How to Visualize a New Exterior Color or Siding Before You Repaint

A different paint color, board-and-batten instead of vinyl, black window frames instead of white — before anyone buys a gallon of paint or orders a siding sample, they want to see it on their own house, not a swatch card or a showroom panel. Here's how to get there from one photo in a few minutes, and exactly where the result stops being something you can rely on.

Step 1: Decide the direction before you touch a photo

If you haven't settled on a palette or a siding material yet, start with AI Mood Board + Materials Spec: describe the exterior you want, set Focus to Exterior mood, and it returns a mood board plus a materials and finishes spec across 6 exterior categories — siding, trim, roofing, doors, and more — at 100 credits, so the conversation with a painter or a siding contractor starts from a direction instead of a blank page.

Step 2: Start from one straight, well-lit photo

• Shoot the house straight-on or three-quarter, with the whole facade in frame — roofline to foundation — and far enough back that nothing gets cropped. A tight or angled shot gives the tool less of the house to work with.
• Overcast or flat daylight reads better than harsh sun, which bakes in shadows that fight the new color once it's applied.
• Move the car off the driveway and out of frame where you can; trash cans, hoses, and anything leaning on the facade can get redrawn into something else entirely rather than simply removed.
• A render from your designer or a prior Archify exterior run works as the input too — the tool treats it the same as a photo.

Step 3: Write the brief and set the slider

Upload the photo to Exterior AI and write the brief as the specific change, not a mood: "charcoal gray board-and-batten siding, black window frames, white trim, keep the roof and landscaping." Set Creativity low (1–3) to stay close to a literal repaint, or higher if you're open to the model proposing trim or massing changes along with the color. Each run is 100 credits.

Step 4: Decide what must not move

Tick Structure Lock so the roofline, windows, and proportions stay exactly as photographed — you're testing a finish, not a different house. Leave Maintain Colors unticked; that setting holds the input's existing colors, which is the opposite of what a repaint comparison needs. For anything that has to survive untouched — a door you've already ordered, a planting bed, a neighbor's house in frame — paint over it with the Keep this area brush; that area comes back from your original photo rather than getting redrawn.

Step 5: Compare options before you buy a sample

At 100 credits a run, it's cheaper to compare three siding colors or two trim combinations side by side than to order physical samples of each, or to tape off sections of your own house to compare paint chips in daylight.

Where this is not enough

Be clear about what the image is before anyone — you, a contractor, an HOA board — relies on it for a decision that costs money.

• It restyles the whole facade, including what you didn't mention. Without Structure Lock, the same photo can come back as a different roofline or window layout between runs — the lock is a strong constraint, not a geometric guarantee. Use Structure Lock and the Keep this area brush for anything that has to stay exactly as it is.
• It's a concept image, not a paint or siding catalog. The color and material shown are the model's interpretation of your brief, not a named paint code or a specific manufacturer's product — bring the image to a paint store or siding supplier to match it to an actual product before you order.
• One photo in, one image out — lighting, time of day, and the angle you shot from all affect how a color reads, the same way they would with an actual paint sample in daylight versus shade. A render is a strong starting point for a conversation with a painter or contractor, not their final word.
• If your HOA or municipality requires an exterior-change approval, check that process first — a render here doesn't substitute for it.