Some background information:
The house next door is an identical cottage; it has original turned porch posts and fancy bracketry. Its trim is black and white. You can see a picture of a similar house (much fancier, with gingerbread and gables) here (substitute black for green).
Our house wouldn't have had the railings, but would have had the turned posts and brackets. We want to put turned posts back up instead of the hollow square columns we currently have; they are severely rotted at the base, and to me they make the house look too formal and Jeffersonian.
A historic choice of color would be dark brown. Our windows are dark brown on the exterior; I'm guessing this was the original color (before the green and the white). Other historic color choices would include tan and green. There is a gorgeous brick cottage a few blocks up with a dark taupe, forest green, and burgundy color pallete.
Complicating matters, our roof is in good condition, and a very light grey. Not the most attractive roof for using a historic pallate of colors! We are, however, NOT changing the roof.
Finally, I would like to be able to use one of the accent colors as the color of the addition on the back side of the house and possibly the garage, accenting both with the remaining accent colors and possibly a little "brick color".
Now, here are our contestants:
#1
House #1 is sporting a lovely sage green trim on the fascia, soffits, windows, and posts. Dark grey and light grey accents on the turned posts and door, and a weird peachy tan on the sills and headers complete this version.
#2
The grey on the fascia, soffits, posts, sills, and headers of House #2 is almost the same color as the roof. Paired with a muted blue door and post accents, it will stand out on any street.
#3
A darker grey adorns House #3's main trim areas. The door, header and sills are all a sage green (you kind of lose them around the door!); the same color is paired with a muted burgundy on the posts.
#4
Tan pays a visit to House #4. Paired with dark sage green and burgundy, it looks good without the roof. May we suggest a new hat for House #4?
#5
House #5 has chosen a lovely taupe as it's main accent color. It has paired this with a muted blue door and porch accents, along with light grey headers, sills, and post accents. The grey is mirrored in the roof.
#6
A plagieriser, House #6 doesn't see fit to have an original thought. Pairing the greys and taupes of House #5 with the sage greens of earlier houses, it is a copy in all ways.
#7
A late contender, House #7 is clad in a rich brown with a burgundy door and green and window accents.
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Now... your thoughts? Which are your favorites and why? What colors might you try out instead, and where?
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
In case you are wondering, I used Benjamin Moore's Personal Color Viewer to paint my pictures. Why? Because it was the only cheap program usable on a Mac. It works OK... the cursors are too big, and it is very difficult to do precise detail work. Also, the program is not very intuitive. I'm sure there are better programs out there!
23 comments:
i vote house number two- why? it stood out.
I like #5. I like how the gray from the roof is pulled into the mix. The blue and taupe helps tie the red and gray together better, at least for me it does.
Of the choices you have, I'd vote form a combination that includes the green. You might consider a few shades of green instead of mixing colors....same nice contrast w/o the fear of matching colors.
There is an adorable brick bungalow down the street from me that has a deeper red on the trim with pale yellow acents. It's one of my favorite houses.
The light gray roof may not be so historically incorrect. White or very light gray shingles were very popular in these parts in the early 1900s. In old shingles the light color deflected the heat better than dark colors.
Your house looks worlds better with the brick exposed :-)
I like #2,5,6 and also 7.
Um, I guess a better way to say that would be, I don't like 1 & 4. They're too bright and fight with the brick.
7 is the weird one out. I like the formula of 2,5,&6 best, but something about 7 surprised me. 3 is almost right, but lacks the bright roof grey accent, and looks a little dreary for the lack of it.
6. My vote counts double, I was an architecture major. Of course I messed up picking colors for my own house, so cut it in half. 1 vote for 6!
I like how the sage compliments the reddish color of the bricks, and I just like the warmth of the taupe vs. the cooler gray. At least if you decide you don't like it you don't have to paint siding over again, just trim!
http://images.jupiterimages.com/common/detail/33/18/22741833.jpg
I thought this was kind of pretty. I like #4 and #5 in your pics.
I like #4 and #7--thinking they both blend with the house best. But of course, that's the opposite of what others have said! Looks like you're going to have to decided this one on your own.
Lisa in MN
Thanks all! It's really helping out... especially to hear WHY you like or don't like something!
Stucco House~
That's a good idea! I just drew one up in 3 shades of green, and I think it's my favorite yet. I haven't tried deep red and yellow yet... my picture program has a hard time with deep colors. :( I didn't know that about old roofs... I'd always assumed the light ones were from the 80's!
Pedal Power~
I like that picture a lot... my worry is that it is too close to the house next door, which is exactly the same as ours but has black and white trim, and a brown door... I might try it out, though. We can be twins...
With the current roof, I like house number 2. It looks like it goes together.
But if you were replacing the roof I'd pick number 4.
I like six and seven. I scrolled through the images first without reading the descriptions, and those are the two that drew my eye.
I like #2. I think it will go well with your roof and I really love the blue. I'm pretty much anti-taupe on principle, which affects my votes for all those options :)
I also love that black/white/green combo from pedalpower.
I like #5 or #6. Finally had a chance to check out your old posts about exposing the brick. I love that you decided to save the brick. The house looks awesome by the way. :)
#6 gets my vote so far because the green is so soft against the brick
I'm going to have to go with #4. Although I would tone down and lighten the tan a bit. You might consider painting it the color of your brick mortar.
So many choices! I like #2 or #5- I think those two do the best at standing out while remaining classic...
I would vote for 7. It seems softer, like it all recedes more, effectively drawing me in.
I'd also like to see a taupe door and dark gray everything else, with maybe a tiny touch of the sage. Or, the the 3 green combination.
But don't mind me. I'm the one who painted my kitchen purple.
You may have already seen this, Jennifer, but just in case!
http://yourcolorcoach.wordpress.com/2007/06/04/brick-house-trim-colors/
It's nice to read the questions and answers throughout the comments for more ideas!
Though I like the idea of varying greens...
I like #2. After looking at my share of bricks lately, I think it really pulls the natural beauty of your bricks to the surface.
I vote #4 :) It's just brighter and cleaner looking.
Jen,
It's hard to tell from these pictures! It also depends on the color of the brick. Is it reddish-merlot or orangey-red? My house is dark reddish-merlot with green, tan and yellow bricks. I used dove white on all of the trim, essex green on the shutters and cottage red on the front door. it's a great combo!
ad
No on blue. The sage is pretty nice, but I think you could have a bit more contrast overall and really play up the accent & trim colors. Have you checked out some of these combos for bungalows? (or in his book?) http://www.historichousecolors.com/
We found loads of inspirations in the book. Good luck - it looks great!
I vote #6
I like two things about it---I have a strong preference for limestone sills to be, well, as close to a limestone color as can be possible...
I like the green because I think it is friendly looking. I would pick a green that isn't necessarily popular now, rather a color of green which cannot be precisely dated.
I really think the front door is important, and as such, should be a color that is as far away from the color of the brick as possible. To me, the front door should have some punch, or it gets lost. I didn't like any of the ones where the front door was beige or brown or the ruddy colors, because I felt like the color receded too much.
Thanks for putting these up! How fun!
Thats a house? Where the heck do you live??
Post a Comment