These Exterior House Colors Will Inspire Your Next Project

A thoughtful exterior home color can have a major effect on the vibe of your house. It can also be a reflection of the geographical region or time period in which it was built. Unlike your interior walls, painting the outside of your home is costly and the goal is to only do it once, so choosing your colors wisely is important. Whether you’re highlighting your home’s architectural details or bringing some vibrance to your neighborhood, there are endless reasons to elevate your curb appeal. From San Francisco to Cartagena, here are 71 dreamy exterior home colors that range from classically subtle to the bold and beautiful.

“For a more relaxed exterior on a Nashville project, I chose Sherwin-Williams’s Shoji White, a creamy tone that reads white and has a bit of a West Coast vibe.” —Lori Paranjape of Mrs. Paranjape

“I have always loved and been inspired by the black barns and houses of Iceland and Scandinavia, so I chose Black Tar by Benjamin Moore for the exterior of my house.” —Sheila Bridges of Sheila Bridges Design

“A home’s exterior paint color can sure make a difference. Given the expense involved, I always advise going with classic, non-trendy colors for the exterior of a house. For this project, I used Wickham Gray and Stonington Gray, both classic, timeless medium-gray hues by Benjamin Moore.” —Elizabeth Cooper of Elizabeth Cooper Interior Design

“For the exterior palette of this San Francisco home, we opted for deliberately subtle contrasts, evocative of light coastal tones and capturing various shades of limestones. The mix of neutral tones and textures has a modern, organic feel ideal for a coastal property designed for indoor-outdoor living. The subtle contrasts between the various facade colors and textures are meant to harmoniously juxtapose contemporary lines with the surrounding neighborhood context, thereby achieving timelessness through deliberate moderation.” —Vin Léger of EAG Studio

“We chose Benjamin Moore’s Black Forest Green. We live in the woods and wanted to really make the house blend in with the natural surroundings. I love a black house, and the greenish tinge was perfect for us.” —Jessica Davis of Atelier Davis

“The house we live in has a considerable amount of ‘gingerbread’ detailing. I wanted it to feel light and airy, not dark and foreboding, which Tudors usually have a tendency to lean. We kept the stucco a sandy light tan and painted all of the eaves, strapping, and trim Bone White by Benjamin Moore. It is a rich, creamy tone with depth that’s not too cold and austere.” —Alison Pickart of Alison Pickart

“When opting for a traditional look, you can’t go wrong with Swiss Coffee and Black Beauty, both by Benjamin Moore. Swiss Coffee is the perfect dose of white that’s not too stark, which can be blinding when outside, or too warm. It freshens any space instantly but is also sophisticated and chic—a hard combo to find! Black Beauty is rich in tone but doesn’t overpower the lighter shades around it. It’s an especially great accent on doors and windows.” —Melissa Warner Rothblum of Massucco Warner

“I choose to paint these beautiful antique stables in RAL’s Anthracite. I wanted the structure to blend into its surroundings like a tucked-away secret! Eventually the sides will be covered in ivy, the landscape will envelop it, and it will seem as if you are happening upon a lovely folly in the woods. Dreamy!” —Phillip Thomas of Phillip Thomas Inc.

“Southerners are having a love affair with white-painted brick. For this heartland estate, we chose Sherwin-Williams’s Eider White after much debate about removing undertones. I think it has the perfect crispness for a true white.” —Lori Paranjape of Mrs. Paranjape

“I love the crispness of a black house with white trim. I think a lot of people are nervous to commit to a black house and afraid it will feel too dark or dreary. The punch of the white trim really brings it to life in a modern and fresh way.” —Elizabeth Sesser of Ike Kligerman Barkley

“For this Dutch Colonial home, we chose to do a custom cream color by Sherwin-Williams. We used it for the entire exterior, including the trim, windows, shutters, and wall shingles. It presents a simple, quiet, and timeless composition. The shadows from the sunlight are what create the soft undertones, shifting and varying throughout the day to reveal the textures of the house.” —Eric J. Smith of Eric J. Smith Architect

Citrusy shades line this Cape Town block.

A Spanish-style home boasts a warm ocher facade.

A medley of vibrant shades highlight the Victorian architecture of this Louisiana home.

A two-toned blue exterior in Morocco is accented with a colorful vertical garden.

Pale pastel row houses soak up the warm Italian sun in Sardinia.

A grass-green exterior brings some warmth to snowy Norway.

A three-hued building offers some vibrance along the Venetian canals.

Muted shades of red, green, and yellow bring life to the rolling hills of Austria.

A saturated orange building with bright white balconies and verdant vines.

A lesson in color theory comes to life on the facade of this Victorian New Orleans home.

As if the geometric architecture wasn’t enough, a lemon-yellow facade creates a striking home exterior.

A claylike red and minty green find harmony in Colombia.

Cool colors come together around a bright green door.

In Old San Juan, colors inspired by blue skies and tropical corals are embraced on the home exteriors.

An village backed by cerulean waters is a medley of bold color.

Every house favors bold, decadent hues on this colorful Seattle street.

The clean-lined architecture of this modern building is accented with classic colors, including blue, yellow, orange, and green.

A brick exterior contrasts with pretty pastels on a row of homes in London.

Subdued shades of green, blue, and red are perfectly at home in this urban area.

Copenhagen’s classically bright facades feel especially vibrant on a sunny summer day.

A history of color on a Sardinian hillside.

Tropical shades of green and orange blend in with the surroundings on Réunion Island.

Narrow row houses are broken up with color on the streets of Poznań, Poland.

A home exterior in Peru packs a punch with saturated shades of green, orange, and purple.

Pastel homes with complementary trim are coordinated on the streets of England.

A colorful landscape worth swooning over in Valparaíso, Chile.

Purple and red are the perfect pairing on a quirky building in Ireland.

Varied colors and architecture make this street in Poland worth stopping for.

Stacked shades in England teach a valuable lesson in color play.

A whirlwind of colors in Brazil highlight each home’s unique architecture.

Architectural quirks are highlighted with color on this home’s exterior in Panama.

Purple and peach pair perfectly.

A quaint cobblestone street with a pretty pink home.

A bright orange door framed by pretty shades of purple.

A pop of Creamsicle orange is a pleasant surprise along the all-white streets of Santorini.

Pastel purples worth swooning over.

An otherwise plain building in Russia is enlivened with stripes of color.

A strip of color-punched houses in Santa Cruz contrasts with the brown landscape.

The Floridian sun shines on pale-hued colorful buildings—an appropriate scheme in the Sunshine State.

The dry Arizona desert benefits from a wonderful slew of colors.

Nearly neon shades grace a California street.

Ocean-inspired blues and traditional tiles tempt visitors to explore the streets of Morocco.

A grass-green tiled facade creates a texturally rich dream home.

Turquoise and pink are a match made in heaven on this Victorian-style home in upstate New York.

Electrifying greens and purples make a statement on an intricately detailed building in India.

A sky-high building in Hong Kong plays with rows and columns of color.

Crisp and bright like the Punta Cana sun, these colorful stucco buildings will make you smile.

A claylike pink brings a warmth to the green surroundings in Bermuda.

Pale pink is a perfect shade for this ornate home in Eureka.

Color and pattern unite for a striking Singaporean facade.

The bold colors of Mexico are exaggerated on the walls on this home.

A quaint pale-pink home feels welcoming.

A colorful nod to Cubism.

A little rainbow action on these Notting Hill homes.

Unique paneling, balconies, and window frames are given an extra pop with exciting summer shades.

Uniform houses stray from the norm with colorful exteriors that complement one another.

Attention to detail and a brilliant use of color make these San Francisco homes shine.

Diagonal stripes and sunny shades make this Rio de Janeiro neighborhood feel alive.

There’s no shortage of color by the Burano canals.

Millennial pink? Yes, please!