Decorating
Color
By
Jackie Craven
Jackie Craven
Jackie Craven is a design expert writer covering architecture, decor, and sustainability for The Spruce. She has over 20 years of experience and is the author of two books on home decor and sustainable design.
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Updated on 05/02/23
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Green paint colors come in a range of shades and tones that can suit home exteriors of varying styles, from the vibrantyellow-greenof a spring leaf to subtle gray-green, olive, or moss hue.
Earthy greens blend well with natural woodsy settings and are often used on bungalows and rustic shingle-style houses. Dark forest or pine green is a traditional color for shutters and trim on many colonial andVictorian-erahouses. For a modern or Art Deco house, bright lime green can add pizazz. Add a touch of blue, and the color will turn a vivid turquoise.
Here is a variety of houses with green exterior paint colors in various shades to help inspire you.
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Mint Green
The Florida coast is filled with homes like this—Delray Beach and Miami Beach might expect some of its stucco to be as green as this home in Nicaragua. Wherever you find palm trees and flowering bushes, a green house may be near.
Can a house color be too bright? What works in a beach community might rile neighbors in your own neighborhood. Eye-popping electric green can make a psychedelic statement if it's in a San Francisco neighborhood. In a southern beach community, this green may look like cooling lime sherbet.
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Mossy Green
American homes in the late 1800s often had a Gothic look, with steep gables, interesting roofs, and ornately crafted wooden trim. They also used a tri-color scheme—a green, cream, and deep red were very popular. That color combination is still well-liked by homeowners.
Color psychology experts may tell you that a greenhouse symbolizes nature, and this house on a wooded lot fits right into that theory. They also say that green is a symbol of fertility, which is also about nature.
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Primary Green
The overhanging primary green roof on this tiny house from Sandra Foster helps the Victorian-style cottage blend into the woodsy surroundings in the Catskills of New York.
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Olive Green
Crisp Architects painted this lakefront home in a soothing medium-toned olive green with a subtle gray cast that adds definition while blending in with the tranquil natural surroundings. A rhubarb red front door adds contrast and marks the entrance, while white window trim gives the windows definition.
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Accent With Green
Forest green paints accents on the portico, porch, and auxiliary buildings of this 1897 German villa from Fantastic Frank give the architecture dimension, complementing the elegant white home.
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Green + Black Trim
This Connecticut home designed by Crisp Architects is painted in a soothing shade of green that makes a change from the usual white without altering the classic feel of the facade with its white window trim and black shutters.
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House With Green Gables
Green Gables Farm on Prince Edward Island is one of the most popular literary destinations in Canada. The house shown here is not the home of Anne of Green Gables, but a green gable was typical for 19th-century architecture.
Dark green is a traditional color for architectural details on a red brick house. Red and green are complementary colors, opposite on the color wheel. Like the person with red hair, the person with a red brick house exterior has to be careful with accessories. The color choices for house trim are often shades of green but choose wisely. The trim color (or colors) should be a bridge between the roof and brick colors.
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Pale Green Shutters
If painting the whole house green feels like too much, consider using green on window trim or shutters, like this Mediterranean-style home from Fantastic Frank that is softened with blush pink paint complemented with delicate sage green exterior wood shutters and doors.
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Sage Green
The familiar round tower of a Queen Anne-style home was often constructed of a different material or sided with a Victorian color that contrasted with the main home. Why not do the same for a more modern home?
In the house shown here, color follows function. Similar to the 19th-century architecture phrase form follows function, this house has different colored siding for the different functions of the property—the house is sage green and the garage is a creamy yellow. The unifying color is the deep reddish brown accents on both units—the garage door and the window shutters.
The color green is made by mixing yellow and blue, so yellow is the perfect harmony to complement this green home.
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Pistachio Green
Fresh pistachio green paint on the exterior complemented with lighter and darker shades on the gable and front door gives this home from Crisp Architects a wash of color that blends in with the palette of natural greens in the verdant surrounding landscape.
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Green Gray
This 1923 Craftsman bungalow is painted in a soft greenish-gray earth-toned paint color that honors the original aesthetics of the home.
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Taupe-y Green
The exterior of this Litchfield County, CT home from Crisp Architects has a taupe-y green appearance as night falls that sets it apart from the darker greens of the surrounding landscape while helping it to blend in.