Another color selection post! - UPDATED!

[letty]

After crossing some other (more pressing) things of the infinite "to-do" list that comes with an old house, we have come to the dreaded exterior paint. I say dreaded because we've known for a while that this wasn't going to be fun or easy - because it is terrifying to think of picking the color that your house will be for the next 20 or so years. No pressure.

So...we are looking for suggestions. We will be using a color from the Historic New England catalog, but getting the color made up by Sherwin Williams in their Duration Exterior paint.

The house is currently painted yellow with bright white trim. The attached carriage shed and barn are classic red. Due to cost restrictions I think we will only be painting the house this year, but the carriage shed and barn will most likely be done in the next few years, so any color schemes should take that into account.

Attached are photos taken when we took possession of the house 2 years ago (hence the piles of trash in front).

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

[lisascenic]

Can you reduce the size of your photos?

[letty]

Sorry, didn't realize they would display that way. This should be better.

I can also post more photos or some from different angles if that will help.

[Raine]

Dark grey / white trim. Ya I'd like to see a pic of your porch.

[S Melissa]

Picking paint colors is really tough. Go to Sherwin Williams' web site and download the "color visualizer" - download a pic of your house and begin to play with the choices. I do recommend sitting thru the tutorial. I didn't the first time and had just horrible masking results. Once I learned how to do the masking (after sitting thru the tutorial) I fared much better. Once you settle on a few choices after hours of play, get some samples and try them out - live with them for a week or two so you can see them in different lights and get used to seeing them - then decide - or go back to the drawing board for a few more choices.

Also, check out http://www.historichousecolors.com for some ideas of color combos and detail ideas - several of us have used this company for our paint choices with good results. I wouldn't worry about the barns right now "matching" the house. Red barns go with everything and no one will think - oh my the barns don't match - like they will if your socks don't match! Red barns rock! Good luck!

[letty]

Dark grey / white trim. Ya I'd like to see a pic of your porch.

Not sure which one you meant - here are both.

If you are looking at the front of the house this screen porch is to the right. It will be coming down next year or the year after.



This porch is to the left. We plan on expanding it and screening it in when we remove the other porch.



Out of curiosity - why did you want to see the porch?

[melissakd]

I can't speak for Raine, but porches frequently have the most detail work, which is a big part of choosing paint schemes.

The more I look at your house, the more I respond to it. It has the proportion, the classical detailing and the overall presence that I really miss in the midcentury 'Cape Cods' around here. I guess it's just "my type" !

Are you interested in authentic Colonial-period colors?
The present yellow and the blue on your interior were the two big Colonial Revival colors from around 1900, for what that's worth.

With an unfussy house like this, I think you can go one of two ways:

1. A genuinely simple color scheme: One main (body) color. One trim color, relatively light, to allow the sun to show off the angles and planes of the woodwork. Maybe a third accent color applied sparingly, perhaps on one or more doors.

2. A color scheme that seems simple, but actually uses several shades to bring out some of the details without making it look busy. At most, you just want to enhance the natural effects of sunlight. Almost like a makeup artist does with a model's face.
For example, painting the window sash a different color from the trim would be authentic to the probable age of those windows (that is, Victorian). The Victorians usually went with sooty "sash black;" you could give them a nod, while still staying truer to the colonial style, by painting the sash just one shade off the trim color.

MelissaKD

EDITED TO ADD:
I looked up the Historic New England paint colors, and holy catfish, this tool is incredible! Click on the color and you are instantly supplied with multiple possible color schemes. I never saw the like.
http://historic.getservd.net/

[letty]

I can't speak for Raine, but porches frequently have the most detail work, which is a big part of choosing paint schemes.

The more I look at your house, the more I respond to it. It has the proportion, the classical detailing and the overall presence that I really miss in the midcentury Cape Cods around here. I guess it's just "my type" !

Are you interested in authentic Colonial-period colors? The present yellow was a popular 1900-ish Colonial Revival color, I believe. You really can do just about anything with a canvas like this to work on.

MelissaKD

There is little detail work on our house, but I know what you mean. We love our house for exactly the reasons you say - classic, symmetrical, and most importantly, solid. That large pine tree on the left of the picture came down during a wind storm last year. It bounced across the roof, punching holes along the way, before sliding down the front of the house. Aside from the holes in the roof and the soffit being ripped off, the house was fine.

Now find me a modern house that could withstand a 200+ year old tree landing on it... not likely.

I am definitely most interested in authentic Colonial-period colors, and am also considering painting all one color (ie trim and body) because that is supposedly how it was done back in the day.

[melissakd]

I also recommend a book called Paint In America, edited by Roger Moss. Your library may have it. It contains a couple of scholarly articles on Federal-period paint.


Some Color Schemes From Colonial Williamsburg: you can search on their names and find multiple photos of what that color scheme looks like in various light, etc.

Peyton Randolph House, one hundred percent Spanish brown
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kzpics/2287777790/

Bryan House, pumpkin with chocolate shutters
http://www.flickr.com/photos/xwinterhawkx/969288399/

George Pitt House, yellow and light green
http://www.flickr.com/photos/smokejmt/2369564307/

Benjamin Powell House, white with burgundy front door and green shutters
http://www.flickr.com/photos/smokejmt/2315128667/

Elizabeth Carlos House, looking very Victorian in dark tertiary colors
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cbonney/466057751/

Hay Lodging House, yellow and gold
http://www.flickr.com/photos/smokejmt/2317428971/

Russell House, wedgwood green with white trim
http://www.flickr.com/photos/happilyretired/3270745425/

[Theresa]

Benjamin Moore has a color called Narragansett Green that appears dark green in some lighting and dark blue in others. It would look handsome with a crisp white trim.