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This story is published in cooperation with Willamette Week and Miller Paint.
In the years since I moved into my house, I’ve dabbled with color and learned a hard lesson: Paint can be tricky. So when I decided it was time to update the exterior paint on our 2005 home, I knew it was time to call in the experts. Instead of waffling for weeks, I booked a virtual color consultation through millerpaint.com with Melanie Gibbs, who has been working with Portland-based Miller Paint for 20 years. The paint on my own house is just starting to crack, so I was ready to paint.
“People are often afraid of making the wrong decision with exterior paint,” Gibbs says. “Everyone responds to color differently and that can affect your decision-making.”
Gibbs spoke to me about my desires for a new look for my house. I’ve been wanting to paint over the 2000s beige and purple gable for years now. Mostly, I wanted new colors that would flow better with the blues and greens that were so prominent in our interiors, but I also wanted the home to stand out in the neighborhood without looking like a fun house.
I was glad for the help. For months, I’ve been walking around with the full Miller Paint Northwest Color Collection in my bag. Since it came out last year, I’ve turned to it again and again as I update my home. I’ve always wanted to feel more energetically connected to the landscapes around me, and the collections of muted grays, subdued blues, softened colors felt new and fresh without relying too much on trends.
“Everybody has really been resonating with it,” Gibbs says. “All of the colors have a grayish undertone that really works well in our climate.”
Since 1890, Miller Paint has been making quality paints locally. Miller Paint’s founder Ernest Miller, a scenic artist and muralist, opened his first storefront to serve local Portlanders who had limited access to paint, as there was not a regional manufacturer in the young city at the time. These days, the company is still making paint right here in Portland for all 56 of their Pacific Northwest stores and is one of just a handful of regional paint manufacturers still operating in the United States today. Miller Paint is known for being employee-owned and for creating paint formulations that work in our wet wonderland.
Gibbs walked me through some of the choices that came to mind for my home – paints that would play nicely with our wooden front door and the medium gray Trek porch my husband put in during the pandemic. We had begun hosting porch concerts there and an occasional thing we called Pinot on the Porch, so we had a deadline for painting: before summer.
For the main body of the house, we picked Spruce Shadow (R082), an ambiguous blue color that sometimes looks green, depending on the light. For the trim, we picked Ebb (R092), which is a soft gray with a blueish cast, and then, for an accent color, we added some contrast with Indigo Leaves (R096), which is a deep, cool-toned dark navy.
Part of the draw for these colors is just how familiar they feel without falling directly into specific color categories. Many of them feel plucked from your favorite experiences of the Northwest – that last great sunset you saw, or the mushroom you found on your last best hike. Plus, choosing colors from the Northwest Color Collection felt easier than sorting through thousands of colors, as the palette is intentionally limited to 132 hues that all work together.
Recently, Gibbs has been speaking with a lot of people who either want to go really, really dark or really light on the exterior of their homes. For those who love things dramatic, she turns to the moody shades like Haven (R065) or Vermont Slate (H0149) as an all-over color, not just an accent. For people who want their homes to stand out or want something really fun, she likes the earthy yellow-green shade Heathered Herb (R050). Or, you can be on-trend with Miller Paint’s Color of the Year, Unity (R129) , a pinky taupe.
“People are turning back to warmer, grounding colors,” Gibbs says. It’s about finding those colors that feel like a hug.”
I’m going to do what Gibbs recommends, which is testing the colors before you commit to a whole project. You might have seen people paint directly on the exterior to test, but Gibbs says you can also paint swatches on a piece of poster board or cardboard, so you can move it around and see how the color changes in different light and weather. For an additional cost, you can also use Miller Paint’s rendering service to see exactly what the colors would look like on the exterior of your home before painting.
“Always test first,” Gibbs says. “You’re far more likely to be happy with what you chose.”
Just in time for paint season, Miller Paint is kicking off their annual FREE SAMPLER SATURDAY event. Stop into your local Miller Paint store and show that you follow @millerpaint on Instagram and receive a FREE Color Sampler any Saturday in May and June! (Limit one free Color Sampler per customer. Promotion not affiliated with Instagram.)
Have a summer painting project? Book a virtual OR in-person color consultation with Miller Paint here, and get more inspiration on their blog!