House Paint Color with a Green Roof: 4 Exterior Schemes
A green roof is easiest to pair with warm, earthy walls and a light trim. These four schemes keep the green metal roof fixed and change the wall, trim and door colors, all measured from paintings.
Quick answer
For most houses, choose a warm neutral wall such as #B6A080 or a pale gray such as #D9D9D9, with a light trim and a door in brown or violet. Dark brown walls like #524640 also suit a green roof.
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.
Fontainebleau Brown
Walls #524640
Trim #D9D9D9
Front door & shutters #8F7263
Roof: green metal
Deep brown walls with pearl gray trim and clay brown door and shutters, under a green metal roof. This is the most dramatic scheme and suits 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
Deep Chocolate Brown LRV 7
Warm Putty Tan LRV 37
Pale Lavender Gray LRV 60
Soft Pearl Gray LRV 69
Warm Shell Pink LRV 66
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
#524640LRV 7
Deep Chocolate Brown
A deep red-brown at LRV 7 for siding on a house with a green roof. It comes from Rocks at Fontainebleau by Paul Cézanne.
A green roof is a fixed color, so choose walls that sit calmly beside it. Warm neutrals such as #B6A080 are the easiest, because their yellow undertone relates to the green.
Light gray walls, like #D9D9D9, give a cleaner, more modern look. They let the green roof be the strongest color on the house.
Deep brown, such as #524640, is a classic pairing. Brown and green appear together in nature, so the house looks settled in its landscape.
Avoid colors with a strong green undertone on the walls. Next to a green roof they can look muddy. Pale violet, as in #C9C7EF, is a gentle option because it is the opposite of green on the color wheel and stays soft at LRV 60.
How much contrast should trim and door have?
Trim sets the style of the house. A light trim such as #E9D0C4 gives a soft, traditional look. A dark trim such as #373431, at LRV 4, gives sharp outlines and works best on a light wall.
The front door is where you can add personality. Clay brown #8F7263 is warm and welcoming. The violet #6E6A85 stands out beside green, and the dark walnut #382718 is formal.
If you want the door to match the roof, olive #97976D in shutters echoes the green without copying it.
A good rule is three colors plus the roof: wall, trim and door. A fourth color for shutters is fine if it is close to the door color.
How do exterior colors look in sun and shade?
Outdoor light is stronger than indoor light, so paint looks lighter in full sun. Choose a shade darker than your first instinct, especially for light colors.
In shade, colors look cooler and darker. A lavender-gray like #C9C7EF can turn blue-gray on the north side of a house, while the warm tan #B6A080 stays steady.
Green roofs also reflect color onto walls near the eaves. On a sunny day the underside of the roof line may give the walls a slight green tint.
Because of this, compare samples near the roof line and again at ground level. The color on the wall changes with the angle of light.
How do I test exterior paint samples?
Use large samples, at least two feet square, and paint them on two sides of the house: one that gets full sun and one in shade.
Look at them in the morning, at noon and in the late afternoon. Place the samples near the roof edge, the brick or stone, and the garage door.
The nearest paint matches in the data include Sherwin-Williams SW 9122 Dried Edamame for #B6A080 and SW 6259 Spatial White for #D9D9D9. Use them as starting points and compare with your own samples.
If you have brick, stone or a driveway that cannot be changed, hold each sample next to it. The fixed materials often decide which wall color looks right.
FAQ
What color house goes with a green roof?
Warm neutrals, light grays and deep browns all work. Avoid walls that lean strongly green.
What trim color is best with a green roof?
A light warm white or a soft pearl gray gives a calm look. Charcoal trim works on light walls.
What front door color suits a green metal roof?
Clay brown, dark walnut or dusky violet. Each contrasts with green without competing.
Should the shutters match the roof?
They can echo it with an olive like #97976D, but they do not need to. A door-matched shutter color is simpler.
Do dark walls work with a green roof?
Yes. Deep brown like #524640 has an LRV of 7 and looks rich with green, though it shows dust and heat more than light colors.
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.
