Update on My Responses to Your Questions
September 9, 2008 § 11 Comments
Hi Bloggers,
There are a lot of you out there with lots of questions about everything from room colors to exterior siding. I am going through all the questions from first-time visitors. If you don’t see your question pop up on the blog for a day or so, that means I’ll get to it soon. I’m off working with clients in my local area.
If you have a followup series of questions to my initial suggestions, please email me and we can work out a reasonable consultation fee. I’m afraid I won’t be able to answer follow-up questions on this blog as I’m trying to respond to everyone’s basic questions in a reasonable amount of time and they’re starting to pile up.
If your photos don’t go through to my email, just let me know, and I’ll give you another place to send them.
Thanks for visiting my blog and I hope we can solve your decorating dilemmas together.
Most sincerely,
-Barbara
Your Home & Color Coach
Your Home & Color Coach 
Hi there,
I’ve tried to email you, but it seems that your address isn’t working. Do you have a new one?
I’ve been trying bmeglis@yourhomeandcolorcoach.com
Hi Daniel (#1),
My mailbox fills up daily so I apologize for emails being bounced back. Sometimes the photos that people send are huge and fill up the box before I can get to them.
Sorry about that. You can certainly send emails and photos to my other email: bmeglis@yahoo.com.
That will work.
-Barbara
Your Home & Color Coach
Hi Barbara,
I live in the Boston area (Roslindale) and am in the process of renovating an 1865 house. We tore off a 1920s/1950s/1970s addition that had termite and water damage. We moved the front door to the side to avoid the full flight of steps to our original front door that no one ever used.
Now we’re trimming out the new section (kitchen/dining/family rooms) and it’s impossible to match the one main floor room trim without significant cost. I really like the look of wood on the installed windows and have ordered clear pine flat trim so it can be stained. The one original room (parlor) has white ornate trim. Would it be a problem to have wood trim on the rest of the main floor?
Hi Rachele RK (#3),
The only potential problem I see is keeping the original room trim white as it will stick out in contrast to the other windows with plain wood stained trim. Is it possible to simply paint the trim on the ornate window to coordinate with the stain color? That would work for me and I don’t believe it would jeopardize the historic integrity of that part of the house.
Hope that helps.
-Barbara
Your Home & Color Coach
Hi, Need a new door color for a slate blue siding ranch with white trim. black shutters and roof and a red door. I want to paint it a blue like my chinese garden stool etc. has in it. Any suggestions, my gardens are Monet colors and asian inspired. Cobolt blue or royal maybe? thanks.
Hi Barbara!
Love your website! Please, I need your advice on my 1/2 brick, 1/2 siding Colonial house. As you can see from the pictures (links attached) the old white aluminum siding needs a facelift so we planning on re-siding with vinyl. We are thinking of a “tan” siding color to match the grout color in the bricks. I like either Savannah Wicker (59) or Light Maple (55), both are made by CertainTeed. We will also install new shutters and I am leaning toward black for the stutters. What do you think of this color scheme? Am I on the right track? I am also wondering if I should paint my front door black to match the shutters (my front door was open when I took the picture so you can’t tell what color it is…it’s white).
My other issue is about trim. Should I have the siding contractor wrap the window trim to match the siding or leave it white? What about the trim on the house….match to siding or leave white? I really need and value your advice..thanks very much.
Erica
Full house shot
Brick close-up
Hi Erica (#6),
I suggest going with the darker Savannah wicker and leaving the white trim around house and windows (and front columns) so that the roof will be tied in. It is very light gray and there needs to be some contrast between roof and siding colors. The white will provide that.
Hope that helps.
-Barbara
Your Home & Color Coach
Hi Barbara,
I started this post and then mailed or erased it by accident. Here I go again:
I have an expanded ranch that is brick on the bottom half and white siding on the top half. There is practically no siding visible in the front, but a lot of nice new gray roof is. A neighbor who has a similar house has great looking black storm door and window trim, and a white garage door. I am going to replace my storm door (with the retractable screen, and therefore a horizontal line through the middle of the view). I wanted to see what a darker color would look like so I photoshopped it in. I am sending you a picture of: 1) just the door in black, 2) the door and window trim in black and 3) all of those and the garage door in black as well. What do you think would look best?
Thanks!
Star (my real name)
Hi Star (#8),
With the gray roof and so much of it, the black stands out a little bit too much. What about starting with the garage door? I suggest a wonderful warm Georgian brick (Ben Moore HC-50) which will coordinate well with the roof and work the garage door into the overall palette.
Then I would keep the windows white as there isn’t a lot of trim and you really want your stonework and brick to show up more than the window trim.
As for the front door, I would love to see the Georgian brick again but I do like your solid wooden door. The black screen door is okay, but like I mentioned, the soft roof color makes the black a little harsh. Frankly I would stick with white. You have a very pretty garden and you don’t want to upstage it with the screen door. The black may (or may not) work on your neighbor’s house, but I like your softer, more subtle color scheme.
Hope that helps.
-Barbara
Your Home & Color Coach
Hi,
We have a cranberry-colored front door with white trim and a red brick exterior on the house. We’d like to install a full view storm door. Should the storm match the trim or the color of the existing door?
Thanks,
Clare
Hi Clare,
To simplify and make it easier to change the door color in the future, I would go with a white storm door to match the trim color.
-Barbara
Your Home & Color Coach