We painted a few test swatches on our house. To be precise: just a few small patches. Our existing creamy color wasn’t unbearable, but we’ve been admiring several nearby homes with gray hardboard siding and brick, and decided to try some mid-toned options to see how they’d look against our brick and trim.
The current light cream on the hardboard and trim doesn’t help the trim stand out; everything blends together because it’s all similar in tone. And the contrast between the pale cream siding and the richer brick felt a bit disjointed — like two different houses layered together. We hoped a mid-tone gray with warm undertones would create a more unified appearance, making the house read as a single cohesive design rather than “brick + big cream box.”
We held up around 25 swatches and narrowed them down to three that looked best next to the brick, which has pleasant gray undertones, especially in the mortar. Then we bought three inexpensive paint pots from Lowe’s and painted three test squares directly above the brick so we could evaluate how each color met the masonry in natural light. Yes, I wore my shirt inside out while doing it.
The winner was the swatch on the right. It’s a warm, taupe-gray that shares undertones with the brick and closely matches the mortar color, so the pairing feels deliberate and cohesive. We’re calling it the winner because it isn’t too icy or blue, not too dark, and it warms up the façade without competing with the brick.
That swatch is Flagstone by Martha Stewart, which we’ll have color-matched to a high-quality exterior paint—ideally one with built-in primer. The middle swatch was Mushroom by Martha Stewart, which we found too dark for the look we want. The left swatch was Bedford Gray, also by Martha Stewart, which leaned too cool and blue for our brick’s warm gray undertones.
Photos never capture color exactly the way your eye does, but Flagstone looked closest to what we hoped for in person. We love a dark house with bright white trim, but for this ranch with a black roof and yellow door, a mid-tone gray seems like the best balance. The roof will serve as the dark element, and crisp white trim will provide the bright contrast. The mid-tone siding should sit comfortably between those elements without overwhelming the façade.
We plan to get the Flagstone shade color-matched and then choose a brand and finish with good durability for exterior siding. We’re leaning toward a paint that includes primer, but we’ll finalize that decision when we pick up the paint and confirm the brand and product.
That said, we painted test squares early because we still need to demo the scalloped trim on the porch and refinish the trim work. Painting the siding before removing the scallops would likely cause damage we’d need to touch up afterward. So we’ll demo the scallops, frame the curvy porch columns into chunkier square shapes, and then paint the hardboard siding gray and the trim white to complete the look.
We’re juggling this with a kitchen renovation, so timing is tight. We hope to complete the exterior work before it gets too cold for painting. I can already picture the sunny yellow door framed by crisp white trim and warm gray siding that coordinates with the brick’s gray undertones. If the outcome isn’t what we imagine, we have gallons of the current house paint stored in the basement and can repaint.
Have you painted your house’s trim or siding recently? Did you test a few swatches first? I was surprisingly decisive this time — usually I overthink these choices — and I can’t wait to move forward. Fingers crossed the weather and other projects don’t push this into next spring.