What's the most popular exterior paint color in Minneapolis and St. Paul right now?

Warm greige, warm white and warm gray cover most of what's going up across the metro right now. They work with nearly every roof and stone combination already on your house, which is why they show up so often. See the combinations above for specific colors that hold up on this housing stock.

How long does exterior color selection and painting take in the Twin Cities?

Color selection happens during your free estimate, where we bring full-size samples to your actual walls. Once you approve a color, most exterior projects are completed in days, not weeks, depending on the size of the house.

COLOR GUIDE

Best Exterior Paint Colors Minneapolis St. Paul Homes

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Address: 504 Prior Ave N, Saint Paul, MN, 55104, US
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The best exterior paint color for a Minneapolis or St. Paul home is decided by four things you already own, and none of them is a trend list.

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QUICK ANSWER

How do I choose an exterior paint color?

Start with what cannot change: the roof color, the stone or brick, the window frames and the architectural era of the house. Those four fix your range before you look at a single color swatch. Then test full-size samples on the actual walls, in this specific light, and look at them across a full day. A color chosen from a card indoors reads differently outside every time.

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THE FIXED ELEMENTS

Four Things That Choose Half of It for You

The most useful thing anyone can tell a homeowner about exterior color is that most of the decision is already made. Four elements are staying, and they set the range before taste enters the conversation at all.

ITEM 01

The roof.

It is the largest single surface on most houses and it is not being replaced to suit a paint color. A warm brown or weathered-wood shingle pushes you toward warm neutrals and greens; a cool gray or black shingle opens up the cool grays, blues and charcoals. Fighting the roof is the single most common exterior color mistake, and it is visible from the street forever.

ITEM 02

The masonry.

Stone, brick, or a stucco base course. Anything you are not painting has an undertone, and the body color has to sit alongside it rather than argue with it. Hold your samples directly against the stone in daylight, not next to it.

ITEM 03

The window frames.

White vinyl frames are effectively a trim color you already chose. Bronze or black frames give you far more latitude and frequently look best with a body color considerably darker than homeowners expect.

ITEM 04

And the architecture.

A 1920s bungalow, a 1968 rambler, a 1994 two-story traditional and a 2015 build are asking for different things. Historic housing generally looks right in the deeper, more saturated palette it was built with; mid-century ramblers carry cleaner, simpler two-color schemes; newer construction sits comfortably in the greige and warm-gray range that dominates the market.

NOTE ON ESTIMATE COMPARISON

Once those four are on the table, the number of genuinely good options usually drops from hundreds to about eight, and that is a much better place to start choosing from.

MINNESOTA SPECIFICALLY

Why the Color Swatch Lied to You

Exterior color behaves differently here than it does in a store, and differently here than it does in a warmer state. Four reasons.

Northern light is cooler.

It pulls warmth out of a color, which is why beiges chosen from a card frequently read pink or yellow on a wall and why grays shift blue. A color with a warmer undertone than you think you want is usually the one that looks right outside.

Snow is a giant reflector for months.

From December through March a great deal of light arrives off the ground, bouncing up into soffits, under eaves and across the lower half of the house. Colors look brighter and cooler in that period than they will in July.

Summer sun is stronger than people expect.

Direct exposure washes out mid-tones on south and west elevations, so a color that reads perfectly on the shaded north side can look thin and faded on the sunny side of the same house.

And the tree canopy is dense in the older neighborhoods.

Under a full canopy in Minneapolis or St. Paul, everything goes darker and greener. A color chosen on a bright open lot will not behave the same way three streets over.

All of which is why samples go on the wall, large, and get looked at over a whole day. Two feet square, on at least two elevations, checked in morning light, mid-afternoon and at dusk. It is the single highest-value hour in the entire process and it costs the price of a sample pot.

THE COMBINATIONS

Six That Hold Up on This Housing Stock

Warm white body, black trim and black windows.

Crisp, current, and genuinely flattering on farmhouse-influenced new construction and on cleanly detailed older houses. It shows dirt more than most schemes, which matters on a lot near a busy street. Body: Extra White (SW 7006). Trim and windows: Tricorn Black (SW 6258).

Deep charcoal body with a soft white trim.

Excellent on mid-century ramblers, where the low horizontal mass benefits from the weight, and superb against a black roof. Body: Black Fox (SW 7020). Trim: Extra White (SW 7006).

Warm greige body, warmer white trim, and a colored front door.

The safest good answer in the metro, and the reason it is everywhere is that it works with almost every roof and every stone. Body: Fashionable Gray (SW 6275). Trim: Extra White (SW 7006). The door color is a personal call, not a formula.

Muted green or sage with a cream trim.

Handsome on bungalows, Tudors and anything with wood detail, and it sits well under a canopy where a pure gray can go flat.

Navy or deep blue-gray body with white trim.

Strong on a two-story traditional with good symmetry. It wants a cool roof to work with. Body: Smoky Blue (SW 7604). Trim: Extra White (SW 7006).

And a two-tone body, darker below and lighter above on a split-level or split-entry,

which is the most effective thing you can do to a facade that reads as awkward. Lower: Curio Gray (SW 0024). Upper: Alabaster (SW 7008).

The trim is where the money shows. On any of these, the fascia, soffit, window casing and door surround do more visual work than the body does, which is why a trim-and-doors-only project transforms a house with sound siding.

BEFORE YOU COMMIT

Four Things Worth Knowing First

Very dark colors are more work to maintain,

absorb more heat, and on south and west elevations in this climate they fade sooner. They are frequently worth it. Just choose them knowingly.

Dark colors on vinyl siding need products rated for it,

because heat absorption can distort panels. This is a real constraint rather than a sales caution.

Association neighborhoods govern exterior color

across a good part of the metro, and approval takes weeks rather than days. Start it in winter, not in June.

And your neighbors' houses are part of your view.

Standing at the curb and looking at the three houses on either side is worth doing before committing, not to match them, but to avoid the version where your color reads as a reaction to theirs.

SURFACE FINISHES

Sheen Matters Too

Color gets most of the attention, but sheen decides how it actually reads on the wall. Siding wants a satin or low-lustre finish: enough sheen to clean off and hold color, not so much it highlights every seam and nail pop in the siding. Trim, shutters and doors want semi-gloss, which is what gives them that crisp edge against the body color. Decks and fences aren't paint at all: they want a solid stain, since a film finish will peel on wood that moves with the weather.

Your estimate includes a sheen recommendation for every surface, not just a color.

FACADE ACCENTS

Garage Doors and Front Doors Count Too

Once the body color is settled, two surfaces still deserve their own decision. The garage door is often the single largest painted surface on the front of the house, and it's a low-effort way to update a facade without touching the siding. The front door works best as the contrast anchor: a darker, saturated color against a lighter body draws the eye exactly where you want it, and it's the one surface on the house where a bolder choice rarely goes wrong.

TWIN CITIES COVERAGE

Exterior Color Selection Across The Metro

Written estimate estimates and live on-wall sample testing across Minneapolis, St. Paul, and surrounding suburbs including Edina, Minnetonka, Maple Grove, Eden Prairie, White Bear Lake, Eagan, Hopkins, Chanhassen, Wayzata, Golden Valley, St. Louis Park, Savage, Shakopee, Plymouth, Woodbury, Bloomington, Roseville, Apple Valley and Richfield.

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PORTFOLIO

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Charles Olive-Tan Stucco Exterior

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Charles Black

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Tempe Star Stairwell & Entry

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