Reader dilemma

Posted on Fri, 16 Apr 2010 by KiM

Angela sent us an email with a dilemma that I’m hoping you all can help her with: “I have recently purchased a small red brick home that was built in 1930 – I love it and cannot wait to get my hands on it. Currently the house is red brick with a heinous John Deere Green trim that I am dying to paint but I have yet to stumble across some really great inspiration or references. It has natural shingles so there are technically three fields of area that need color, red brick being the majority. I love the idea of something slightly eccentric but still classy – like the grey house with the lime green door. I would appreciate if you could point me in the right direction.” Having never had the opportunity to be able to paint the exterior of a house, I am sort of at a loss as to suggestions for Angela, which is why I thought I’d open it up to all of you. Her house is absolutely ADORABLE as you’ll see below, so getting rid of the awful green will make a huge difference and make her home even more fantastic with great curb appeal. Leave your ideas in the comments!

  

Sammy says:

Resene is NZ’s leading paint house with fabulous paletes such a Whites and Neutrals, the Range fashion collection and of course the effortlessly cool Karen Walker collection of designer muted slightly retro hues. They have a great tool on their site – Resene Ezy Paint. You can either use the online version or download your own copy. Either upload a picture of your own home or choose the one online that looks similar. Honestly – the hardest part is chosing your colours!

http://www.resene.co.nz

Personally – black, white, wood and brick as per oregonbird or try a dirty duck egg blue with white and natural wood. Good luck!

Wally says:

Working in a company that sells paint and woodcare, I see a lot of pictures of houses all the time. And I know that in Denmark the wood would be painted white with a litlle splash of redness. There are so many great details on this house, so white would ad some ease to the appirence of the house.
Good work 🙂
, Wally

Natalie says:

Being from Australia, I immediately thought of Sydney's Federation houses. Although they were built about 30 years earlier than Angela's, they have similar characteristics in terms of shingles, brick and trims requiring different colour treatment. Here's a link to a website with images of Federation houses which may give you some ideas. http://federation-house.wikispaces.com/Appian+Way%2C+Burwood
Natalie Singh

Eva says:

Craftsman!
Amazing house, so beautiful.
I think that the idea of having grey with a pop of color would be amazing. Lime or a blue midtone would be nice.

lindsay says:

I’d go for black/dark gray trim. Classic and you can contrast with a bright door, and you can change that a million times and it will always work with black. I’d leave the cedar and brick alone. Painting them will just create more maintenence. Maybe add an interesting light fixture and some nice potted plants on that great porch. Also are the steps concrete or painted? You’d might change that with the new look.

Good luck, it’s a darling house!

j. says:

your shakes look new-
to age them to the silver gray color, wash with a solution of water and baking soda and allow to sit for a few hours. (test a patch first)

Amy says:

I have a very similar bungalow in Atlanta/U.S. We used a warm brown on window sashes, ivory on trim (columns, double freize board), and warm taupe on shingles. It was a little too conservative for me so I painted the door a historic Ben Moore robin’s egg blue. Makes me smile every time I see it and the blue draws attention to our verdigris lantern on the front porch. Our shingles are a cementitious product and needed to be painted. The natural gray of weathered cedar is a lovely color too.

Stepanka says:

I’d also go with the black and white theme. I’d paint all the trims black (except the large board above the porch), the stucco pillars and window surrounds. Paint all the rest white, not the shingles though because those will be a pretty shade of grey eventually.

And paint the porch ceiling and front door, perhaps robbin egg blue or a very intense turquoise though more blue than green, or apple green or lemon yellow or even bright candy apple red. Or whatever you feel like, as long as it isn’t Halloween Orange or beige.

Good luck with that and congrats on the pretty house ! May you be happy there 🙂

KTH says:

Do something poppy like pink against the red brick. Or maybe some surly black…

Emily says:

There’s a house near mine that has recently been touched by someone with cute style. I walk by it all of the time and think how cute it looks. It’s mostly white and gray (which you could make work, with gray on the shakes and white trim)…and then just the risers of the stairs are painted an amazing muted chartreuse (with lots of gray in it). Totally modern, but not garish. I love it.

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