Inspirational ideas
Colour ideas & inspiration for the exterior
A well-chosen front door, shutters matched to the stone, a cared-for gate: outside, a few litres of paint are enough to transform an entire façade.
Our exterior schemes — doors, shutters, façades and garden woodwork — are composed for outdoor light, where every shade reads paler and brighter than it does indoors.
“A front door is the smile of a house: better make it a confident one.”
Which colours work on a façade, shutters or a front door?
Outdoors the light is twice as strong and never the same two hours running: a shade chosen indoors will always read lighter and cooler once it is outside. So the rule running through every scheme below is a simple one — go a tone deeper than you would have chosen inside, and let the depth do the work.
For a front door or shutters, our safest shades are Woodnight JB.12, Pub BH.08, Grail JB.02 and Copper Green No.36: blacks, blue-greys and deep greens that age well and read cleanly against both stone and brick.
For masonry and render, Greenwich Time No.8, Cotton Street No.3, Maugham White No.2 and Syon Park No.13 give warm whites that don't go grey, while Saint Johns No.64, The Boltons No.28 and Limestone No.55 hold low evening light without dulling. St Clement No.11 remains our safe choice for eaves and soffits.
Choose an exterior finish matched to the substrate — timber, metal or masonry — and allow for the corresponding primer. See also our black paint ideas, green paint ideas and the Jinny Blom collection, or browse all our exterior paints.
Our schemes
37 schemes
