Like a bathroom or bedroom—out-of-the-way rooms that offer an opportunity to experiment with paint color—an outdoor porch is a place where you can live a little. A porch requires less commitment than painting a facade (both in expense and expanse), and is a great place to try an accent or otherwise bolder color than you might typically choose.
For ideas, we turned to members of the Gardenista Architect/Designer Directory for some of their own favorite porch palettes. Here are their favorite colors:
Kelly-Moore New Linen
![](https://media.gardenista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/kelly-haegglund-mill-valley-porch-white-green-733x806.jpg)
Donald Kaufman DKC-44
![](https://media.gardenista.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/fields/4 HIDDEN HOLLOW-733x529.png)
Mix-and-Match Colors
![](https://media.gardenista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/emerick-architects-portland-dining-porch-733x477.jpg)
Benjamin Moore Summer Blue
![](https://media.gardenista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/janice-parker-landscape-porch-neil-landino-733x489.jpg)
Benjamin Moore Simply White
![](https://media.gardenista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/2michaels-marthas-vineyard-white-beachside-porch.jpg)
Benjamin Moore Stonington Gray
![](https://media.gardenista.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/fields/700_ch-summer-19-remodelista.jpg)
Benjamin Moore Bennington Gray
![](https://media.gardenista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/ann-edgerton-mason-river-house-gardenista-1-733x504-733x504.jpg)
Behr Underwater
![](https://media.gardenista.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/fields/jersey-ice-cream-screened-porch-gardenista-733x1101.jpg)
Donald Kaufman DKC-26
![For the screened porch of their own weekend home—a former farmer’s cottage—in Rhinebeck, New York, architects Calvin Tsao and Zack McKown chose Donald Kaufman Color DKC-\26, a dark gray-green. The door leading from the porch to the house (visible in the post below) is DKC-\23. See the rest in Steal This Look: The Perfect Screened Porch. Photograph by Richard Powers, courtesy of Tsao & McKown Architects.](https://media.gardenista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/screened-porch-tsao-mckown-architects-farmhouse-screened-porch-remodelista-3-733x1100.jpg)
Valhalla Lifetime
![New York\2\17;s BarlisWedlick Architects designed a family compound in New York\2\17;s Hudson Valley with a three-story screened porch. It\2\17;s made of Alaskan yellow cedar finished with Lifetime wood treatment by Valhalla. \2\20;We like the way the gray wood blends into the natural surroundings,\2\2\1; said firm interior designer Elaine Santos. See the rest in Architect Visit: A Natural Pool and Passive House in New York’s Hudson Valley. Photograph by Reto Guntli, courtesy of BarlisWedlick.](https://media.gardenista.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/barliswedlick-passive-house-screened-porch-metal-roof-gardenista-e1470061031788-733x488.jpg)
For more on paints and stains, see:
- Palette & Paints: 8 Colorful Exterior Stains
- 10 Easy Pieces: Architects’ White Exterior Paint Picks
- Dark Matter: 10 Design Ideas to Steal from Houses with Dramatic Facades
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