on all four houses. On the sand house the contrast is gentler, so the trim reads soft rather than stark.
The front door and shutters can go darker or more colorful. The dark bronze #534A2E and the copper red #78382A both have an LRV of 7, so they stand out against a light body. The brass ochre #A07E3C and the dune green #73884E are mid-tones, so they feel livelier.
To keep the house calm, choose one door color and use it for the shutters too. A second accent color on the same facade tends to look busy.
How does sun and shade change exterior colors?
Exterior colors look lighter in full sun and cooler in shade. A body color that seems right on a small chip often looks pale in the middle of the day and a little gray in the afternoon shade.
Because of this, it is wise to choose a shade darker than your first instinct. For the sand house, that means testing the sand #CFC5A1 next to something slightly deeper before you commit.
Near the water, the glare is strong, and light colors can look almost white. The deep blue #4D6974 handles glare well, but it will fade if you choose a paint with poor UV resistance. Ask your paint store for an exterior line made for sun and salt air.
How do you test exterior samples on a beach or lake house?
Paint large samples, at least two feet by two feet, on at least two sides of the house. A north side and a south or west side will show how much the color moves.
Look at them in the morning, at noon, in the late afternoon and on a cloudy day. Place the trim sample beside the body sample, and hold the door sample next to both.
Hold the roof shingle sample beside the boards when you can. A roof that looks black in the store may look blue-gray beside a warm sand body. Check the color also against neighboring houses and landscaping. The paint matches shown are the closest measured ones, so use them to start your search, then confirm with real samples.
FAQ
What are good coastal exterior paint colors?
Sand, soft gray, green-gray and deep blue are common. Here they are #CFC5A1, #A7A7A7, #969674 and #4D6974.
What trim color goes with a blue beach house?
A light gray-white such as #D4D3D2 gives a crisp edge against the deep blue #4D6974.
What color roof goes with a sand house?
The scheme here uses a black roof with the sand body, but a charcoal roof works too. Test the shingle sample next to the paint.
Should a lake house be painted a darker color than a beach house?
Not necessarily. Green-gray colors such as #969674 suit the trees, while lighter sand colors give a brighter look near open water.
How can I keep exterior paint from fading near the water?
Choose an exterior paint made for sun and salt air, and apply the number of coats the maker recommends.
Save these colors
A card with these house color schemes: walls, trim, front door and roof. Pin it, or take it to the paint store.
Painting images: The Art Institute of Chicago, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, public domain (CC0).
Colors measured by Light & Pigment. Paint names belong to their brands and matches are approximate. Colors look different on screen than on a wall, so always test a sample.
