It’s a funny thing, but sometimes people simply don’t like the color of their house, and in a master planned community like Mueller Austin, the question is often asked, “Can I change the exterior color of my home?” One thing that some home buyers don’t think about is that the alley accessed garages mean that you often drive up to the back of your house – not the front – and some residents rarely see the front of their own home.
Nevertheless, I have a client who is buying a resale David Weekley Home here, and she doesn’t like the current hue. The good news is that yes, you can change, and the process isn’t that complex – you simply follow the Mueller Modification Guidelines.
For exterior house color, you have to follow the same guidelines as the builders of new homes – avoiding the same color scheme as other homes on your block. I was mistaken in thinking that you had to select from a pre-existing pallet of paints, but you can choose any colors and send them for review by the Modifications Committee.
Along with the application (which is part of the guidelines document above), you need to send a good exterior shot of your house, and send a link to the color sample. It’s possible the Committee will want to see a photo of the colors together – trim and exterior.
As the homes mature and the first homes start to creep up on their fifth and six years, I anticipate more homeowners will consider repainting exterior elements – especially trim. Why paint the trim? Well the Mueller Design Guidelines called for a certain depth of framing on the windows. While many home exteriors include concrete-based products (e.g. Hardieplank), to meet the Design Guidelines, builders had to use regular dimensional lumber (aka two by fours), which require a little more maintenance (paint and caulk) than the concrete based products.
So perhaps we’ll see trim colors updating. Or maybe even neighbors on the same block agreeing to switch trim colors at the same time.
Get in touch if you have a funny colored house that you need to sell at Mueller, or if you see a home you want to buy here that is the wrong color.