If you want to vastly improve your home's attractiveness and make people's first impressions more positive, there are few better ways than having the exterior painted. A fresh coat of paint can transform a house from shabby to beautiful quickly or bring a whole new look to a tired exterior.

When people are deciding how to paint the exterior of their home, they often just choose colours they like and leave it at that. There's nothing necessarily wrong with doing that, but you can achieve a better effect by thinking about how your home's exterior exists in the space around it. Here are some ideas to help you choose the perfect palette.

Take inspiration from your interiors

It's common for people to think of the interior and exterior of their house as entirely separate when they're choosing paint colours, but you can make quite an impact by having them complement one another.

If you want to do this, think of the area immediately inside the front door, and the first rooms people see when they enter. You should avoid having them match exactly, instead choosing different shades of the same colours or tones that look good together.

Look at the surrounding landscape

The landscape around your home can be excellent inspiration for a beautiful exterior paint job. If there's a lot of plant life and trees, shades of green work well, as do earthy tones, which also suit more arid surroundings.

Whatever sort of land you have around your home and in your backyard, it can really help you pick a great colour scheme for the exterior.

Avoid clashing with your neighbours

If there are other houses close to yours, you'll want to avoid picking colours that don't look good next to theirs. This is mainly a risk if you're using bold colours, but it's a good idea to give it some thought no matter what sort of tones you're going for.

Going a step further, you could choose colours that actually complement your neighbours' homes well, adding extra beauty to your neighbourhood.

Remember the changing seasons

Choosing exterior paint based on the surroundings of your home means it will look different when the seasons change, particularly as autumn arrives. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it's something to think about.

If you love autumn colours, you could have your house painted in shades that match during that season and wait for it to really shine each year. Whatever you decide on, make sure it won't look too out of place at any time of the year. For more information, contact your local exterior painting professionals.