Can we talk about paint colors yet?
I’ve been holding out on you. I had some paint color ideas sketched into the Sherwin Williams Color Visualizer that I never bothered to show you in 5 years. But now that I’m pretty sure the brick will be unpainted we may as well have a look.
But first, some of what I wanted to do: mainly, I want to add some color and variety. There are tens of thousands of houses virtually identical to mine that go on for miles. I think that this neighborhood of brick, stone, concrete, asphalt, and occasionally a tree is begging for cool colors. And anyway, the ubiquitous paint all your trim white (or replace or cover it with white aluminum and vinyl) is definitely out anyway because the white paint looked HARSH
Speaking of harsh, I wasn’t going for that Victorian house painted neon colors either. I had a look at Sherwin Williams Victorian colors and they have a blue-green that I think looks great with the brick, Rookwood Sash Green.
With it I wanted another a few shades lighter to pick out colors on the cornice. I wanted a tone on tone effect. But any lighter blue-greens looked more pastel than I wanted, so I thought of a grey instead. I tried grey instead and found that to better. So I had some fun doodling these colors onto a picture of another house on the block that had its cornice exposed. I painted the marble grey in this image since EVERYONE PAINTS THEIR MARBLE WHITE but mine will be marble. The grey looks a smidge lighter in real life.
Color placement is important here. I think it looks good if all the flat boards that make up the structure of the cornice are painted the blue and all the ornament applied to them is the grey. I do NOT like the reeded details picked out like they are now. I’ll also paint the drip cap and one remaining piece of aluminum capping the blue and hope that helps them blend together and recede.
Now, it’s important to me that whatever I do with colors looks pulled together. I don’t want to do something pretty with the cornice that doesn’t relate to anything else. (Looking at you white vinyl windows on otherwise restored facades.) But I’ve come around to really dark windows over this medium color since then. Rookwood Shutter Green is almost black. You can just look at the color swatches and imagine it on your own. The terra cotta color is my best guess for the color of the brick; I’m not planning on actually painting anything that color at this time.
So, that’s the plan – for now! It of course remains open to suggestions until the paint is bought. There’s still time to obsess over arcane differences in grey options for a while. And to figure out for what I want to do with the door and the wrought iron. Right now I have the slightly kitschy 1960’s railing that I’m keeping because restoring the railing to none would be dangerous, and my house numbers are ranchero style in iron on a shiny stainless steel back plate. It may be patronizing of me, but I plan on keeping those in a nod to South Philly tackiness.
And in case you missed it, here’s the door I’ll be using.
So, please comment with your thoughts!
12 Responses
My thoughts? Well, first, I like that you are going to paint the marble lintels and sills a marble color. It’s important to get that color right, and not go with a gray which is too cool. Personally I think that “Downing Stone” is just a tad too cool and I would opt for something slightly warmer. But of course that is hard to say looking at pictures on the internet – it might look completely different to me on site.
I’m also OK with painting out the reeded band in the center of the cornice. It was probably emphasized originally in an attempt to make the house look wider, but it didn’t achieve that. I like a solid-looking panel in a cornice, and like just the center ornament picked out.
I don’t like the Sash Green (too bluish for my liking and it reminds me of the 80’s) I but DO like the Shutter Green. Shutter Green would work on both your cornice and the window sash.
I would add a new color for the wood jambs around the windows and not paint them the same marble color as the sill and lintel. I would choose something warm like SW 7547 Sandbar which looks good with both Shutter Green and your brick color. Keeping the jambs distinct from the lintel and sill will add more interest and keep the windows looking crisp and defined. Happy painting, however you choose to proceed!
Thabks for the advice! I’m hoping to leave the marble unpainted.
Ooops, my bad. The color visualizer image made me think you were painting it… it looks just like the painted jambs.
The house I used has it painted white so I colored it grey thinking that’s a better approximation of the natural marble
Does just the center ornament mean what I did, or less? And would you use another color on the door?
I like the way the cornice looks in your image (just not the blue-green color, but that is not a huge issue). The way the color is distributed is what’s more important and this looks great. I would probably opt to paint the door the same color that you will use on the window sash. If you want it to have more emphasis later, it’s not a big deal to go back and paint one door.
I still like the colors I picked out 5 years ago but have been second guessing if they’re ideal. I don’t remember the 80’s well enough to dislike them, aside from orange oak. Would you pick another color for the door? And the BF wants a “natural” finish on the ironwork, which I’m open to if I find out what he means.
Sandbar is actually a better match to the marble than downing stone
That’s a relief! In that case, I would stick with the plan you describe, but I would use Shutter Green instead of Sash Green (the dark greens were very popular for window sash, too – I think Sherwin Williams dropped the ball by giving that blue-green a name with “sash” in it). Regardless, the Sash Green would be a great option for your door if you used Shutter green on the cornice and window sash. Your brick (beneath the remaining paint) reads more as red-orange than red, so logically a blue-green would be complimentary. However, I personally would explore chartreuse or similar colors if the goal is to stand out more.
Here’s a Sherwin Williams interior/exterior green I like for your purpose: sherwin-williams.com/homeowners/color/find-and-explore-colors/paint-colors-by-family/SW0015-gallery-green#/0015/?s=coordinatingColors&p=PS0
It would go with an off-white or mushroom color for contrast.
Forgot to say that the door should be a different color, something that “pops” and differentiates your house from the others on the block. You said once you didn’t want red because of all the red brick, but you might reconsider how it will look with all the trim painted out a complementary color. You might like to use that darker green you were looking at for the trim, or an almost black green?
I’m going to be playing with the color visualizer for a while now. I’m pondering yours and will probably draw up something based on them next. I think I could see the green you suggested with a dark red, so I’ll play with that idea. In the meantime, I have Architectural Observer’s rather daring shutter green (which is almost black) and charetreuse ready to post next. The door color may be something to ponder until next year because I’m getting pessimistic about how long the project is taking anyway. FWIW, most doors on the street are white or light colors, so standing out against them is easy, but the Irishman has a vivid fire engine red… and 1970’s chocolate brown brick.