Bringing historic Tudor style homes (or in our case, a vintage 70s Tudor) up to date isn’t easy! You’ll of course want to preserve the charm of your home, but give it a fresh new look with the perfect Tudor paint colors.
Learn how to bring that old world style into the modern world with tudor home exterior colors that are fresh, subtle and fabulous!
Take a photo tour of our updated English Tudor home exterior with a soft new exterior paint color palette.
I had it all backwards. I’ll admit it… I’m not always right, and in fact, I’m always learning. When we painted our Colonial, it completely changed my perspective of the entire home. It was so wonderful to pull up to a house we felt proud of.
We waited over two years to paint it, focusing on the inside first. I don’t regret doing so, because we spent countless hours inside those walls, but I always felt myself apologizing for the exterior.
In our St. Louis home, we wanted to try the opposite: painting the exterior before we tackled interior renovations. To see the full before and after of this home, come take the full tour!
In fact, if you’ve been following along for long, you might have noticed that we’ve tackled the exterior paint of this home again. Thanks to extensive wood rot and siding damage, we’ve chose new tudor paint colors – and we’re totally in love.
This post will cover a variety of topics, with images from our home at all stages – before we purchased it, when we first painted, the initial tudor paint color choices, and our current exterior colors.
I hope that this information helps you have confidence in choosing your own tudor paint colors if you’re tackling this project as well!
Tudor Paint
When we purchased our yellow and brown Tudor, I was overwhelmed. Seeing an exterior that needed so much work, I was immediately anxious every time I entered our home.
We decided to do things a little differently this time around, painting the exterior first.
Taking care of the exterior issues and painting it to a pristine and neutral color palette set the tone for inside our home – similar to an invitation. It lets guests know what to expect on the inside and creates a sense of calm from the outside in.
Below, you can see what we were working with.
Don’t Skip These: You don’t want to miss our Spring Porch makeover or this guide to the prettiest Spring Wreaths.
Our Tudor Paint Color Palette
Yes, we’ve just painted this home again. In fact, we even had the brick painted – and we are so glad we finally took the leap! Here’s our current exterior color palette.
Note that we chose Benjamin Moore Swiss Coffee for the body and Benjamin Moore Pale Oak for the trim.
To make the Tudor a little more timeless and charming, we chose base and trim colors that were only slightly different. We went a similar route the first time we painted, and here are those colors.
For our first exterior paint project, we selected Sherwin Williams Everyday White and Sherwin Williams Realist Beige. You can see a few of the photos of this color combination at the bottom of this post!
Traditional Tudor Paint
Historically, an English Tudor will feature traditionally light and dark contrast with wood timbers being dark and paneling or stucco a light, neutral color.
With dramatically pitched rooflines, asymmetrical style, diamond windows and half-timbering as the identifying features, Tudor-style homes often feature a combination of brick or stone, plus stucco and wood trim.
Tudor homes built during the Tudor era in England (generally considered between 1485 – 1603) were traditionally black and white. In the 70s, Tudor style experienced a resurgence in the US, and often the color scheme was more of a yellowed cream with brown timbers.
Modern Tudors are often light in color or utilize two lighter colors with a hint of contrast.
If you’re researching exterior paint palettes, don’t skip this charming White Brick House!
Exterior Paint Tips
- An easy method? Find a house you LOVE the colors of, and ask the delightful neighbors for their colors. This is the best way to visualize an exterior paint palette: see it on someone else’s home.
- Get help from a specialist at your local paint store.
- Research! Start pinning on Pinterest and save your favorite looks. You might quickly identify a palette you are drawn to.
- Consider roof color. For example, you might not want to paint your house black and white if you’re dealing with a muddy brown roof tone.
- Consider the lighting. This is where things get tricky… just because you love a neighbor’s west facing home color palette, doesn’t mean you’ll love it for your north facing home. Yes, lighting really can make that much of a difference!
- Get samples. In my case, maybe get 12 samples. View them at different times of the day and on different sides of your home.
Exterior paint colors will vary significantly with the time of day, depending on how the light hits. It’s important to test your samples at various times of the day!
More Tudor House Color Combinations
For a soft and subtle Tudor home paint palette, consider one of these color combinations.
- Benjamin Moore Swiss Coffee for the body and Benjamin Moore Pale Oak for the trim. (Our current colors, as shown above!)
- Sherwin Williams Realist Beige and Sherwin Williams Everyday White (our previous colors, as shown below.)
- Benjamin Moore Lafayette Green and Benjamin Moore Going to the Chapel
- Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter and Sherwin Williams Extra White
- Sherwin Williams Agreeable Gray and Sherwin Williams Extra White
- Benjamin Moore Victorian Garden and Benjamin Moore Going to the Chapel
Below, note that the following three images showcase the previous color combination on the exterior of our tudor home.
Frequently Asked Questions
Often, it’s the dated appearance of very dark wood that can hold a Tudor home back. While these cottage style homes can ooze character, they need a fresh paint palette to get with the modern times. Consider a soft, subtle palette of beiges or greens for a less stark contrast from the stucco paneling of your Tudor home.
In another way, many people are bringing their Tudor homes into the modern era with a bold black and white look! This is an exterior home color palette that feels fresh and contemporary – it’s varies from the original style because the dark trim is focused in different areas.
If you’re getting ready to paint your home to sell it, you’ll want to appeal to the widest range of buyers that you can. Neutral paint colors like beige, gray, and white are the most popular options, no matter the style of your home.
Details and Sources
Since purchasing and painting our home, we’ve added all new Landscaping, Copper Light Fixtures, new Copper Gutters and more.
Since updating the exterior, we’ve focused on the interior step by step, one project at a time.
I can’t wait to add our new front door very soon… we are planning on a soft, white oak door with windows. Something classic and timeless to match the style of our home, with a Brass Door Knob, of course.
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You have made amazing changes to the exterior of your home. I love the paint color and the landscaping is maturing beautifully, Just something that I like to see. Great work.
Love the colours. My husband and I would love to know what the paint and codes are for the two tones…
thanks from Canada
I don’t know the codes, but the brand and color is within the post. You should be able to have them made anywhere.
Oh my, Julie! I started reading this post and it’s like you were talking about me!! lol! This is our story through and through except that we haven’t made it to the painting part yet. 🙁 One day though! I love your new colors! Great job!!!
Thanks, Lauren! I’m so thankful we did. I feel less overwhelmed with the exterior polished. What’s the saying? 12th time is the charm?
I love it. I just love it. I know everyone is entitled to do what they want with their home, but I am NOT a fan of Tudors that have contrasting trim colors. I love how yours is just a hint of a difference shade. An accent. Not overwhelming. It looks very rich, very stately. Can’t wait to see the porch. Well done my friend! Blessings!
Thank you, Robbin! I clearly am not a fan of dramatic differences either. I appreciate your kind words! Have a great weekend!
It’s amazing what a little paint can do! Looks great!