Top Paint Trends for Outdoor Spaces This Summer

When it comes to paint, our sights can often be fixed on the colors and materials we apply inside our spaces. And even when it comes to exterior paint, there can be a tendency to focus on the four walls of a building, but as the weather warms up, many of us are spending more time outdoors, so our patios and backyards serve as a perfect canvas for paint.

Using paint outside is not only a great way to amplify design, it’s also a great way to be eco-efficient, satisfying a human need in a way that minimizes adverse energy loss. For example, painting a planter pot in a light color helps protect that container from the sun’s rays and from wind, all while reflecting light off of the plant itself, keeping it from getting too hot. Because the pot is protected from some of the wear-and-tear of weather, it lasts longer, negating the need to repurchase the container anytime soon. Painting outdoor accessories, pots, furniture and walls is a way to meld design and eco-efficiency.

Photo Credit: Marisa Vitale

Keeping It Light

Colors on trend for exteriors like warm whites, beiges, and tans create a soothing atmosphere and provide a fresh, clean aesthetic. Sprucing up spaces like Casa Joshua Tree’s outside lounge space and patio in SEAL-KRETE FLOOR-TEX in Hayride (DE6102) and exterior in EVERSHIELD® in Warm White (DEW380) provides maximum protection against UV color fade. Light colors such as these which reflect sunlight, lessening the heat that can be trapped in summer’s harshest environments like desert areas or compact urban environments.

Playful With Pinks

Other colors that are trending in outside spaces for summer are warm sunset pinks, à la Claire Thomas’s Yucca Valley, Calif. getaway, Oeste.

Photo courtesy of Claire Thomas

Experiment with color in your outdoor spaces in accessories and tile as well. At Oeste, the pink in the tile mural ties into the pink in the patio cushions, bench seat and the outside color of the house.

Another lover of pink in outside spaces is fashion designer Dani Nagel of Dazey LA who loved the Dunn-Edwards Pale Jasper (DE5148) she used inside her Beachwood Canyon penthouse so much that she covered the penthouse's outdoor trellises, walls and pots on the patio in the same color.

Photo Courtesy of Dani Nagel

Masterfully Moody Summer Palettes

Perhaps surprisingly, going dark on outside balconies and spaces is a hot trend that coincides with the uptick in dark browns, blacks and grays used on home exteriors. In the mountain town of Idyllwild, Calif., the design duo Thomboy Properties chose Weathered Brown (DEC756) for the exterior paint color of their forested summer hideaway, encapsulating the home’s serene tree top deck spaces, creating one seamless, dramatic look.

Photo Courtesy of Thomboy Properties

Similarly, another designer couple, the Raskinds, incorporated dark, moody tones into the outside spaces of their Griffith Park-adjacent property in Los Angeles, Calif. And with an 18,000-square-foot lot, there is no shortage of space. For the design of these outdoor spaces, the Raskinds opted for cool khaki, Flintstone (DE6221), on the exterior pool walls and deep green, Black Spruce (DE6308), for the outdoor staircase and planter boxes. The couple loved the latter tone as a way to lean into all the biodiversity around the home’s lot.

Photo Credit: Bethany Nauert Photography

And don’t forget those outdoor areas for summer when it comes to small spaces and accessory dwelling units (ADUs). Exterior spaces at the front of a home can make a big first impression. Take for instance the trellis patio in Cavernous (DE6364) and bold blue front in Dover Straits (DE5866) of this sought after East Los Angeles ADU.

Photo Credit: Marni Epstein-Mervis

For more ideas on color and design styles that are popular this year, take a look at our primer on 2021 color and design trends.