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Paint colors for red brick exteriors.

More than any other material, red brick seems to stump folks most when choosing paint colors to accompany it. It’s such a pronounced, definite color, the conceptual opposite of a neutral. Red brick comes in many shades. Brick is a natural material, made from clay. The origin and age of the brick affects its appearance greatly. The brick can appear more burnt orange or red. It can lean brown or yellow tan and it’s almost always multi toned within one structure. Finding great paint colors for red brick is easy if you follow the following guidelines.

Choose colors for red brick that don’t compete.

What does that mean? Since red is so pronounced, avoid colors which are bright or saturated. Dark and/or muted colors work best with red brick. If you want the contrast of a lighter color with it as trim, do not choose a bright or cold white, it will be too jarring and stark. A near white, off white or cream will work best with red brick. Colors like Sherwin-Williams White Flour, Benjamin Moore Vanilla Milkshake or even Benjamin Moore Classic Gray will look white by comparison. They all contain warm tones.

Employ color relationships like complementary colors to choose paint colors for red brick.

Complementary colors sit across one another on a color wheel. The complement of red is green and the complement of orange is blue. Since most red brick contains both colors, blues and greens are great paint colors for red brick. The key is to choose colors that are muted and/or dark. This deep dark blue on the house below enhances the red brick creating a modern color palette on a historic home. This home is Sherwin-Williams Sea Serpent and Inkwell.

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Main Street DesignBuild

Neutral paint colors with red brick.

Neutrals are colors which seem to work with almost every other color. They are colors which lack colorfulness, often by being muted, though black and white are neutrals also. As they are “grayed down” they don’t contain enough hue to clash with the accompanying colors. They do however come from a hue family, sometimes referred to as having undertones so you still have to pay attention to this. Black is sensational with red brick creating a high contrast scenario without being bright.

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Paint colors for stone exteriors.

If you’ve got stone on your facade consider yourself lucky. Most newer homes employ stone veneer but older homes can be clad in natural stones of infinite varieties. Stone comes in a huge range of colors but they’re all earth tones. Putty, gray, mushroom, cream, ochre, brown….. the list goes on. Pull your paint color for siding or trim from the stone itself or from the mortar which binds it and it’s hard to go wrong. Alternatively pull your siding color from nature, even if that color is not contained in the stone and you should still be good. Green, brown, adobe, clay, sand, brick red can all look great with stone.

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You might want to create contrast with the stone by pairing it with a color that’s not an earth tone. That’s fine. Again, choosing a muted soft color or a dark one will create an overall pleasing look. If you want to use white, keep it soft and warm, not cold and stark or it will look out of place with the stone.

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