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Colour for my fense and balcony

Lina's picture
Lina

Hello, my house is grey with a touch of green and I would like to know whick colour to paint my balcony, the fense and the rail around the balcony and the floor of the balcony.  Everything is in wood.

Here is a picture of the house, the fense is in wood and I am asking the question for the balcony in the back and the fense around the house.

The house is finish know, with grass and flowers.

 

Bonjour, ma maison est gris vert, pas un vrai gris, un gris avec un peu de vert dedans et j'aimerais savoir quelle couleur peindre mon balcon, le tour du balcon, et la clôture car c'est le temps de peindre cette année, ça fait deux ans que le bois a vieilli, aussi le plancher du balcon.

Je ne venais plus parce que j'avais perdu mon mot de passe, désolée...

.Image: MAISON TERMINÉEImage: MAISON TERMINÉE

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spersaud's picture
spersaud

Be sure to share photos of your finished exterior! Would love to see how it turned out.

Lina's picture
Lina

My husband say that, but I like Opaque.

Thank you it nice that this forum work.

Lina's picture
Lina

We would use stain, we know that, but my husband think that transparent is better but my I like Opaque to have a nice colour.

I dont like transparent.

Thank you again you are very nice.

dustbunnydiva's picture
dustbunnydiva

I'll agree. Opaque stain does not peel at all. So as long as you use 'stain' you can choose how deep the colour is from transparent to opaque (or solid) and it won't bubble or peel like paint does but if it's opaque (solid) it covers like paint so you can't see the wood through it (which is good if you have different colours of wood (because of age differences or patches or being different kinds that you want to look the same)).

If you want a solid colour, stain is the only way to go because with paint it will bubble and peel eventually and that means you have to scrape the rest off before you repaint (unless you like a bumpy paint job) while with stain it just sort of goes away and what remains by the time you need to redo it can often me knocked off with the jet nozzle of the hose if you want to change the colour. Otherwise you just go right over it, not lumps or bumps, no heavy sanding or scraping required. Note: you do have to lightly sand before staining to get the 'mill grain' off the wood to allow the stain to soak in.

If you look at my pictures you will see the wood grain does not show through at all. It is totally covered (like paint) but it is a stain (solid/opaque). They make various levels of colour so you can choose what look you want.

Just as a side note to anyone considering doing outside work: That last picture of my green house...the former owner told me he painted that house with stain, not paint. It used to be a bright pink stucco from the 30's and he did one coat of opaque stain and it covered. When I sold it had been 6 or 7 years since done and was still holding perfectly. Even with it being a stucco house him using a sprayer (he did the whole house in 3 hours (wow, and he did all four sides top to bottom)) stain is pretty good stuff when faced with outdoor weather. I was impressed as it would never have dawned on me to use stain on stucco.

Here are some screen shots of the different levels of stain from the Sikkens site for you (I even found the French page so you don't have to work so hard to translate).

ImageImage

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Mrs. Peacock's picture
Mrs. Peacock

Lina wrote:

I dont thing that we will take opaque because it peel and we will do a good preparation befor painting everything.

Lina:  Opaque is the type of stain that does not peel so that is the type of stain you would like to use.  It soaks into the wood instead of sitting on top of the wood.

Mrs. Peacock

Lina's picture
Lina

Thank you Dustbunnydiva I will translate your text in french for my husband and he will understand what do to.

I like your choice of colour very much and I will take something like you do and in the best quality because we dont want to paint every year.  It is a lot of work.

My first choise was to put some cedars and a black fence but it wasnt the choice of my husband.  We will paint everything with your advice, and I ham very happy that you answer to me with pictures, and good advice to.

I dont thing that we will take opaque because it peel and we will do a good preparation befor painting everything.

Have a nice summer.

 

dustbunnydiva's picture
dustbunnydiva

That house was a yellowish brick and wood with an orange roof. The dark greens were a choice to balance that orange roof but I wanted a dark more natural colour to begin with so it was just a matter of which shade to go with and green was it because of that roof. When the fence and veranda were white that orange roof just glared out.

My last house was a sage green (a bit darker than yours) and I still painted out the fence there a dark green too. It was as close as I could get to the pictures I showed you but in a shade that went with the green of that house. So the fence in the pictures has kind of an olive/yellow undertone while the other house had more of a blue/grey undertone to go with the house but I bet if you asked the uninformed they would have thought I just used the same colour as it was pretty close. I just found a picture of the colour I used. I put it on the trim of my back door so you can see the colour of the house and the trim (fence). Again, nearly black in the can but definitely a green when the sun hit it.Image: white is door, dark is fence/trim, sage is houseImage: white is door, dark is fence/trim, sage is house

There are lots of choices whether you want to go with your house colour or just a dark natural colour (browns, greys, etc.). In my book the idea is to have the fence take on a natural look without being the focal point (what happens sometimes when it's a light or new wood tone as far as my eye is concerned). To me the darker colours add some colour without taking over the yard and leave the yard itself to shine. Also they are just so much easier to keep nice looking because they don't require all the cleaning and don't show the wear as quickly as light colours do.

I can tell you, fences and such really take a lot of work and need redoing much faster than even other outside areas so get the best stain you can (especially for places like a deck as the horizontal surfaces really take a beating from the sun). There are some really good ones out there that are specially made for our Canadian weather which is extreme for most paints/stains. The opaque ones will give you the look of paint but won't get all flakey and peel like paint does (they just sort of wear away slowly) so stain is much easier to deal with when it comes time to redo it. I used to be able to knock most of the old stuff off with my hose when I needed to and the rest could stay on as it didn't make much difference to the next coat of stain (if it was close to the same colour).

I've stained and painted a few fences over the years and can tell you when I used inexpensive stains they needed redoing in about 2 years. When I got some better stuff (Sikkens but there are others) it was still holding fast at 5 years and still looked good. I have yet to see a paint that holds very long at all on things like fences. Be prepared, if that fence is raw wood it will take a few coats to soak in (at least 2 but maybe 3 if it's nice and dry). Also paint with a brush, not a roller or sprayer as stains need to be worked into the wood to really take or they just lie on top and won't last long. Once you get the wood so it's not soaking up the stain so much it just takes another coat to get a nice solid opaque going (if opaque is what you want).

Lina's picture
Lina

Dustbunnydiva,

Thank you for all the details that you give me and for the time that you take to whrite and to put the nice pictures.
I appreciate it a lot and it help me to.

I like your fense and the colours very much, it is perfect and I think that my choice is ok, choose darker colours and not light colours.  My husband want a natural tint but I dont like that.
It give more "quality", I dont know the word, more "richesse"  personality to the house to paint the fense and the deck darker.

You are very nice to give me that answer and I am very happy To see you again.  I missed the time when that forum work more.

If you have the time and want to answer me, can you tell me the colour of your home?  Is it a kind of green or grey green?

I hope to see you again, to bad that the forum is not like before.

Have a very nice day and thank you again, you always give me good "conseils" good advice,

 

dustbunnydiva's picture
dustbunnydiva

Hi Lina

If you remember me painting a fence about  6 years ago I used two shades of green and loved it. I don't have the colour names any more but seems to me the word 'tea' was in it. I can't even remember the company (not BM I don't think). I'll attach some pictures I still have for you though.

I really like two tones fences but when it came to my veranda I just did the darkest colour (I'd run out of the other colour or I might have done the rails dark and the spindles lighter).

What you need to know is to go with shades a lot darker than you think you want because the sun just blasts the colour. That photo with the three pictures shows how different the lighter colour looked just depending on the if it was sunny or cloudy so colour really changes outside.

I thought I had made a mistake when I opened my can of dark green as it looked black but when it was on and dry and in the sun it was definitely green. Same with the lighter colour I chose. When I picked, the person in the store basically looked at the colour I was aiming for and pulled chips that were at least two tones darker but that was exactly what I needed. For sure, get test pots and paint something and look at it outside before you buy because you just can't tell from the chips what it will look like until you see it in full sun or shade.

If it were me, I'd take a sample of that siding or a chip that is close to it and tell them I wanted this shade but almost black and then a slightly lighter shade. It will look great in deep tones. I'd probably paint your posts and the lattice and top trim dark and the bottom slats a lighter shade but you might have to play to see if that lattice is better in dark or lighter.

Your patio floor can be dark or light but I would consider how much sun it gets. The darker it is the hotter it will be. On the other hand I live in a place with a deck painted white (hate it) and although it's okay this time of year, in the winter I have nearly missed a stair a couple of times because it just blends in with the snow. I really wish it was some in between colour because when I let the dog out at night I need to see those step downs clearly, snow or grass. So consider what you will be doing out there and go from there.

I don't like white fences either. The one in these pictures was white and once it was dark it just blended so nicely with the yard and plants and in winter it looked so much warmer than white next to white snow. What was nice was how all the flowers just popped next to it once it went dark. The yard then became all about the garden instead of the big white fence. The white also really bothered my eyes because it was so bright when it was sunny out and showed any bird poop, rain dusty, or anything else that got on it. The darker colour didn't require any of the same hosing off to have it look nice.

 

an example of the shades I usedan example of the shades I usedImage: how it changes when the sunlight changesImage: how it changes when the sunlight changesImage: This looked black in the paint canImage: This looked black in the paint can

 

Lina's picture
Lina

gmcauley

Thank you for your answer, I dont like white fense, I want it darker, something like a dark brown or a kind of black, not so dark as black but something like this, I dont know the name of the colour in english.

For the shutters we will have it later because it is not a regular shutter, and we will put shutters in the back to.

There is a touch of green in the finish of my house it is not not grey, it is sage.

For the fense, since a long time in an another house the fense was white, that why I dont want a white fense and deck again.

Excuse my english.

Lina's picture
Lina

Northern Miner

Thank you for your answer, this is my choice to, we will stain the fense a kind of brown, but my choice is a kind of black, "Ardoise" in french number 3563-407 in Sico. Is it to dark?

I dont want a white fense, I prefered it darker and the deck to.

And is it better to have the fense the same colour then the deck?

Sometimes I am thinking to put the floor of the deck lighter then the fense and the fense around the deck, is it a good idea?

We will do the deck and the fense to protect them.

gmcauley's picture
gmcauley

Hello Lina,

Lovely home! You may want to submit your question to our Ask A Designer column: http://houseandhome.com/design/design-decorating/ask-designer

I love the warm grey you've chosen for the exterior of the home, and I think a white fence and balcony would complement the grey nicely. Also, consider adding the same black shutters to the other windows as well?

Good luck!

Gwen McAuley (gmcauley at hhmedia.com)

Northern Miner's picture
Northern Miner

Okay that helps and I really like the railings on your deck. With the wrought iron it looks very classy and the finished cap also sets it off.

But as to painting it - have a different suggestion and one that might seem like a lot of work, but the end result I think would make it very warm and inviting - stain it. There are hundreds of different shades of stain that you could pick from, but something in a medium brown, or even a grey would accent the wrought iron.

My first choice would be the brown for the deck and the fence to tie them all together. If doing the fence is out, then the grey for the deck to go with the house could also look nice. Eventually the fence will change colour on it's own and go grayish so..... Undecided

 

Lina's picture
Lina

Image: FEnse almost finishImage: FEnse almost finish

ImageImage

There is a balcony in the back with another one lower for the spa, I dont know how to explain it, but the house is very plain.
It is a small house with a patio-door and two window, in the back.

I dont find any picture of the back of my house.

My choice is black to.

Thank you, but if you have another idea it will be a pleasure for me to read it.

I was thinking to put the floor lighter than the fense.

Northern Miner's picture
Northern Miner

Lina a picture of the back of your house where the fence and balcony are would help give us a better picture including proportions. Based on what you see at the front, black would work, but maybe so would others.

Lina's picture
Lina

Lina wrote:

Lina wrote:

Hello, my house is grey with a touch of green and I would like to know which colour to paint my balcony in the back wiht the stairs and another step, the fense and the rail around the balcony and the floor of the balcony.  Everything is in wood.  Not the best quality but it is in wood.

Here is a picture of the house, the fense is in wood and I am asking the question for the balcony in the back and the fense around the house and what I write.

The house is finish know, with grass and flowers.

 

Bonjour, ma maison est gris vert, pas un vrai gris, un gris avec un peu de vert "un peu comme Cape Cod, mais pas de bleu dans la couleur," dedans et j'aimerais savoir quelle couleur peindre mon balcon, le tour du balcon, et la clôture car c'est le temps de peindre cette année, ça fait deux ans que le bois a vieilli, aussi le plancher du balcon.

Je ne venais plus parce que j'avais perdu mon mot de passe, désolée...

.Image: MAISON TERMINÉEImage: MAISON TERMINÉE

Lina's picture
Lina

Lina wrote:

Hello, my house is grey with a touch of green and I would like to know which colour to paint my balcony in the back wiht the stairs and another step, the fense and the rail around the balcony and the floor of the balcony.  Everything is in wood.  Not the best quality but it is in wood.

Here is a picture of the house, the fense is in wood and I am asking the question for the balcony in the back and the fense around the house and what I white.

The house is finish know, with grass and flowers.

 

Bonjour, ma maison est gris vert, pas un vrai gris, un gris avec un peu de vert "un peu comme Cape Cod, mais pas de bleu dans la couleur," dedans et j'aimerais savoir quelle couleur peindre mon balcon, le tour du balcon, et la clôture car c'est le temps de peindre cette année, ça fait deux ans que le bois a vieilli, aussi le plancher du balcon.

Je ne venais plus parce que j'avais perdu mon mot de passe, désolée...

.Image: MAISON TERMINÉEImage: MAISON TERMINÉE

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