Give Your Home's Exterior A Summer Refresh With These Trendy Paint Shades

You notice it coming up the driveway, gardening in the yard, or when you go out for a walk. Landscape, check. Toys and tools put away, check. Maybe it's just the house itself? Hmmm, no. Not the house — its lines and elevations look great. But the color? Maybe this summer the exterior needs an update. Something a bit fresher, a bit more on trend?

While we're all for classic exterior house colors to make your home look more inviting, tones that were in vogue just a few years ago could be dating your house, no matter its style. This summer, consider refreshing the exterior of your home with these trendy paint shades. What's in right now generally falls into a few classic combinations with some surprises tossed in. Think in broad categories for 2024: medium grays and whites combined, neutral, nearly monochromatic exteriors, but then also darker, moodier facades from charcoal to navy blue. The biggest trend, though, may be the return to earth colors — soothing greens and blues, pale beige, and stone and sand hues borrowed from the desert, buttes, and forests. The perfect shade to select depends on the style of your house, its setting, and, of course, your personal preference.

Paradoxically, basic neutrals like beige, gray, and white come in hundreds of shades — in fact, there are thousands of variations of white alone.  Whites almost always have an undertone, anything from gray to yellow to pink. Designers often advise using a shade of white with a warm tone (think eggshell or light ivory) instead of a flat chalk white. Not only because warm tones better reflect natural light, but these tones also make your house look more inviting.

If your house is already white, consider refreshing the look by pairing it with other neutrals, i.e. warm grays from very pale to medium, or beiges from light sand to muted khaki. Using white as the base and the other neutrals as an accent will give your house a tone-on-tone look that's not overly monochromatic, but is elegant and sophisticated whether you have a classic Colonial or a sleek contemporary home.

A bolder, trendier option is to go dark and moody, or simply select a contemporary shade of blue. Use a chic blue from bright light tones to a true navy, or use dark gray for the main color, especially if you have frontage with stonework. Note darker tones are not very durable in warm, sunny climates, as they fade quickly. If navy or dark gray is too much color for you, you can still use one of these high-impact shades, but limit it to painting the door and trim for a fresh new look.

There's another trend many design sites and publications are talking about, and that's using earth tones for the exterior of the home. Note, what you might think of as earth tones could be the exterior house colors you should avoid at all costs — so it's important to understand that today's earth tones are not the dreadful avocado and rusty oranges from the 1970s. Instead, they are complex, nuanced colors taken directly from nature — everything from the blues and greens of oceans and lakes to the soft, charming browns of natural wood and the authentic tones of sand and terra cotta from the desert.

One way to revitalize your façade is to start with a white or ecru house, then add subtle touches of sage, olive, or a deep cocoa for the accents and trim. This gives a very clean, traditional look but with a trendy twist, especially paired with metal-toned hardware and light fixtures. Earth tones make the house look like part of the natural landscape, so consider the placement of your home, whether it's on a suburban street or tucked into a wooded lot. Today, paint colors come in a wide range of appealing, natural shades that give warm, cozy, and inviting vibes to the whole house. Feeling inspired? If you decide to tackle the job yourself this summer, we have tons of tips for painting the exterior of your home just like a pro.