When it comes to home-improvement projects, repainting the interior may be a common idea, but giving the home’s exterior a fresh and protective coat of new paint should also be a consideration.

All this makes settling on the right paint for your home's exterior a challenge. That said, a little research plus a few handy rules of thumb will make the process much more manageable.

A top-performing semigloss exterior paint, such as Lowe's exclusive Valspar DuraMax Semi-Gloss, $40 per gallon, provides maximum protection plus a bit of visual contrast and shine.