With all the historic color pallets and Victorian color combinations available – how did we choose the right colors for our home?
For our sensibilities, we thought the key to creating a beautiful Victorian home lied somewhere between the “look at me” vibrant painted lady color schemes and the traditional, stately colors of her Italianate (tower) brother.
We started with what already existed in the home, in the yard and in the neighborhood. The following is the story of our color odyssey in how we chose which colors, where the colors went and what was the best paint to make it all come alive.
About C2 Paint
Why C2? Quite simply, C2 represents gorgeous color. The C2 color palette is comprised of 496 complex, refined and essential colors which represent the latest color tastes and trends. C2 is different because it is made using a sophisticated 16 colorant European tinting system while most other paint makers use only 12 colorants. When it comes to application, C2 covers better and it is less fade resistant. Bottom line is the finished product is richer with more depth and luminousity.
For more information about C2 paint, visit www.c2color.com or our special contributers at www.babels.com.
What Color is Your Victorian
By Melanie Rosenbaum 12/3/07
Choosing paint colors can be daunting enough when deciding on the perfect colors for your own house, but deciding on colors that need to please an unknown person or persons is quite honestly…terrifying. It took us many months to decide on the five colors we used on the exterior of our own house several years ago. Now I was being asked to come up with a much more complicated color scheme — using 7 colors in much less time. Thanks Bruce!
When I began to decide on a color palette for the Mount Hope Street home, I knew that I wanted it to have a more cheerful look so as to avoid the Addams Family/haunted house appearance. I also wanted to showcase the intricate trim work which was lost in the all white trim.
I started by researching, then did more researching and finally did even more researching. My favorite references were: America’s Painted Ladies and Daughters of Painted Ladies by Michael Larsen and Elizabeth Pomada. I also scoured back issues of Victorian Homes magazine, Old House Journal, This Old House and any other magazine I could find featuring older or Victorian homes. I then looked at various restoration blogs and photo websites. This was helpful in excluding some color schemes but also added to the confusion of too many permutations!
I realized fairly early on that help was needed by someone a little more focused and not as emotionally attached to the project. We contacted Will Hayward, a color specialist who owns a company called An Eye for Color (see our people involved section). Will had been involved in doing some projects for our Sharon house and has a nearly instantaneous ability to see which direction to go with colors. He created a beautiful parchment effect on the walls in our foyer, staircase area and 2nd floor hallway.
When we were renovating our Master Bath two years ago, an old entryway with an arched header had to be closed off. We wanted to retain the architectural feature and had commissioned a stained glass piece for the top part. We were having a hard time figuring out how to make it look like it had some purpose. Will immediately came up with the idea of painting a fake doorway there. We even added an antique door knob and a doorknocker. It fools people every time! (See the photo in the restoration photo gallery for our Sharon home.) He is wonderfully creative, talented, and great to work with.
So, Will to the rescue! He came out early in the process and we discussed some directions to go in. I was fairly certain that I wanted to do a light body color and dark contrast trim. We also talked about using some of the colors in the front entryway. The ceilings plaster trim was fairly intact and the colors of teal, bronze and red seemed like a good starting point for color selection on the exterior. The other element that was important to incorporate was the slate roof on the turret which had a brick red design running through the dark gray.
Will came up with several different options and we used those as our starting point. As I started to try and put together a sort of paint by number sketch of the house to see how to place the colors, major panic set in. There was so much detail! There are at least 10 different types of brackets and corbels, several different scroll work areas and numerous other types of decorative work. What makes the house so interesting also became a source of stress and paralyzing fear!
I began to second guess the final color selection and made numerous trips to Babel’s Paint & Decorating Store to get other C2 paint samples. I looked through all of my books and magazines again and again. Hours were spent on the internet to try and find a house that looked just like ours with a perfect paint job. This only caused more confusion. I called Will in the midst of an anxiety attack to change the colors. He very patiently listened to my ranting and we made a few changes. I went to the house with my giant C2 color chips and Bruce and I decided on the final choices.
But the fun was just beginning!
(Here is a good lesson—if you hire a professional (someone you know well and who has never steered you wrong) to give advice on something they have expertise in –LISTEN TO THEM FROM THE BEGINNING!!!)
When the paint began to go up something didn’t feel quite right. The darker teal that I had chosen for the trim seemed too strong and I realized it wasn’t going to work well with the slate roof in the turret area. Luckily we have very patient and kindhearted people working with us (thank you Fernando and Marcelo!).
Over the next weeks I spent many hours at the house sketching details, making drawings and doing mock ups of the colors. I painted different color combinations onto an ornate piece of gingerbread trim we had found at a salvage company. I also relied on Johnny, our neighborhood house expert. Johnny is an amazing boy from the neighborhood who possesses an incredibly good eye for architectural details and color. He shares the same addiction to home improvement shows that Bruce and I have and did I mention he is just 10 years old? When he approved some of the changes in the colors I knew it would be OK.
So Fernando, Marcello and folks began to paint with the new colors and I immediately felt that it was the right decision. But, after the body color and trim came the detail, and as they say “The devil’s in the details.” Again, all that gorgeous detail work became my nemesis. Every time I began to form an order for the accent colors, the house seemed to be laughing at me! There is absolutely no consistent order to the various areas of decorative work. The older parts of the house retain the simpler colonial type trim and the newer parts of the façade seem to be a master carpenters’ idea of throwing in every design in his repertoire to show off his skill.
I obsessed some more. I sketched and painted. I looked at more photos. I obsessed some more. I lost sleep. I considered taking a long trip to a far away place where no one could find me.
Finally, I was able to narrow down some of the areas into definite color patterns and decided to let the rest happen naturally. One of the first things that became obvious was the need for more of the red color (C2 Railroad). Fernando tried using more of it in the trim areas on the first floor and it was perfect. From then on the colors seemed to fall into place more easily with some small adjustments along the way.
The Corinthian columns came out better than I could have imagined (the basic color idea for those came from some ancient drawings that I found online.) I also love the way the black trim on the storm window ties in with the roof color and seems to ground all of the other colors. The outside is nearly finished now and with the new driveway, landscaping and the replacement corbels on the left part of the house, everything is looking the way I had hoped. I only hope Johnny approves!
Next Up—interior color choices.