Gray House Color Schemes

I want gray siding but aren’t sure what goes best with it. What are the best gray house color schemes to choose from? It’s a great question we get asked all the time and below we’re gonna answer it.

Picking the perfect siding color for your house can be hard enough and you’ve decided to go with gray. It’s an excellent choice that happens to be one of the most in style at the moment. But what about all the other colors that go with it? What color front door goes with gray? What’s the best type of masonry to use? How does red brick and gray siding look? And what about the tone of gray siding itself. Which is best? No matter what style home you have or the look your trying to accomplish, the choices are all important ones. Color makes a huge impact on the look of a house so consider your choices carefully.

For inspiration, we’ve written this post which talks a bit about color theory, how to choose the perfect house colors and what makes a beautiful gray house color scheme. With lots of example pics of course.

Beautiful custom home. Gray siding with gray stone veneer, white trim and a coffee bean front door.

Gray House Color Ideas

When it comes to picking a great siding color, you can’t go wrong with a classic neutral like gray. It’s a safe pick that goes with just about everything and just so happens to be super popular at the moment so if you want to maximize your homes resale value then gray’s a smart choice.

However gray isn’t a one size fits all siding color. Depending on how dark you go and if there are any undertones, gray can have varying effects. Gray looks fantastic on a number of architectural styles and home sizes which makes it a very versatile siding color choice.

To find the best gray house color scheme for your home, don’t forget to consider the surrounding landscape and other siding elements like brick, stucco or stone veneer. Small details like the amount of sun your house gets will also effect how the color looks. Don’t just pick colors based on swatches in a showroom but actually take them home and see how they look on the house.

If you live in a community you may need to make sure your color choices meet any association requirements. Luckily there are so many shades and color tints with gray there’s sure to be some color combination that will please everyone involved.

Gray is also an excellent accent color most people don’t consider. Just because you have gray siding doesn’t mean you can’t use other shades of gray elsewhere on the home. Not sure what accent colors to choose for your gray house color scheme? We hope some of the pics below will help you decide.

A Bit About Gray House Front Door Colors

When clients ask questions about gray house color schemes, one of the key things to consider is the front door.

Gray has literally hundreds of shades including a wide variety of undertones. For example blue gray, green gray, brown gray, etc. Just saying you have gray siding isn’t enough information to really put together a beautiful color scheme for the home or pick the perfect front door color. What we always recommend is choosing the siding color first and then the front door color. It’s much easier to paint a door than it is to side or paint a house. We have clients that paint their front door a different color every year but you would never do that with siding.

If you have gray vinyl siding it’s a little bit easier to find the perfect front door color since vinyl only comes in a limited number of colors. There are only a few dozen shades of gray to pick from so it won’t be as hard. However if you’ve got wood, metal or fiber cement siding, the color options are almost unlimited since they all can be painted.

We’ll be taking a look at not only some great gray house color schemes ahead but also some of our favorite gray house front door colors.

Other House Colors To Consider

Here are a few other smaller things to consider when picking the perfect gray house color combination:

• Roof color: The color of the roof shingles is often overlooked. Make sure you take this into account.
• Mail box: The mail box is another thing you’ll need to consider. Not only the style but also the material. Do you want a simple painted mail box mounted on a wood post or an elaborate one made of brick or stone.
• Gutters: Generally speaking gutters are white, but they don’t have to be. Gutters come in a variety of colors, materials and styles so take this into consideration as well.
• Driveway: The color and driveway material is also a factor in the homes overall color scheme. Concrete or asphalt goes with pretty much everything but if you’ve got a paver or brick driveway then you’ll have to take those colors into account.
• Retaining walls: Similar to the driveway, if you have retaining walls then they have to work those colors into the overall scheme.
• Railings and/or columns: Don’t forget to take the color and material of your railings and columns into account.

These things are all small potatoes on their own but when you put them all together their very important. And don’t underestimate how impactful small details can be. The very best homes bring all these elements together into one harmonious design.

Gray House With Rich Colored Stained Wood Doors

I love the look of a gray house with richly stained real wood doors. The color of the stain and gray siding matter a lot but to me this combination is beautiful. It’s super important to use a wide variety of values on a home and this one uses them all.

• Dark. The dark gray / black shingled roof provides a cap to the entire home and a great separation between house colors and sky. The brown accent roof and matching gutters would also be considered on the dark side of the value scale.
• Medium. The rich stained wood entry and garage doors are the stand out mid tones here. Not only does real wood look stunning next to gray and white but the values used here are just right. The stone veneer also falls into the mid tone category.
• Light. The gray siding isn’t super light but it’s definitely on the light side of the scale and is just dark enough that it contrasts with the bright white trim.

By using an element from the entire value range along with a fantastic choice of colors makes this one of my favorite gray house color schemes on the page.

Gray House With Stained Wood Doors & White Trim

Here’s another fantastic example of a gray house color scheme similar to the example above that’s using a full range of values. We see the same light gray siding, mid toned stained wood garage doors and dark gutters. The only difference here is that this home is using a mid toned roof. Both homes are absolutely beautiful with a wonderful gray color scheme but the difference in roof colors makes a big difference.

Personally I like the lighter roof because it gives the home a softer look and a more harmonious design but you really can’t go wrong with either.

Light Gray Siding With Medium Stained Front Door

In the context of home siding, neutral generally means less color. Less pigment is added to a base color, which is generally white or gray, to create a neutral. In this case we’re talking about shades of gray. However in many applications these hues often have undertones. For example, your gray siding might have an undertone of brown, red, blue, green or even gold.

The vast majority of homes today use neutral colors for their exterior colors and gray is by far the most current. It’s primarily because gray looks great all on it’s own and goes with pretty much everything. If you stick with gray siding and a nice front door color you really can’t go wrong.

The best gray house color schemes are really all about the surrounding colors and materials. Here we see a fantastic example. Gray siding with white trim and black roof shingles. Red brick is the masonry of choice for the front porch along with white columns and a bronze metal porch roof.

A reddish mahogany stain is used on the real wood front and garage doors to complete the look.

Custom Home With Gray Siding And Blue Front Door

Gray siding with a blue front door looks particularly good with a waterfront backdrop. It’s nice to add bits of the home’s surrounding colors into the color scheme and all that blue is hard to ignore.

White trim brightens the home and helps the blue really pop. Almost any shade of blue works great with a shade of gray siding this light nut this royal blue shade is a nice choice. It’s dark enough the contrast the lighter siding but not too dark that it becomes overbearing. It’s a clean, classy look.

Perhaps because it’s the color of both the sky and the sea: In color therapy, blue tones are said to evoke clarity, pureness, and increased intuition. The shade is immediately calm and welcoming.

Gray House With White Trim

Gray houses trimmed out with crisp, clean white is a beautiful look for just about any style home ranging from a classical farmhouse to an ultra modern estate. Because gray siding comes in so many different tones with underlying hues, it works well on a huge variety of properties. Gray siding with white trim is probably one of the most versatile exterior home color combos you can pick. But don’t think just because it’s a safe pick that means it’s boring. The home above is anything but dull.

When a home’s exterior has a lot of architectural details and an elaborate trim design, you need a color that will look great but not be overpowering. This choice of light gray achieves both those goals with ease.

The different styles of siding along with large amounts of clean white trim along with the dark gutters, black front door and natural stone all work together with the gray siding to create an exterior that let’s the various details shine.

Gray House With Coastal Blue Front Door

Coastal blue is a neutral made by mixing a gray base with blue. Being a neutral it’s easy to coordinate with other colors including gray siding. However you have to pair it with the right color gray. Lighter shades of gray which you see here look best. If the house was a slate or charcoal gray then this shade of blue really doesn’t work.

Throw in white trim and columns with some red brick for a classic gray house color scheme that won’t go out of style. And that’s what we generally recommend to clients. Gray siding is very trendy at the moment but some of those trends may not look so good in 5-10 years. If you want a gray house color scheme then consider color combinations that will last.

Light gray siding stands out a bit more against the darker background so pay close attention to how the backdrop of your home appears in different seasons. The background of this home always tends to be on the darker side so the light and bright color scheme adds a lot of contrast. Even the black roof helps separate the home from the much lighter sky.

Gray Siding With Stone

Gray siding looks fantastic when paired with masonry veneers like real stone, cultured stone or brick. When selecting your stone you have the choice of either adding contrast or a more harmonious color scheme. Notice how the gray stone has subtle brown tones that accent the real wood doors and small specs of black to match the window frames and accent roof.

The black window frames and metal roof give this home a beautiful transitional look.

The garage and front door are real wood stained with a medium natural tone called chestnut. A gray house can appear on the cold side which is why a warm, real wood door looks so great. Especially with a shade like this that has a touch of red.

On homes like this where your adding lots of texture and detail with stone, try to use a simple driveway made of concrete or black top. More pavers can make the design appear too busy which can take away from the house.

Gray Siding With Black Shutters

A gray house with black shutters, white trim and a black front door. It’s a classic house color combination but you have to pick just the right shade of gray for it to really shine. Light to mid tone grays look best. You want a gray siding that sits in the middle of the white and black. The idea is to create 3 value ranges. Each element stands out on it’s own but also looks great as a whole.

Not all shades of gray have undertones. Some grays have warm or cool undertones and some have a bit of color. While others are solid gray, whether light, dark, or medium in tone. Luckily all shades of gray pair nicely with black which adds a classical beauty to your home.

The lighter the gray siding, the more dynamic the look becomes as the contrast between the siding and black becomes more prevalent. This is a classic gray house color scheme that’s been around for over a hundred years dating back to colonial times so there’s no need to worry about it going out of style any time soon.

Gray House With Brown Door

Light Gray House With White Door

Using a neutral color palette on the home’s exterior is by far the most popular choice these days. However if you do it wrong your home can begin to look a bit bland. That’s what makes gray siding with a white door such a nice color combination for your home on. Pairing the gray with bright white trim adds personality, while still keeping a classic and overall neutral appearance.

Throw is splashes of color with landscaping and porch plants.

This house color combo is great if you like a clean, classic look. As an added benefit homes styled like this are easy to sell in just about any real estate market. Even though the color combo may appear simple it really isn’t. You need just the right color gray to pull off the natural look.

Gray House Color Ideas

What is it about brown and natural stains? Every designer we know is obsessed with them. Could it be their depth and elegance? That sensuous quality that few other colors can equal. It’s hard if not impossible to get the same effect from a man made fiberglass finish or solid paint color. Natural tones comes from within the wood making each door one of a kind.

It’s impossible to deny the beauty of the perfect stain on just the right type of wood. Achieving the perfect look is more deliberate and frankly, difficult, than just choosing a color paint for the front door. You have to consider not only the stain but how it’ll look on the type of wood you have. That’s because the same stain on different wood types results in a completely different final color. It’s a little more complicated to work with stains than it is with paints.

Mahogany is a rich color that works really well with lighter shades of gray. And it’s one of our favorite gray house color ideas. Check out the stunning example of design and architecture shown above. The mahogany front door works beautifully with the light gray siding, white trim, blue stone, impeccable landscaping and natural stone veneer. This is a flawlessly designed home that’s sure to stand out wherever it’s built.

Brown comes in a large variety of mid tones and temperatures so as with any other color, make sure to get samples and coordinate your main color with your secondary colors, accent pieces, trim, landscaping, siding, stone facade, etc.

Blue Gray Siding With Stone Veneer

Despite what many people believe, gray house color schemes can be hard to design. True, everything goes with grays and other neutrals, that’s why they’re so popular, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to design a beautiful looking home. And it gets even harder when you start adding hints of color into the gray. The more colorful the home the more things can clash or look out of place. You have to be careful as you throw colors into the design.

Gray siding can be dramatic, thus giving gray home’s a much bigger presence than they may otherwise have. Try to create contrast as well as a sense of balance. A mix of materials is essential. Try to incorporate different textures and styles into the exterior design. Use some light and dark accent colors to create depth and make use of interesting shapes. Use plants and other landscaping to add tasteful splashes of colors you won’t find on the house.

This shade of blue gray siding goes perfectly with the earthy, natural shades found in the real stone veneer. White trim looks great with everything. But what really stands out here is the super dark coffee bean front door sandwiched in between two custom built white wall panels. This homes uses white trim to balance the gray siding, real stone and dark door perfectly.

Gray House With Dark Blue Front Door

Gray and blue will work wonders on just about any house. White trim brightens the home and makes that dark blue front door really pop. Stark white looks fantastic on the trim and fascia with a mix of dark brown and blue stone used to complete the look.

Gray tones and other neutrals tones are said to evoke calm, peace, and serenity. But try and stay within the mid range. Too light can blend in too much with the white while too dark can overpower the front door color. 3 Distinct values tends to work best.

The blue gray tones found in the stone porch are the real secret weapon here. You should definitely consider using stone or some other natural element as a design option. Gray siding is so easy to work with because there’s such a huge variety of natural options that go with it. The blue stone looks great with gray siding and a blue front door because those colors are found within it. The result is a very harmonious color scheme where individual elements can still stand out. As long as you choose elements that are similar in color but have a different value then you’ll be OK.

Gray House Color Combinations

It’s hard to match the rich quality of a dark stained real wood door. When dark colors are executed properly they’re dramatic and full of life. Gray house color combinations are some of the best but I particularly like them when they add some darker tones into the design.

When using a dark front door with gray siding, it’s important to create contrast as well as a sense of balance. A mix of materials is essential, you don’t just want a big dark house. Use different textures in your design along with white trim. The white helps break things up and draws attention where you want it.

Elements should pop around the dark entry door which generally stands in the middle of the home acting as a focal point. Use some lighter colors and make use of interesting shapes. Plants and other landscaping add tasteful splashes of color.

Here we see a beautiful custom home with a medium to dark gray siding and real stone veneer. The black metal and shingled roof adds even more dark tones so the large amounts of white trim brighten things up and prevent the home from looking gloomy.

Gray Home With Yellow Front Door

Any good designer knows that color has the power to effect your mood. There are happy colors and sad colors and some that can even make you feel hungry. So deciding on the color of your front door can be fairly tricky. Luckily if you have a gray house the choice is very flexible but before you begin picking colors you should consider how colors make you feel and what mood you want to set with the front door of your house.

Yellow is a vibrant color that gives off a happy, care free vibe. It promotes a sense of wellness and can have both calming and energizing effects, making it the perfect color for a front door. It’s also a joyful color that looks great on a gray house, as most bright colors do. It represents health and happiness, and is known to promote general wellness and emotional energy.

And best of all it’s not a super popular color. White, black, red, and brown stains are by far the most prevalent. But this article is about the best front door color for a gray house, not the most popular.

So If you want the best gray house color scheme then take a chance and consider yellow or some other happy shade.

Gray House Color Palette

Even though gray is your most predominant color you still need to consider the overall color palette of the home. Even with the most minimalist design you’ll still be using 4 or 5 different colors or variations of the same color.

Here we see a beautiful custom gray home that at first glance may appear to have a simple color palette but it doesn’t. Light gray siding with White trim, black roof shingles, red brick, black shutters and a dark blue front door. And notice how smartly the designers used slabs of white to break up the design and highlight particular areas.

You should also put some thought into the hardscaping and landscaping that play into the home’s color palette. When you see a house from the street you don’t just see the house. You see everything. All those colors come into play. If you want to be a good designer then you should take the entire project into account. Designing a beautiful gray house is about more than just the siding and accent colors.

Gray House With Stone

From crisp light gray to the drama of a deep charcoal, gray siding delivers a wide range of beautiful design options. Gray is a classic house color and a super hot choice at the moment for home exteriors. But to have one of the best gray house color schemes it’s really all about the total package.

Here we see medium gray siding with a black front door, black roof, white trim and the perfect light gray colored stone veneer.

It’s important to always add contrast and different values. Even if your staying within the same basic color range you should still alter the values. Since the siding is a mid tone you would either use a dark stone or a light one, which is what we see here. It’s a smart choice since the dark range comes from the roof and front door.

Another option would be to add some color with your masonry. I love the way gray homes look with red brick.

How To Find The Perfect Gray Siding

What is the “perfect gray siding?” It’s a question we get asked all the time and there really is no right answer. Although we do have our favorites. You should think more about an entire gray house color scheme and not just about the siding color. It all has to work together.

Given the wide range of undertones and values found with gray siding, choosing the perfect gray can be daunting.

As you’ll probably notice from the example pics on the page light to mid gray tends to work best as a siding color. Although we’ve seen some beautiful homes with really dark gray, for most home a lighter shade is the best choice.

The example shown above is a nice shade of gray paired with white trim, black shutters, a black roof, red brick and real wood doors stained in a medium brown.

Gray House With Stone Exterior

There is a sophistication to a gray house that’s hard to deny. Paired with almost any color, from red to green to blue, gray house color combinations provide balance. Consider a combination of light and dark grays for a sharp design that doesn’t overwhelm the architectural details and accent colors. Things like real stone veneer, red brick, bright white trim, columns or that metal porch roof can stand out because their not being drowned out by the siding color.

Gray homes can evoke a more luxurious vibe than other siding colors. Consider a color scheme like the one above. Medium gray siding mixed with white and real stone veneer, black metal roof with tons of white trim and a beautiful front porch with large tapered columns. Oh and don’t forget the black front door.

Light Gray House With Black Framed Windows

To narrow your choices a bit among the wide variety of gray, consider warm and cool grays. Warm grays, with a hint of brown or red are welcoming, while cooler grays with a touch of green or blue, are considered more elegant and modern. Many designers start by figuring out the “feel” they’re going for before actually choosing colors.

When your designing your best gray house color scheme give the approach a try. Before you start picking colors take some time and think about the mood you want to set with your home’s exterior colors.

Gray House With Blue Shutters

Gray is a popular siding choice for any type of home exterior. It can provide a transformative effect that few other colors can match. Gray seamlessly complements most classic roof colors, as well as brick, stone and wood.Consider adding a bit of color with things like the shutters and front door. The designers above chose a very nice shade of blue.

It all looks beautiful along side the wood decking, white trim, columns and railings and the red brick.

More Beautiful Gray House Color Ideas

Check out some more beautiful gray house color ideas below.

Gray cedar shake siding with a warm brown undertone. White trim and real stone veneer with a red mahogany front door.

Blue gray siding with white trim, stone veneer, copper roof and mahogany front door with arched top.

Light gray home with white trim and black front door.

Medium gray home with white trim, black roof, red brick chimney and a dark brown front door. White garage doors complete the look. This is a classic gray house color combination.

Gray house with real stone veneer, white trim and brown front door.

Gray home with cedar shake siding, beautiful white trim, real stone veneer and a red mahogany front door. White garage doors and landscaping finish off the clean design.

Medium gray home with cedar shake siding, white trim and dark brown front door. Metal accent roofing and beautiful landscaping. White garage doors with a paver driveway.

Gray home with brown cedar roof shingles and real stone veneer. Tons of stark white trim and columns. Arched rooflines. Real wood doors stained medium brown. What a beautiful custom home.

Gray siding with brown cedar shake roof shingles. Real wood door stained medium brown. Stark white trim and round columns.

Blue gray home with cedar shake siding. Black front and garage doors. Real stone veneer and tons of clean, white trim. Black framed windows.

A Few Tools You May Need

If your painting your front door you’ll need not only the perfect shade of paint or stain but also the right tools. Good quality tools are important for a nice finish and a care free work day. The last thing you need is to be picking paint brush bristles out of the paint or flinging paint all over from using cheap tools.

Here’s a list of a few tools we use on all of our painting jobs and highly recommend.

 

Conclusion: What’s The Best Gray House Color Scheme?

It’s a hard question to answer considering all the beautiful variations there are. Luckily, if you want a gray home there’s no shortage of example pics to draw inspiration from. Gray goes with just about anything and is considered a neutral so if your designing a gray home you won’t have that much trouble finding colors that’ll work. But don’t get the wrong idea, just because there are plenty of options doesn’t mean your work will be easy. Just the opposite is true.

Gray homes have been in style for decades and have risen in popularity over the last few years. We hope some of the pics we’ve shown help you design yours.

If you have any questions or comments e-mail us any time.