Stone Exterior Color Schemes
Whether it highlights your entrance or anchors your house to the landscape, when your home’s exterior features natural stone, you will want to show it off by choosing a color scheme that complements your stone. There are many different types of stone, each with its unique beauty. Your stone exterior color schemes must enhance the natural color variations in the rocks. The stonework is an attractive architectural element. Coordinating your color with its tone adds to your home’s curb appeal.
A FRESH Approach to Choosing Stone Exterior Color Schemes
The FRESH approach is a five-step method for selecting an eye-pleasing color palette for your home’s exterior. Use FRESH thinking to choose the right color for each element — roofing, siding, doors, windows, shutters, trim, and accents- guaranteeing a unified look that exudes curb appeal.
Fixed Features
There are many things to consider as you select your home’s exterior colors, the most influential being the fixed features.
Fixed Feature = Permanent Design Element
These are the elements of your home that won’t change. These include
- All or partial brick, stone, stucco, or concrete
- Roofing style and color
- Chimney structures
- Porch, steps, retaining and walkways
- Decks, patios, and hardscape
Look at the fixed features of any attractive home, and you’ll begin to see some repetition of tones. This duplication allows different materials and textures to all work well together, which is especially important for a home with a full or partial brick exterior.
Let the Color Cast of Your Stone Be Your Starting Point
When choosing colors for your home’s exterior, find those that blend with or complement the stone’s predominant color or color cast. All colors need to harmonize with the stone to create the best look. If you are building a new home, select the stone and roof first and then make a color scheme to enhance this feature.
Color cast is a term that has roots in photography and represents an overall tint on a photographic image caused by sunlight or incandescent light. The term “color cast” describes the dominant color in a material of different colors, such as stone, brick, roofing, or other materials. Generally, these essential elements of the home exterior are not a solid color but a mix of colors. To describe these materials as a solid color would not do them justice since the beauty is in the variations of colors.
You can find the details of how to do that in the ebook FRESH Home Exterior Color Schemes for Brick and Stone, which is available with our compliments. Just click the link. Then consider the other four FRESH steps.
Continue Choosing Your Stone Exterior Color Schemes
For your stone or partial stone exterior, consider the overall color cast of your stone and any colors that stand out in the mix. The overall tone could be gray, tan, brown, greige, cream, white, or another color. The primary color of your home must blend with your stone’s tone. That doesn’t mean it must be in the same color family. For example, with gray rocks, you could select blue for your primary color, but a grayed blue will blend with the stones better than a bright, clear blue. If the mix of stones includes a color that truly stands out, that color might make an excellent choice for your shutters or front door.
Color Schemes for Tan Stone
The warmth of stones with a tan cast makes them a popular choice for home exteriors. Tan can be neutral or lean towards another color, such as gold, green, peach, or coral. Noticing your stone’s subtle nuances will help you find a suitable color scheme for a tan stone exterior. Would one of these “Five Terrific Tan Stone Color Palettes” suit your home?
Brown Stone Color Schemes
Like in the world, earthy brown can stand alongside all color families. Hues based on those you see in nature are perfect for your brown stone exterior color schemes. Colors that are toned down will look best. Find an inspired plan starting with our “Five Beautiful Brown Stone Exterior Color Schemes.”
Gray Stone Color Schemes
Versatile neutral gray stones look great in an all-neutral scheme, or you can use shades of color: dark, medium, or light to create excellent gray stone exterior color schemes. Here are “Five Great Gray Stone Exterior Color Schemes” to consider.
Greige / Cream Stone Exterior Color Schemes
It may seem odd to describe the stone as “soft,” but that is exactly how the color in a greige or cream stone exterior color schemes feel when contrasted to the color options for darker stones. For the best results, match the softer qualities of the stone to the primary colors in the palette you create and keep solid contrasts for your accents. Check out these “Five Gorgeous Greige and Cream Stone Exterior Color Schemes.”
White Stone Exterior Color Schemes
White stone makes a statement, whether alone or combined with brick or other materials. When putting together a color palette for white stone, you can choose contrasting colors or let the texture take the lead with a tonal plan. Here are some ideas to get you started. “Five Wonderful White Stone Exterior Color Schemes“
More Inspiration and Your Free Ebook
The tips above can get you started. Download our guide, FRESH Home Exterior Color Schemes for Brick and Stone, to get all the details on creating your best stone exterior color schemes.
For more inspiring color schemes, check out the Best Exterior Color Scheme Match for Your DaVinci Roof.
To see more fantastic brick and stone products, visit these companies:
- Acme Brick Company – brick.com
- Coronado Stone Products – coronado.com
- Glen-Gery – glengery.com
Even More FRESH Ideas for Selecting Colors for Your Home Exterior
- For more help finding the perfect color scheme for your home, our ebooks offer easy-to-follow processes for choosing the colors in every part of your home. Download a free ebook.
- Visualize from roof to ground the products and colors that complement your home. Go to the DaVinci Color Visualizer.
- See pictures of homes and buildings that feature DaVinci Slate and Shake. Visit the photo gallery.
About the Author
Kate Smith
is an internationally recognized color expert, consultant, and designer. She is a skilled colorist & a color consultant who, for more than a decade, has lent her expertise to DaVinci Roofscapes. Kate helps YOU select colors you will love for many years.