The Best Colonial Exterior Paint Colors for Your Home

Colonial exterior paint colors range from crisp white to deep navy and earthy green. The right scheme suits your home's material, sub-style, and trim. A classic Colonial-style home rewards a planned palette across the body, trim, and accents, not a single shade.

What is the best color to paint the exterior of a Colonial house? The go-to colonial colors are classic white, historic blue, muted or earthy green, warm neutral, black, and historic red. Most colonial schemes pair a neutral body with darker accents on the trim, shutters, and door.

How to Build a Colonial Color Scheme

Colonial and Federal homes use paint to define three zones.

Body: the siding or walls, your largest color area.

Trim: the casings, corner boards, and fascia that frame the house.

Sash and movable elements: the shutters, doors, and window sashes, usually your darkest accent.

Early First Period homes often used just two colors. From the Georgian period on, the three-color scheme became the most common approach.

1. Classic White

White is the timeless colonial choice, and the era used it freely. A white body with white trim reads clean, formal, and true to the style.

Best for: most colonial sub-styles, especially symmetrical wood clapboard facades.

Pair with: white or cream trim and black or dark-green shutters and a matching door.

White shows dirt more than darker colors, so wash it regularly to keep it bright. We recommend a satin or semi-gloss sheen for easier cleaning.

Recommended colors: 

• BEHR® Off White 

• BEHR® Polar Bear

• Benjamin Moore® Bruton White

• Valspar® Du Jour

2. Historic Blue

Blue has deep roots in American and naval history and appears throughout colonial architecture. Navy and medium-to-dark blues work on shutters, trim, or the full facade.

Best for: wood facades and homeowners who want a traditional accent with strong contrast.

Pair with: white trim and a navy or black door.

For more options, see our guide to blue exterior house paint colors.

Recommended colors: 

• Sherwin-Williams Needlepoint Navy 

• Benjamin Moore® Hale Navy

• Benjamin Moore® Colonial Blue

• Benjamin Moore® Williamsburg Wythe Blue

3. Soft Peach

Soft peach and light pink are Victorian-era pastels that carry over well to Colonial Revival homes. These warm, low-contrast tones suit homeowners who want a gentle alternative to white.

Best for: homeowners who want a warm body color with subtle character.

Pair with: white or cream trim and a dark-brown or deep-green door and shutters.

Recommended colors: 

• Sherwin-Williams Aristocrat Peach 

• Benjamin Moore® Hathaway Peach

• BEHR® Fuzzy Peach

• Valspar® Whipped Peach 

4. Dusty Rose

Light pinks and dusty roses give a Colonial Revival home a soft, muted body color. They read subtle from the street and pair well with strong, dark accents.

Best for: homeowners who want an understated warm hue with vintage character.

Pair with: crisp white trim and dark shutters or a deep-toned door.

Recommended colors: 

• Sherwin-Williams Rosedust

• Sherwin-Williams Rachel Pink

• Benjamin Moore® Georgetown Pink Beige 

• BEHR® Minstrel Rose

5. Earthy Green

Green exterior paint colors tie a colonial to its landscape and create a warm, grounded look. Green complements surrounding foliage and a natural setting.

Best for: homes on wooded or garden lots that should blend with their surroundings.

Pair with: cream or white trim and a black or dark-bronze door.

Recommended colors: 

• Valspar® Sweet Clover

• BEHR® Outdoor Oasis

• Sherwin-Williams Anonymous

• Benjamin Moore® Aegean Olive

6. Warm Neutral

Warm neutrals like tan and beige bring warmth to a colonial and pair with almost any accent. They give you a flexible base for trim and door colors.

Best for: homeowners who want a versatile body color that works with many accents.

Pair with: white trim for contrast, or darker shutters and a bold door.

Recommended colors: 

• Sherwin-Williams Accessible Beige 

• Valspar® Daybreak

• BEHR® Basswood

• Benjamin Moore® Pale Oak

7. Black

Black modernizes a colonial and never goes out of style. It works on shutters and doors, and increasingly on the full body.

Best for: homeowners modernizing a colonial or adding strong contrast.

Pair with: a white or light-neutral body and white trim.

Recommended colors: 

• BEHR® Carbon

• Benjamin Moore® Wrought Iron

• Sherwin-Williams Iron Ore

• Valspar® Caviar

Colonial Exterior Paint Colors by Architectural Style

Your colonial's sub-style points you toward a period-accurate palette. The conventions below are scoped to the colonial period.

Georgian

Georgian colonials used dark body colors like stone, chocolate, ochre, gray, and red. The trim was almost always white, with a dark door in chocolate, red, green, or blue.

Federal

Federal homes shifted to lighter body colors such as white, cream, and straw. The shutters and doors stayed dark green or black.

Dutch Colonial

Dutch Colonial homes follow the same body, trim, and sash framework. Their signature is the gambrel roof, not a separate color palette. Choose colors as you would for any colonial.

Colonial Revival

Colonial Revival draws mainly on Georgian and Federal styles. It favors muted historic hues with white trim and dark shutters.

For period-accurate options, the Benjamin Moore Williamsburg Collection offers 144 colors developed with the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Benjamin Moore's color experts, working with the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, examined 18th-century wallpaper, paint samples, and documents to accurately recreate early American colors. Sherwin-Williams offers historic and America's Heritage exterior collections with colonial-era schemes.

That research also found a surprise. Historic colonial pigments were more saturated than many assume, so muted is not always more authentic. For more period palettes, see our guide to the best exterior colors for historic homes.

Choosing Colors for Brick vs. Wood Siding

Your siding material shapes your color choices.

Brick colonials: choose trim and accent colors that complement the brick's undertone. White or off-white trim works with nearly any brick color.

Wood or clapboard colonials: you have more freedom to choose a body color, since the siding carries no fixed undertone.

For sheen, paint manufacturers including Behr recommend a satin body with semi-gloss trim and doors.

How to Choose Your Colonial's Colors

1. Narrow by house material. Brick limits your body options, while wood opens them up.

2. Choose a body color. Pick your main shade first, since it covers the most area.

3. Pair trim and accents. Add trim, then shutters and a door color for contrast.

4. Test large samples. Paint big swatches on the wall and view them in morning and evening light.

5. Confirm maintenance and sheen. Choose a satin body with semi-gloss trim, and plan regular washing.

DIY vs. Hiring a Pro

Most colonials stand two or three stories tall. That height calls for tall ladders or scaffolding, which raises the difficulty and risk of a DIY job. We recommend hiring a pro when your home has upper floors or steep rooflines.

A professional also helps with color selection and delivers a smoother finish. The cost to paint a house exterior averages $1,810 to $4,505.

Painting runs about $1.50 to $4 per square foot. For a 2,000-square-foot home, budget $3,000 to $8,000. A DIY project costs $500 to $1,000 in paint and supplies, but takes more of your time.