Our Traditional Colonial Exterior Paint Colors

Take a photo tour of our colonial exterior paint colors, with some fun before and after photos. You won’t believe the difference it made to paint our cedar shingles and bricks in Valspar Du Jour and Woodlawn Colonial Gray!

Learn about these pretty, neutral exterior paint colors and why they worked for us. Who doesn’t love a before and after makeover?

Originally shared July 18, 2014, this post was updated with fresh content and details September 29, 2021.

As we start transforming our new home, I have an abundance of things that I am beyond excited to share from our last home. I saved a few gems for these not-so-Pinterest-pretty times!

One that I am particularly excited to share, is how we chose our traditional Colonial exterior paint colors and used it to give the house a completely different facade.

If you’re researching exterior paint palettes, don’t skip this charming White Brick House!

Colonial House Colors

I’ll preface this – I’m a huge fan of shake cedar shingle siding. Unfortunately, I received an estimate for $36,000 to reside the house. Uh, no. I quickly moved onto paint and am so happy we did.

I was conflicted with the brick. Normally, I would refrain from painting a brick exterior (unless whitewashed), however, brown brick just screams dated to me. Okay, let’s get started…

Choosing paint colors can be difficult… or maybe even agonizing! I tend to overthink them and worry until the job is complete. In fact, I ended up selecting a completely different color than I originally intended.

I just couldn’t part from traditional Colonial paint colors. Stark white wouldn’t work in the neighborhood where tan is the norm and gray isn’t a great fit because of the color of the roof.

These are all things to take into consideration when selecting your paint color! To see our current home’s exterior paint colors, check out Tudor Paint, and see the full before and after.

Colonial Exterior Paint Tips

Here are a few more of my favorite tips for selecting exterior paint color:

• Use the special daylight bulbs in the paint department of the store to see how it will look in direct daylight.
• Talk to the paint store staff – they see everything and are extremely knowledgeable
• Always test a few favorites – it can look much different on a shingle than a card. see how they change with sunrise and sunset.
• Have something you love? An outdoor pillow or any other accessory can be color matched. From there, you can go up or down a shade.
• If you find a color you love from a paint store, have a hardware store match it with a store name paint to get the look for less.

Valspar DuJour and Woodlawn Colonial Gray

Through your help on Instagram and using the tips above, I selected Valspar Woodlawn Colonial Gray for the main exterior paint 6004-1B and Valspar Du Jour 7002-6 for the trim. I wanted a soft, creamy white to contrast and these worked beautifully together.

Woodlawn Colonial Gray

This is a soft, greige-toned gray with a slightly green undertone.

• RGB: 187 182 171
• HEX: #BBB6AB
• LRV: 46.92%

If you’re looking for similar options, as it seems this one isn’t included in Valspar’s lineup anymore – check out Accessible Beige, Realist Beige, or Pale Oak.

Valspar Du Jour

For the trim, posts, windows and doors, we chose a soft, creamy white to contrast from the gray of the body.

• Undertone: warm white
• LRV 86.044
• RGB 241, 240, 236
• HEX #f1f0ec

Colonial Exterior Makeover details

A couple more details…the window planter boxes were easy to make and added so much charm!

and this garden entrance created a multipurpose space that feels defined and adds historic character.

More Paint Projects and Colors You’ll Love

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• How to Paint Concrete Floors
• Benjamin Moore Hale Navy
• My Favorite Cream Paint Colors
• Furniture paint
• Benjamin Moore Pale Oak