Painting

I would like to know out of the communities that are or have adopted new paint colors within the last 2 years are choosing to paint the house in a dark color and trim in a lighter color?

I'm just curious if this dark house light trim is how the majority of assocaitions are painting? Because I've seen some houses with the wood trim whited out and it is awful. White washed would be ok but not solid white plus it will yellow and hard to keep clean.

I think that as long as you use the two colors required that the homeowner should be able to paint however they chose in those two colors. At least that way most people are happy. This way you still uniformaity and individuality all in the same community.

I'm just curious how other associations have handled the what to paint what color and if the majority is going with the dark/light trim. Personally light/dark trim looks classier.

How are associations dealing with this issue?

AB3,
Do you not have any architectural guidelines or an ARC committee where the paint color must be approved by that committee? If you do not and there are no written restrictions on color selections, then you are out of luck.
I am somewhat bothered by your statement of "Because I've seen some houses with the wood trim whited out and it is awful. White washed would be ok but not solid white plus it will yellow and hard to keep clean." That is sounding like just your personal opinion. I personally disagree with that statement. Different areas of the country paint differently. Here in Florida you see shades of Pink everywhere. Imagine a pink house in the northwest. See where I am going with this? It's all in the eyes of the beholder.

I hope I didn't offend anyone. That wasn't the intended purpose. I thank you Gerald for your pointing out something that might not been taken into consideration.

Currently I'm new to the board.
Myself as other owners in our community don't like the lighter trim or the white wood. It will not stay clean with the sand storms we have in AZ nor do I want to waste the water to wash them all the time.

I wanted to purpose that the board compromises which, would allow owners to paint using the light house with the darker trim. We only have 2 colors to use. I wanted to suggest to allow the owners to paint however, they wanted as long as they only used the 2 colors approved. This would still give uniformity and individuality. The colors are already selected owners were split down the middle as to the colors to use. This being the case half wants to use a darker trim and half don't. I just wanted to try and make everyone happy including myself.

I didn't know if this was an issue for lots of other associations and how they handled it. There could be reasons why this would be a very bad suggestion to make that I didn't think of. I just wanted to make sure all angles were looked at before making such a suggestion.

That is all.
Don't take it the wrong way. I wasn't trying to step on anyone's toe's. I only want to try and make everyone happy.

Thank you

Here's the deal. The committee provided colors how many is unknown to the board and they selected 4 colors. Then they submitted for vote the two options one was a darker house paint than the other. We didn't have a vote on the house color and the trim individually. It was these are the two options you have to select from and that is it. Only having two options to pick from even if you liked neither you still had to pick one. We voted by mail so nobody was even allowed the oppotunities to make any motions or comments.

People were complaining at the annual meeting that they would rather paint using the colors in reverse. Mainly because of having to paint the wood white. Nothing shows age more than discolored white. Then of course I still think of painting like coloring a picture with crayons. Granted opinions are like *** **** everybodies got one.

I just think we have a the chance to turn around the owners thinking about the board. By showing them that we will compromise and allow some individuality instead of treating them like children telling them what color to paint and what to paint what color. When employers are looking for employee's they want someone who is flexible. I seems that previous boards haven't been flexible they have been ruled with an iron fist in all aspects not just violations.

Our community is all by itself most people don't even know it's here. We don't have any homes on either side or in back. In front those houses are ginger bread type houses without an association. We are a totally diffrent style and are isolated for the most part.

Is there any reason why my suggestion or motion would be bad or inappropriate? My being new to the board I don't want people to think I'm dumb. Is there something obvious that I could be missing by suggestioning to allow owners to paint however they want to using the two colors allowed?

First off as I already said I'm new to the board.

I've been sitting on the other side of this for too long. The previous boards have all been very experienced at political double speak. Basically never answering the question then quickly moving to another question.

The colors are set I'm not trying to change the colors or even suggest changing the two colors. Talking to someone at the paint store is irrelevent.

I'm just trying to determine if other boards have allowed such a thing? I'm just looking for something to back up my suggestion.

So, i can say over the years other boards have faced the same situation and have successfully handled it like this. I don't care if you are in AZ or not. I don't care if the colors were the same as ours. I just want to know if you know of any associations where homeowners wanted to paint in the obverse of what they were being told. For example: Painting the house in what the board says should be the trim color then painting the trim in the color they said is to be the house. That is it.

I also wanted to know what were some of the challenges they faced if they did allow it. Did people go crazy and paint the house half one color and half another or something stupid like that. I just want to make sure I have looked at this from all angles and be able to present some kind of support to back it up. I don't even want to know the community's name.

I just want to have my ducks in a row and not go in there unprepared. I want to be able to speak from a point of view that isn't mine. Because after all the board is here to 1)serve the community as a whole and 2)make decisions based on the good of the community. Yes, I don't like the colors either and would rather paint reversing the colors. However, I want to make it clear that I never even had the thought of making this suggestion until some of the other owners complained at the annual meeting. If I'm going to make the suggestion I had better be able to support my arguement. Which is why I'm asking for the information that I am.

There is nothing more and nothing less to it. I just want to have some kind of information to back it up. If you know where I could find such information that is great too. I don't mind doing the work I just thought this I would get more support as well as pros and cons to my question.

AB3: Re reversing the 2-chosen paint colors having the dark color on the house, and the trim the light color. You stated that "I want to be able to speak from a point of view that isn't mine." However, until you show proof otherwise to them, that will be exactly what you are doing since this reverse of color is what you desire.

Therefore, IF indeed you do have many association residents who feel that is the choice they want to make to reverse colors, then do the work and get their names on a petition and present it to the Board. There is safety in numbers, and numbers go far when a decision is to be made.

As a caution, be careful what you wish for. I would investigate the surrounding area for this type of reverse color choice to see if it is desirable and aesthetically correct for your own neighborhood association.