After 9 Summers In Our Home… We Painted It!

Easiest Way to Get Paint Samples

If you’ve never ordered a paint sample via Samplize, it is the EASIEST way to get a true color that you can use time and again. You can order high quality peel and stick samples (I typically just tape mine so I can use them over and over 😉 ) from Benjamin Moore, Sherwin Williams, and Farrow & Ball, and unlike paint chips or even the bigger paint sample sheets you get at the paint store, these are made from the actual paint. You can also get multiple brands AT THE SAME TIME. Each sample is cheaper (and way less messy) than the paint sample cans and if you spend $40+, you get free overnight shipping HERE.

Here are a few of my well loved (and well used, haha) samples I hold onto and it’s made picking colors so much easier…

I picked up a small can while I was out, on a whim, but even after we chose our color, I was wishing I had ordered a Samplize sample so we didn’t have to live with paint swatches on our house for a few months, like we did. When you choose a color on their website, they’ll show you similar colors to consider, too — again, from different brands. Then you can order your samples together and have them arrive the next day. If you’ve never used them before, you can browse HERE.

What Color Paint Did We Have Before?

Honestly, I don’t know the name and I don’t remember why we originally chose it, but it was pretty beige. Like — flesh-toned beige. I knew when we painted one day, I would want to change it but despite our humidity and heat, it’s actually stayed in pretty good shape. Most of the issues fell under the eaves, on the upper backside of the house, and even splintered trim boards that needed replacing. Here’s a reminder of what it looked like, in a picture I found from several years ago…

What Ultimately Made Us Decide to Paint Our Home?

Along with the more discreet places that needed painting, and our porch and peripheral railings that needed painting, and our fence that needed to be re-painted, and our decks that needed re-staining, once we invested in our backyard project, it was kind of just like… “it’s time.” We had watched neighbors repaint their homes over the past few years — many who had paint fresher than ours — so knowing that too made us feel better about our decision. Once we had a recommended company out to give us a quote to get a ballpark idea of what we were looking at, I asked them to line item ALL the projects. When all was said and done, it made sense to have them do everything — from start to finish, with a crew of four — it took them two weeks. By the way, I’m usually hesitant to share a lot of contractors/service providers but I have nothing but amazing things to say about the company we used. If you’re needing an exterior painter, I’ll be happy to share who we used!

How I Chose Our House Exterior Color (And Ultimately Decided On Benjamin Moore Kendall Charcoal)

The biggest thing I had to keep in mind was that the entire front of our home is brick and stone. We have hardie board siding but the front stands on its own, and the other three sides stand on their own… but they have to complement one another because you can see them both from most directions. Out brick is ok but truthfully, I don’t love the color of our stone. I also wasn’t interested in having it painted, so my goal was to find a way to work with it.

Our house faces south and gets a LOT of sun on the front. A warm white probably would have been the “safest” choice but I wanted to do something a little different and I thought that white siding on the back of the house wold be too stark against our porcelain deck tiles and some of the other features. So, I started considering dark colors.

My Mom’s Home Inspo (Sherwin Williams Roycroft Pewter)

My mom has a dark gray house — and I love how it turned out! Here’s her charcoal exterior in Sherwin Williams Roycroft Pewter, when it was still under construction… I LOVE the color it appears here.

And here it is, during late fall/early winter with less green and sun hitting it…

And here it is, in a shadier spot, earlier this year. I love her color and especially in her setting, it’s perfect. But, it does have a tendency to lean a little blue.

Once I was convinced I wanted to go in a charcoal/dark gray direction, my goal was to find something warm, that wouldn’t clash with the brick and stone on the front, and also wouldn’t have blue undertones. Without much research (at all, haha), I landed on sampling Kendall Charcoal by Benjamin Moore. I painted a sample on the east-facing side of the house, next to white trim and a sliver of brick. (While I mentioned I grabbed a sample can on a whim, you can order a true painted high quality peel and stick sample HERE. Orders $40+ get free overnight shipping.)

Kendall Charcoal vs. Iron Ore

When I went to paint a sample on the west-facing side of the house, I also used some of the Sherwin Williams Iron Ore I still had left over from our dining room (see the dining room painted in the soft, warm black HERE).

I actually think the Iron Ore could be a really cool color — especially if we had siding on the front — but in our neighborhood and with the layout of our house, I thought that a color that black would probably be too drastic. I still love the color!

Ultimately, I decided to go with the Benjamin Moore Kendall Charcoal for our siding. And, I’m really glad we did 😉

Kendall Charcoal Exterior Paint Makeover — Before & After

This isn’t a SUPER fair representation of the “before” as I snapped it early in the morning (there’s dew on the side of the house, too), but it is the most recent shot (only a few weeks ago, just before the paint project).

And after we had our exterior painted dark gray… well, here’s the after!

For the shutters, I opted to keep them black and had them coated in Sherwin Williams Tricorn Black (you can see that color inside on the planked ceiling of our conversation room HERE).

And for fairness sake, here’s what it looks like, also early in the morning — which shows how different things can look, depending on light and time of day. Don’t mind the roof tarp — we’re having some work done 😉

From the east-facing side, here’s when our pool was under construction (so the driveway was extra dirty), we still had pine straw ground covering instead of black mulch, and the grass was still dormant…

And here it is today!

I especially love how the dark gray siding looks against the lush green…

Our deck was stained the color we’ve always had it stained with — Sherwin Williams Charwood. Also, our landscaping and plants are struggling a little bit this summer from trying to get it to root in the spring, before being able to treat it like normal. Also, our big limelight hydrangeas took a hit and it looks like may be dying a little this season from the paint 🙁

What Trim Color Did We Use with Benjamin Moore Kendall Charcoal?

I was able to use my Samplize peel and stick samples (HERE) to quickly choose our white paint color. We went with our old, trusty warm white paint friend — Sherwin Williams Alabaster. We used it for the trim, eaves, garage door, gutters, porch, railings… anywhere where white appears. Even having the gutters painted made a huge difference!

On the west facing side of the house, we have a lot of un-pretty things going on (HVAC, gas, pipes, concrete retaining walls…) — and we probably need to consider more solutions to conceal some of the things.

But even painting the house in dark gray made so much of it blend it! Our painters also painted some of the piping black which looks WAY better. We can’t plant trees here since lots of wiring runs underground here and Dave backs his truck up here to load/unload from the basement, but I’ve been considering trying a Creeping Fig vine on the concrete retaining walls as a way to add more green (and to better conceal the walls). Regardless, having them painted the same color as the siding instead of just bare concrete like they were before, made a BIG improvement.

What Does Benjamin Moore Kendall Charcoal Look Like Next To a Pool?

TBH, the biggest reason I wanted to use Kendall Charcoal by Benjamin Moore was the pool area in the back of the house. Since I was chasing a Hamptons-style/garden aesthetic, I loved the idea of the dark gray siding against all the backyard elements and the teal blue color of the pool. Here’s what it looked like in the winter, in the midst of the pool construction…

And here’s how it looks today!

Sources: Chaise Lounges (set of 2) | Umbrella (black pole/canvas sand w/black trim) (currently on sale!) | Umbrella Stand & Weight (currently on sale!) | Outdoor Side Table | Stone Planter (XL) | Striped Pillow Covers (24 x 24, set of 2) | Pillow Inserts (26 x 26, set of 2) | Deck Box (different color)

This alone… I’m not gonna lie– I LOVE IT. It’s also powerful to see how different paint colors can look like across each side, at different times of day, but also against different backdrops and settings.

On our big wall of two-story windows, the builder had all kinds of contrasting white vertical trim. I didn’t like it and asked the painters to slather it all in Kendall Charcoal, only leaving the vinyl window frames white. I’m glad we went that route. I also had them paint the pool pump surround fencing in Sherwin Williams Charwood to go with the rest of the decking on the opposite side.

Sources: Chaise Lounges (set of 2) | Umbrella (black pole/canvas sand w/black trim) (currently on sale!) | Umbrella Stand & Weight (currently on sale!) | Outdoor Side Table | Stone Planter (XL) | Striped Pillow Covers (24 x 24, set of 2) | Pillow Inserts (26 x 26, set of 2) | Deck Box (different color)

What Benjamin Moore Paint Finish Did We Use?

I’ll be honest — I wanted a flat finish on our siding. It’s just how we prefer our interiors, I wanted something that wasn’t really reflective. Our painter convinced us that using a matte would decrease the life of the paint so we went with the Aura Paint Low Lustre. It’s fine but there’s definitely more sheen than I would have preferred when the sun is hitting it. Will it last longer than had we gone with matte? I don’t know. If I was assured the matte would be easy upkeep and would last, would I have chosen matte instead? Absolutely.

Sources: Chaise Lounges (set of 2) | Umbrella (black pole/canvas sand w/black trim) (currently on sale!) | Umbrella Stand & Weight (currently on sale!) | Outdoor Side Table | Stone Planter (XL) | Striped Pillow Covers (24 x 24, set of 2) | Pillow Inserts (26 x 26, set of 2) | Deck Box (different color)

What I will say is that our painters had way more experience with Sherwin Williams and when they completed the project, they raved about the Benjamin Moore quality and application.

What Undertone Does Kendall Charcoal Have?

Based on a random photo on Instagram, someone asked if our house color was green. No. Far from it. And it never looks like that in person. But, like most colors, Benjamin Moore Kendall Charcoal does have a slight undertone (this one being green) which helps bring the warm tone to the paint. As always, it depends how the light is hitting it on whether or not you catch that undertone.

What LRV Does Kendall Charcoal Have?

I was most concerned with LRV when I was considering white paint colors, and not wanting something with too high of an LRV. LRV is a percentage of light the paint color reflects — the higher the LRV, the more reflective, the lower the LRV, the less reflective. Kendall Charcoal has a low LRV of 14.61.

We are so so happy with the result and can’t believe the difference it made in our curb appeal (and backyard backdrop). I would use it again in a second and I would love to see it on an interior, too. We wanted a warmer darkish color that would complement nature and the brown accents on our home, and I think the paint color we went with did just that!

Other Posts You May Be Interested In

• Pool & Backyard Reveal
• Iron Ore Painted Dining Room
• Conversation Room with Tricorn Black Ceiling
• Alabaster Kitchen with Agreeable Gray Cabinets
• Alabaster Breakfast Nook