When to Give Your Home a Coat of Many Colors
Drape your house in a dazzling array of hues to bring architectural details to life and draw admiration from the street
Houzz Contributor. My name is Bud Dietrich and I am an architect located in the Tampa Bay area of Florida. I am licensed to practice architecture in Illinois, Florida, New Jersey & Wisconsin and I am a certificate holder from the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB). Since 1996 I have worked from my home office and provide full architectural services exclusively to the single family residential market. My passion is to transform my clients' houses into their homes. I strive to have the "new" home accommodate my clients' lives without fighting them at every junction. I look to add curb appeal to encourage a beautiful streetscape. And I design any addition to look and feel like it has always been there.
Our projects have won numerous design awards as well as having...
Houzz Contributor. My name is Bud Dietrich and I am an architect located... More »
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If there was ever a place and time of irrational exuberance, it was America during the second half of the 19th century. It was certainly a time when if a choice of one was good, then two was better, and three or more wasn't overdoing it at all. It was a time when surface decoration became the norm rather than the exception. It was a perfect storm of the new industrialism that made just about anything available and the presence of money for people to buy it all.
So it's not surprising that many of the homes of this era were done up with lots of details — and lots of colors. Why pick just one color when the whole rainbow is available? And don't skimp on the details, because every color needs its own place to rest.
While in the early 20th century the world turned its back on this riot of color, retreating to the safety of an all-white world, the beauty, richness and joy of the "painted ladies" of the 1800s has been rediscovered. So if you have it in you, and your period or period-inspired home has the architecture for it, please don't stop with just one or two colors.
So it's not surprising that many of the homes of this era were done up with lots of details — and lots of colors. Why pick just one color when the whole rainbow is available? And don't skimp on the details, because every color needs its own place to rest.
While in the early 20th century the world turned its back on this riot of color, retreating to the safety of an all-white world, the beauty, richness and joy of the "painted ladies" of the 1800s has been rediscovered. So if you have it in you, and your period or period-inspired home has the architecture for it, please don't stop with just one or two colors.
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| Imagine a whole streetscape filled with brightly painted and multichromatic homes close together. Walking down a street like this would be a visual treat, with house after house being more joyous than the next. |
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| These famous painted ladies in San Francisco march down the hill in multicolored splendor. While the main colors of the bodies are soft and quiet, each detail and material is articulated by form, texture and color. The articulation was most often achieved here by varying the tone and hue of the main color, but it can also be achieved by using a complementary (or almost complementary) color. So a light green gives way to a darker green detail, for instance, and the trim is never, ever white but all creamy and soft. |
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As we get closer to these houses, we start to see the details and color intricacies. Golds, taupes, mauves and more all pull out the inlay and overlay details that enliven the surface. Both the carpenters and the painters get to show off their skill and craft.
And we see something new each time we walk by. Because, after all, these houses are meant to be seen and enjoyed from close up, not whizzing by at 35 miles per hour.
And we see something new each time we walk by. Because, after all, these houses are meant to be seen and enjoyed from close up, not whizzing by at 35 miles per hour.
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| No surface is left unadorned. Even the undersides of the eaves get a rich treatment of color to highlight all that architectural detail. It is the kind of feast for the eyes that only a multichromatic palette can bring out. |
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The point that can't be stressed enough is that color reinforces the architecture. So no matter how subtle the detail, such as how a corner is created in a box bay, color reinforces the proportion, scale and overall architecture.
Just imagine if this trim didn't step in to form the corner or if the color were all the same. The entire home's proportions would be thrown off, and the overall result would be nowhere near as interesting.
Just imagine if this trim didn't step in to form the corner or if the color were all the same. The entire home's proportions would be thrown off, and the overall result would be nowhere near as interesting.
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| Of course, there's also the use of complementary colors in bold hues. Not for the shrinking violet, these colors will make your home really stand out. And while it's from a little distance that we more often get to appreciate these homes ... |
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| ... it's really from close up that we see just how artfully the color palette has been employed. Each piece of molding, trim and detail is painted differently from the main colors to draw attention to it. And each texture is a different color, so we really get to experience and enjoy the diversity of it all. |
| These color schemes aren't just for old houses. A newly built home near the Jersey Shore uses color just as it was used in the 19th century. A scheme that uses color to articulate each architectural element is ideal for a house with all of these brackets, bays and bows; crenellations and crowns; dadoes and dormers. Not to mention ... |
| ... a widow's walk. Note that the emphasis is on the vertical, as in 19th-century versions. This 21st-century version, however, splits the body color in two: The lower floor is painted a more earthen color that recedes, while the upper levels are more pronounced. Between the more pronounced color of the second floor and the vertical cream-colored trim, the eye is drawn up to the rooftop and sky. |
Window frame color plays into this home's overall palette in an incredibly important way. Yes, the 19th-century homeowner had to paint and repaint and repaint the wood windows. However, the 21st-century homeowner can get brightly colored frames in other materials that will last for many, many years. We aren't stuck in a world of just white, beige or brown window frames anymore.
And just as on its 19th-century ancestors, the undersides of this home's eaves are richly decorated with architectural details and color.
And just as on its 19th-century ancestors, the undersides of this home's eaves are richly decorated with architectural details and color.
Ideabook published on Jan. 17, 2013.
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No designers, landscapers, or architects involved - she and her husband have done all the design work, and much of the actual work, themselves, only hiring painters and carpenters when needed.
On the bright side, I have a home built in the late 1800s. It's a cute little home that has new aluminum siding, so, it'll be a little while before the outside will match the internal color exuberance I plan.
I'm so excited to be moving into my new (old) home....