Looking for ways to make your home stand out? Mix and match materials to create a home exterior design that’s as unique as you!
In this special podcast, Kriss Swint, director of Marketing Communications at Westlake Royal Building Products, talks about mixing materials on your home’s exterior like a pro.
Westlake Royal Building Products is one of North America’s largest manufacturers of exterior and interior building products, including siding and accessories, trim and moldings, roofing, stone, windows and outdoor living. Their high-quality, low-maintenance home exterior design products meet the needs of building professionals and homeowners while providing stunning curb appeal.
This podcast is sponsored by Westlake Royal Building Products.
Why Mix Materials?
Why would someone want to mix materials on their exterior?
Kriss: Mixing exterior materials has been a trend for quite a while. It’s just a way for a homeowner to use home exterior design products to differentiate their house and make it stand out for the right reasons.
If you look at neighborhoods where there are a lot of similarly built homes, it’s a way for homeowners to express their personalities.
Your home’s exterior is the first impression anyone gets of you, so you want to make sure that it’s the right impression that really speaks to you and what you’re about.
Is This Trend Here to Stay?
Is mixing materials an increasing trend, or has it run its course?
Kriss: I think it’s an increasing trend because we’ve really seen it take fruition over the past several years.
As new building products and colors are being introduced, people are really starting to embrace mixing materials. Places like Pinterest, Houzz, and different home websites are inspiring people to want to design their home’s exterior.
It’s not necessarily just the exterior though, you want to make sure you carry that exterior design through to the interior of your home. That way, there is continuity to what you’re doing on the exterior.
Home Styles That Work Best
What are a few popular house styles that feature mixed materials?
Kriss: Arts and crafts style homes are a great example because there are a lot of gables, focal points, and dormers that create separate sections for different materials, while also allowing the whole design to come together.
You also see it in the modern farmhouse style, where you have dark, bold trim and dark windows paired with a light or white exterior. (Think of the 2022 Backyard Paradise Contest winner’s home.)
Also, modern homes with sharp angles and almost boxy-looking designs — these types of homes lend themselves well to incorporating different colors and textures to make that design stand out.
Getting Started
What are some tips for mixing materials?
Kriss: You can mix materials in a smaller, subtle way, which is less expensive. Think about adding shutters to your home’s exterior, changing the color, the door or the landscaping… These smaller things can change the look of your home without redesigning the whole exterior.
If you want to go bigger, look at your home holistically and do your research. Consider different home exterior design elements that will give your home exterior some dimension, like a gable or a porch.
I always follow the rule of two to three different styles, colors and textures, so you can mix and match whatever is appealing to you. You can go all one color with a couple of different textures. Or you can go all out and do two to three colors textures and styles.
It doesn’t have to be just your siding or cladding. It can be a door, window trim, or shutter — anything that adds to that home exterior design element is the key.
The only caution is you don’t want to add too many, otherwise, it’s going to look like a hodgepodge, and that’s when your house doesn’t stand out for the right reason.
Online Resources
If a homeowner wants to mix and match materials on their home exterior, how should they go about it?
Kriss: First, drive around your neighborhood. Take note of exterior home designs that you do and don’t like.
Think about color — do you gravitate more toward darker colors? Do you like lighter colors? Looking at what you typically like is a good starting point.
Look at texture — do you want to add stone accents? I love stone because it feels like it really anchors your design.
Then, go online and check out online design tools by Westlake Royal Building Products. Upload a photo of your home and play around with different exterior home designs to see which one best suits your style.
If you’re not sure where to start, there are preformatted palettes to help you start your design process.
For more exterior design inspiration, visit westlakeroyalbuildingproducts.com, or follow Westlake Royal Building Products on Facebook or Instagram.