House exterior · Neutral · colors from 7 paintings
Neutral Exterior Paint Color Schemes for Four House Styles
Neutral exterior paint color schemes are not all beige. These four full schemes use sage, greige, deep taupe and rose-brown walls, each with trim, a door and a roof, measured from museum paintings.
Quick answer
For the lowest risk, use greige #D1C0B5 walls with trim #CFDAD2 and a green door #458E7F under a black 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.
Sage Colonial
Walls #A4A489
Trim #E0DAD0
Front door & shutters #8B694F
Roof: charcoal
Sage walls with warm white trim and a baked brown door and shutters suit a two-story colonial. A charcoal roof keeps the look quiet.
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
Green Sprout Sage LRV 36
Bona Fide Greige LRV 55
Link Gray Taupe LRV 18
Mulberry Silk Brown LRV 22
Egret Trim White LRV 71
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
#A4A489LRV 36
Green Sprout Sage
A mid-tone green-gray with an LRV of 36, suited to a colonial with a charcoal roof. It comes from Sano di Pietro's The Massacre of the Innocents, ca. 1470.
Sherwin-Williams SW 6065 Bona Fide Beige
Very close
#787669LRV 18
Link Gray Taupe
A deep warm gray-taupe with an LRV of 18, a strong wall color for a farmhouse. It comes from Georg Christoph Grooth's The Empress Elizabeth of Russia on Horseback, after 1743-49.
A very dark warm brown with an LRV of 5, for a door and shutters on a bungalow. It comes from Theodore Chasseriau's Scene from the Gallic Wars, ca. 1838-40.
How do you choose a neutral wall color for the exterior?
Neutral does not mean one color. The four walls here are green-gray, greige, taupe and rose-brown, and each suits a different house.
The greige #D1C0B5 is the lightest, with an LRV of 55, and the easiest to live with. The sage #A4A489 has an LRV of 36 and a green undertone that suits houses surrounded by trees. The taupe #787669 and the rose-brown #987B71 are darker, with LRVs of 18 and 22, and they work on larger facades where the depth will not overwhelm the house.
Before choosing, check the fixed materials: the roof, any brick or stone, and the driveway. A warm neutral looks best beside warm materials. If you have a cool gray stone, the sage or the taupe will agree with it more easily than the rose-brown.
How do trim and door colors work with neutral walls?
Neutral walls give you freedom with the door. The strongest scheme here uses the greige with a green door #458E7F, since the green has an LRV of 22 and stands out clearly against a light wall.
For trim, there are three soft whites: #E0DAD0, #CFDAD2 and #DAE1D3, with LRVs of 71, 68 and 74. The warm white suits taupe and sage walls. The two pale green-grays suit greige and rose-brown. Do not use a stark white, which will make a neutral wall look dull.
For doors and shutters, use one color for both. The baked brown #8B694F is warm and traditional. The revel blue #4A6786 gives a formal look on the taupe house. The dark clove #483C2C is the quietest choice and suits the bungalow. A door that matches the roof color, such as charcoal or black, gives the most unified result.
How do neutral colors look in sun and shade?
Neutral colors shift more outdoors than most people expect. A greige can look pink in warm evening sun and gray in shade. A sage can look green on a sunny wall and almost gray on a shaded one.
Because outdoor light is stronger than indoor light, colors look lighter on the house than on a chip. This is why you should choose a shade darker than you think. The greige #D1C0B5 may look nearly white on a south wall at noon.
The darker taupe #787669 is the most stable. Its LRV of 18 keeps it from washing out, and the warm yellow undertone looks natural against greenery. The rose-brown #987B71 is warmer and changes the most at sunset. Look at your house at several times of day, and on a cloudy day, before you decide on a wall color.
How should you test neutral exterior samples?
Use large boards, at least two feet square, with two coats. Neutrals are close to each other, and a small chip will not show the undertone.
Place the boards on two sides of the house. Put a trim sample beside each wall board, and the door color next to both. Look at them in the morning, at midday and in the evening, and again in rain or cloud.
Compare the sample to your roof, brick or stone and your landscaping. The paints listed with each color are the closest measured matches, but your own light will change the result. Take photos of the boards at each time of day, and compare them. Wait several days, and choose the wall color first, then trim, then the door.
FAQ
What are neutral exterior paint color schemes?
Combinations of a soft wall color, such as greige, sage or taupe, with a light trim and a deeper door. This page shows four complete examples.
What is the best neutral exterior paint color?
The greige #D1C0B5 is the lightest and the easiest. For a darker house, try the taupe #787669.
What door color goes with a neutral house?
A deep green, blue or brown. The green #458E7F stands out on greige, and the brown #8B694F is more traditional.
What trim color is best with neutral walls?
A soft white, such as the warm #E0DAD0, or a pale green-gray, such as #CFDAD2. A stark white can look harsh.
What roof colors work with neutral exteriors?
Charcoal, black and weathered wood. The four schemes on this page use one of these three.
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.
