New Trends in Exterior House Paint Colors for 2009

Every year the major manufacturers of exterior paint products try to act like the fashion industry and come up with some new trend or fashion. Their hope is that we, the homeowners, will feel we really need the latest gimmick.

Don't fall for it because in these times what you need to look for is longevity in the materials used to paint the exterior of your home. To be sure you might take advantage of some of the latest technological gizmos that can help you be precise in matching colors. These tools are cool and fun to use. For example Pantone makes a hand held tool called the Color Cue that literally matches any color and gives you codes to give to the paint dealer so he can match colors exactly.

This means if your current exterior color is generally in good shape but one or two sections need repainting you can use the color cue to perfectly match the color. Even if you had some of the original color you could not do that in the past.

As far as picking colors, that is a more difficult subject but again tools like the color cue can really come in handy. We suggest taking a look at your total neighborhood, the natural colors and the colors of other homes in the nearby area. A color wheel will allow you to pick a color that "fits" with the neighborhood regardless of whether you plan to blend in or be different a stand out somewhat.

The latest trend in the Washington State area is blending the color of your general interior color scheme with what you want to have for exterior paint work.

Another very helpful tool that allows you to visualize what different colors would look like on your home exterior is at this URL address.

http://www.softarea51.com/windows/Home_Hobbies/Other_Home_Hobbies/Review-Color_Style_Studio_exterior_paint_colors.html

Use of this online tool can save time and money by actually applying actual virtual paint jobs to your own home. It is a quite exciting innovation in choosing a paint color for your home. The 2009 colors and supporting color charts should be in all the home improvement and paint stores by mid January at the latest.