Exterior house colors: 12 combinations with hex codes

What are the best exterior house colors right now?

The best exterior house colors in 2026 fall into four families. Classic light schemes (a white or greige body with black or white trim) still suit the widest range of houses. Warm, earthy neutrals like khaki, taupe, sage and clay are where the paint brands point this year: Benjamin Moore named Silhouette AF-655 its 2026 Color of the Year, a dark shade with an LRV of 10.18.

Dark bodies in charcoal, black or forest green look sharp on modern and Craftsman houses. Strong color works best in small doses, mostly on the front door. Whichever family you pick, three things decide whether it works on your house: the architecture, the fixed materials you can't repaint (roof, brick, stone) and which way the front faces. Choose within the family that suits all three, then test samples outside before you buy gallons. Our exterior home makeover guide covers the bigger jobs around the paint.

Which classic light exterior color combinations still work?

Light bodies with crisp trim are the safe bet for resale and for houses with a lot of detail, because shadows show up on pale paint. The hex codes below come from Sherwin-Williams color pages where a brand color is named. Everything else is our own approximate mix, labelled as such, so match it by eye to a chip you like.

• 1. Pure White body, Tricorn Black trim, oak door. Sherwin-Williams lists Pure White SW 7005 at #EDECE6 with an LRV of 83.957, and Tricorn Black SW 6258 at #2F2F30. Add a stained oak door (approximate #A0703F). Suits modern farmhouse, Colonial and board-and-batten. More on this classic in our white house with black trim ideas.
• 2. Greige body, Pure White trim, slate blue door. A warm greige around #CFC8BA (approximate, not a brand color) with a slate blue door near #5A6F82. It sits happily next to brown or gray roofs, which makes it easy on ranches and split-levels.
• 3. Pale blue-gray body, white trim, black door. Body around #B9C4C9 (approximate). Cape Cod, coastal and Colonial houses wear it well.

Orientation changes how these read. A good rule of thumb: on a south- or west-facing front, strong sun bleaches a pale color by a step or two, so pick one shade deeper than the chip that looks right indoors. North-facing fronts sit in shade most of the day, which pushes whites and pale blues toward gray. Choose versions with a little yellow or green in them there. For more starting points by house type, browse house exterior ideas.

Which warm, earthy exterior colors fit 2026?

Warm, earthy and darker is the direction the brands are pushing. Pittsburgh Paints Co. named Warm Mahogany PPG1060-7 its 2026 Color of the Year, a red-brown. On the lighter side, Universal Khaki SW 6150 is a 2026 trend pick at #B8A992 with an LRV of 40.478, light enough for a whole body. These four combinations work with brick, stone and wood.

• 4. Universal Khaki body, Pure White trim, red-brown door. Khaki at #B8A992 and trim at #EDECE6, with a door near #5E3A2E. That door hex is our approximation of a mahogany tone, not PPG's published color. Craftsman, ranch and Tudor houses suit it, as do houses with red or orange brick.
• 5. Mushroom taupe body, cream trim, olive door. Taupe around #A39A8C, cream near #EFE8D8 and olive near #6B6B3A (all approximate). Olive is a sensible door pick: in a 2022 Zillow buyer survey, olive green doors drew hypothetical offers $969 higher.
• 6. Terracotta clay body, cream trim, walnut door. Clay around #C98A6B on stucco, cream trim and a dark walnut door near #4B3426. Made for Spanish, Mediterranean and Southwest houses in strong sun.
• 7. Sage body, off-white trim, cedar door. Sage near #9FA88E with off-white around #F2EEE3. Pair it with a natural cedar door (about #B07A4B) on a cottage or Craftsman surrounded by trees.

BeforeAfter

Earth tones have one catch: they shift with the light more than whites do. Clay and khaki glow in warm afternoon sun and can turn muddy on a north-facing front. If your house faces north, go a step lighter and warmer. To build variations around any of these hexes, start one in the palette generator.

Do dark exterior house colors work?

Yes, on the right house and the right siding. Near-black and deep green bodies make windows, wood and planting stand out, and they hide the small flaws a white house shows. They also soak up heat. Sherwin-Williams lists Tricorn Black at an LRV of 2.849, which means it reflects almost no light. See how architects handle it in these modern house exterior ideas.

• 8. Tricorn Black body, black trim, cedar accents. One color (#2F2F30) on siding, trim and window frames, warmed up by cedar soffits or a cedar door around #B07A4B. Best on modern, contemporary and barn-style houses with simple lines.
• 9. Charcoal-brown body, matching trim, brass lights. A deep charcoal-brown near #4A4540 (approximate). Keeping trim the same color is what makes it read as expensive. Close in spirit to the dark shade Benjamin Moore picked for 2026, though BM doesn't publish hex codes, so match it to a chip.
• 10. Forest green body, cream trim, black door. Green around #3F4F44, cream near #EFE8D8. Craftsman and Victorian houses on wooded lots.

Which front door and accent colors make a house stand out?

A strong front door costs one quart of paint and an afternoon, which makes it the cheapest place to use color. In a June 2022 Zillow buyer survey, slate blue scored best overall with hypothetical offers $1,537 higher, black doors drew as much as $6,449 more, and pale pink came last at $6,516 lower. Those are survey answers about imagined offers, not sale prices, so treat them as a read on taste.

• 11. Navy body, Pure White trim, mustard door. Navy near #2E3B4E with #EDECE6 trim and a mustard yellow door around #E3B448 (approximate). Colonial, Cape Cod and coastal houses.
• 12. Barn red body, white trim, black door. Barn red around #7C2E28 (approximate) with white trim and a #2F2F30 door. Farmhouses, barn conversions and rural lots where the house sits against green fields.
• Door rule: pick a color that contrasts with both the body and the trim, then repeat it once elsewhere (a planter, a bench) so it doesn't look random.

How do you test exterior house colors before you commit?

Testing matters because the job is expensive. This Old House puts exterior painting at $2.20 to $4.40 per square foot, or $4,400 to $8,800 for a 2,000 sq ft home. A few samples cost almost nothing next to that.

Benjamin Moore's advice is to paint 8 oz samples onto white foam board, take the boards outside and watch them through the day as sun and shade move. Don't brush samples straight onto siding; sample pots are made for interior use. Hold each board against the trim and next to the roof line, then look again at dusk.

A photo preview helps you narrow a shortlist before you buy any samples. Sherwin-Williams' ColorSnap Visualizer for Web lets you upload your own photo and paint it. Our paint color visualizer does the same in an iPhone and iPad app, and we compare the options in how to see paint colors on your house.

How can you preview exterior house colors on your own house?

In RivAI, the Paint tool repaints one surface of your photo in an exact color, and siding, trim and doors are all on its surface list. Here's the order that works for a house front:

1. Take a daylight photo of the front of the house, standing straight on, with the whole facade in frame.
2. Open Paint and choose the siding surface. Open the color picker and type the hex code from the color page, for example #B8A992. The app takes a color, not a brand name, so it won't look up a paint by name for you.
3. Wait about 30 seconds for a Standard result, then edit that result with Paint again for the trim, and once more for the door.
4. Drag the before/after slider to compare, and save the versions you like to Photos.

For whole-look ideas instead of one exact color, use Exterior redesign with the House Exterior room type, pick a style, choose Keep Structure so the walls, windows and layout stay put, and add a palette such as Warm Earth or High Contrast.

Some honest limits. A free install gets 2 designs, and free results carry a watermark. The app runs on iPhone and iPad only. And a screen never matches paint on siding exactly, so use the preview to shortlist, then put real samples outside before you buy.

What exterior color choices should you skip?

Most of what makes a house look cheap has little to do with the color itself. These are the mistakes we'd avoid:

• Too many colors. Body, trim and door is plenty; a fourth accent on shutters, gutters and porch rails turns busy fast.
• Three different whites on trim, windows and garage door.
• A body color picked from a chip indoors and never looked at outside.
• Bright paint that fights a fixed material, like a cool blue next to orange brick or a pink-beige roof.
• Dark paint on vinyl that wasn't made for it (see the warning above).
• Glossy siding or flat trim. A common approach is satin or low-sheen on the body and semi-gloss on trim and doors, so the details catch light.
• Fresh paint over peeling paint. It fails within a season or two and looks worse than the old coat.