We’ve already polled the members of the Gardenista Architect/Designer Directory to find the best in Exterior Paint colors to help you make one of the toughest household design decisions when the time comes. Today, we scratch the surface of exterior stains for shingled facades, clapboard, and fences. Here are eight of our favorites:
Swatch photographs by Meredith Swinehart.
Above, left to right: Behr Semi-Transparent in Cape Cod Gray; Timber Pro UV Semi-Transparent in Ebony; Olympic Solid in Forest; Olympic Solid in Wedgewood; Behr Semi-Transparent in Chatham Fog; Behr Semi-Transparent in Colonial Yellow; Olympic Solid in Winning Red; and Behr Semi-Transparent in Slate.
Above: Behr Semi-Transparent Weatherproofing Stain in [product id="974533"]Cape Cod Gray[/product]. (We applied two coats to our sample.)
Above: Semi-Transparent Stain in Ebony from Portland, OR-based natural finishes company Timber Pro UV will provide a near-solid finish.
Above: Olympic Solid Stain in [product id="974509"]Forest[/product] is a rich Irish green.
Above: Olympic Solid Stain in [product id="974520"]Wedgwood[/product], named for the famed pottery.
Above: Behr Semi-Transparent Weatherproofing Stain in [product id="622418"]Chatham Fog[/product]. (We applied two coats of stain on our swatch.)
Above: Behr Semi-Transparent Weatherproofing Stain in [product id="622417"]Colonial Yellow[/product]. (Two coats.)
Above: Olympic Solid Stain in [product id="974516"]Winning Red[/product]. (For a red-stained barn, see Architect Visit: Deborah Berke Artist’s Studio in New York.)
Above: Achieve a dark black (but not completely solid) finish with Behr Semi-Transparent Weatherproofing Stain in [product id="974540"]Slate[/product]. (For a black barn, see Sky High Farm: Artist Dan Colen’s Painterly Landscape in the Hudson Valley.)Explore more in Gardenista’s paint series: