Cool house colors are blues, blue-grays and soft greens, and they look best with a clean light trim and one warm door. These four schemes come from paintings and give complete combinations for wall, trim, door and roof.
Quick answer
For a cool house, choose a blue-gray wall such as #88979E, a pearl gray trim #D9D9D9 and a warm brown or red door. Dark charcoal or black roofs suit all four schemes.
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.
Moore Slate and Barn Red
Walls #6C707D
Trim #D9D9D9
Front door & shutters #784540
Roof: charcoal
Slate walls with pearl trim and a barn red door and shutters under a charcoal roof. It is dramatic and formal on a two-story colonial.
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
Storm Slate LRV 16
Soft Sea Green LRV 47
Fog Blue Gray LRV 30
Harbor Blue LRV 25
Pearl Trim Gray LRV 69
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
#6C707DLRV 16
Storm Slate
A deep blue-gray at LRV 16 for a strong, formal siding color. It comes from George Moore by Edouard Manet, 1879.
A mid-tone blue-gray at LRV 30 that looks calm in most light. It comes from The Actor Maximilian Korn in a Landscape by Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, 1828.
A mid-tone blue at LRV 25 with a clear cool undertone, suited to siding or board and batten. It comes from The Triumph of Marius by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, 1729.
Pick the wall color by how much light your house gets. #88979E, at LRV 30, is the most flexible. It reads as a soft gray-blue and does not look heavy in either sun or shade.
The lighter #9DBDB6, at LRV 47, brightens a house under trees or on the north side of a street. Its green undertone makes it feel fresh and close to a garden.
The deeper #6C707D and #6B8D9B, at LRV 16 and 25, give a stronger, more formal look. They suit larger houses with white trim, and they hide dirt better than pale colors.
Avoid very bright, saturated blue on a whole house. All four wall colors here are muted, which is why they work outdoors.
What trim and door colors go with cool walls?
All four schemes use the same trim, #D9D9D9, a pearl gray with an LRV of 69. It is softer than bright white and does not make blue walls look dull.
The door is where warmth comes in. A barn red like #784540 brings energy to a blue-gray house. Saddle brown #836A4E and dark coffee #42321D are quieter and suit traditional homes.
If you prefer to stay cool, the jade green #57816A works with blue walls, especially in shutters.
Roofs in these schemes are charcoal or black. Both go with cool walls and keep attention on the paint. Choose the door color first and check that it suits your roof and any brick or stone.
How do cool colors look in sun and shade?
Cool colors change a lot outdoors. In full sun, blue-grays look lighter and a little bluer than your sample. In shade, they look darker and flatter.
Because of that, many people choose a shade darker than they first like. If you want a mid-tone result like #88979E, a sample that looks slightly dark indoors may be right.
The green-blue #9DBDB6 can look very pale in sun and more gray-green in shade. Check it on the shadier side of your house before you buy gallons.
Warm doors help here. A red or brown door keeps a cool house from feeling cold in overcast weather.
How do I test exterior samples?
Use large boards, at least two feet square, and move them around the house. Place one on the sunniest wall and one on the shadiest.
Look at them in the morning, noon and late afternoon. Hold the trim sample against the wall sample and your door color against both.
The nearest paint matches in the data include Sherwin-Williams SW 7603 Poolhouse for #88979E and SW 9058 Secret Cove for #6B8D9B. Use them as starting points and compare with your own samples.
Check your sample next to the roof, the gutters and any stone or brick. Fixed materials often decide which cool tone looks right.
FAQ
What are good cool house color schemes?
Blue-gray walls with pearl trim and a brown or red door. Each of the four schemes follows this pattern.
What trim color goes with a blue-gray house?
A pearl gray like #D9D9D9, or a soft white. Bright white can look harsh next to muted blue.
Which door color suits a cool house?
A warm color such as barn red or saddle brown. For a cooler look, use a jade green.
What roof color suits cool walls?
Charcoal or black. Both are used in these schemes.
Do dark blue-gray walls make a house look smaller?
They can on small houses. #6C707D has an LRV of 16 and looks strong, so it works best on larger houses.
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 Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Art Institute of Chicago, 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.
