As you know, we recently partnered with Benjamin Moore for the interior paints choices when we were renovating the house. We opted for bright and classic colors, choosing Simply White, Revere Pewter, and Hale Navy for our living and kitchen spaces. We are so happy with our choices, they really are just the right paint for our style home. Naturally, when it was time to select the paint colors for the exterior, we headed back to our local Benjamin Moore store.

Our ranch style home was built in the 1960’s. When we first purchased the house the front doors were a classic white with light green window shutters. We loved the classic style, however we wanted to go a tad more bold with the exterior of the home to give it a more youthful and modern look. We’re fortunate that the brick is a light grey which gave us a neutral base color. One of my favorite parts of the house is the arched entry with a copper roof, so I really wanted to pick a paint color that highlighted it. We kept the original doors which are actually two sets, one being the solid wood doors and, in front of those are glass doors with a wood frame. Recently, while reading an article in Garden & Gun, they listed Blue Danube as a classic southern paint color. Remembering having read this, we tested Blue Danube, Hale Navy and a lighter slate blue called Van Deusen for the doors. I immediately fell in love with the brightness of the Blue Danube. It actually has turned out to be a trademark of our house, whenever giving directions to the home, we always mention the blue doors!

To accent the front doors and gray brick we needed to find the right color for the window shutters. We opted for a custom Charleston Green color. Having lived in Charleston, we were very familiar with Charleston Green and its history. Local legend says that Charleston Green, a green so deep it looks black, came about after the Civil War when Union troops sent buckets of black paint to help rebuild the town. Colorful Charleston residents couldn’t bear the thought of their Holy City being painted government-issued black, so they tinted the paint with yellow and green, creating Charleston’s signature greenish-black accent color. It blends perfectly with the blue doors, copper accents and gray brick and we are so happy with the color combination. In addition, the hint of green in the shutters really brings out the greenery in the landscaping. It also made our hearts happy to know we brought a bit of Charleston to our St. Simons Island home.

Check out a few of our before and after pictures below!

Kelli Boyd Photography exclusively for Lavin Label