Paint creates the first impression of your colorful or conservative home.
Painting the outside of your home involves significant decisions about curb appeal, landscaping and architecture. It should also take into account the aesthetic of the neighborhood. If all the other houses on your block are traditional white with black trim, your Caribbean color scheme is probably slightly out of place. But for a distinctive style like a bungalow, or a home that was a stopover for one of the Founding Fathers, other color considerations come into play.
Cottages, Bungalows and Victorians
You have a house with personality and architectural details, and the paint job should reflect that. A subdued treatment for an interesting house might take most of the paint inspiration from one color, but will explore the values of that color. A pale blue cottage with dark blue trim might include a blue-violet door and porch railing and a slate or medium-blue shingled roof. A showier color scheme can gravitate toward contrasting colors: a pink bungalow gets cornflower blue trim and the front door and maize window frames an eyebrow gable edging. A Victorian dowager is well dressed in blue-green siding, trimmed in creamy yellow with rust-red edging. A purple house with sharp white trim can present a yellow or a red door. A faded pink house overrun by trellises full of roses looks lovely with dark green or violet trim.
Foursquares and Ranch Houses
In a neighborhood of foursquares you will find a lot of white houses. If you opt to blend in, give your friends a way to find you by painting the front door red or pumpkin with your white siding and black or forest green trim. But consider a cream house with green trim with that red door or pale blue siding and dark blue trim and door. You can make your house look individual without sticking out like a sore thumb. Paint a ranch house that isn't brick sided with a brick-red color with black and pewter trim, pale green with dark green trim, or, in a sunny climate, terra cotta with deep turquoise shutters and front door. If you paint the house a pale color, choose a dark color for the roof and downspouts to draw the eye upward. The house will seem taller. If the house is on the small side, paint the garage door the same shade as the walls to give the facade the appearance of a long, unbroken line.
Period Architecture
Restoring the original or period colors of a historic home takes work but creates a fascinating glimpse of the past. To discover paint colors, turn to historic research and focus on the region and even the neighborhood your home is in. Old drawings, photographs, descriptions, newspaper advertising and other documents will hold clues about what was available and fashionable at the time. Consult with or hire a professional color researcher who can take microscopic samples of the paint layers on your home and determine the exact colors and composition of the original paint. Without careful research, you might overlook the vivid colors used by past owners of your house, or mistake an old paint scheme, say, from the Victorian era, for an even older one---a colonial or 18th century palette.
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