When it comes to deciding what color or colors to paint your historic home, there are many schools of thought and factors to consider. I’d like to offer my own recommendations based on 20 years of professional practice as a historic preservation advocate AND a designer. Please note that this is NOT an article about historically accurate paint colors, although I’ll definitely touch on some of the history and theory behind the color palettes associated with certain historical movements and styles.

Contrary to certain schools of thought, I believe that paint color is a more temporal aspect of historic architecture, and therefore is more open to interpretation than other architectural features. At the end of the day, my recipe for choosing an “appropriate” historic paint palette is to consider the following: historic precedent, context, color theory, and finally personal preference.

Historic Precedent

Historically, paint served as a protective coating for many buildings, particularly wooden elements like siding, shingles, trim, and doors. Please note that brick doesn’t require painting, and doing so is generally not advised. 

It’s worth spending some time researching the history and philosophy around standard colors associated with certain architectural styles. This can help you make informed decisions about how to honor the history of your home, while adapting those design philosophies to meet some of the other criteria discussed in this article. Generally speaking, two common architectural styles that are encountered in many historic Utah neighborhoods are Victorian and Arts & Crafts.

Victorian homes consist of a relatively wide variety of color schemes depending on the period or particular style of Victorian architecture. Early Victorian homes were generally more muted, earth-toned, with fewer colors, while later periods were typified by deeper, richer tones. Please note that the popular perception of Victorian color schemes, characterized by the exuberant hues of “Painted Ladies,” is largely the byproduct of a 1980s Victorian revival, where many homeowners and designers made some exuberant, albeit somewhat misinformed, interpretations around color schemes.

The Arts & Crafts movement evolved partially as a response to the industrialization of architecture from the Victorian period. Craftsman homes sought to reconnect with a simpler time by channeling nature, and featuring an emphasis on human craftsmanship. Homes from this period are known for their emphasis on simplicity and natural materials, and typically feature earthy tones such as olive green, warm brown, and muted shades of blue.

Context Matters

Consider the surrounding environment, including the landscape and neighboring buildings. While your home doesn’t need to match every structure on the block, choosing colors that

complement rather than clash with neighboring properties can enhance the overall streetscape and neighborhood. 

Color Theory

Colors can strategically highlight architectural details, influence perceived proportions, and unify or differentiate elements of your home. Generally speaking, dark colors recede from view and make objects appear smaller, while lighter colors come towards you and make the volumes that they are painted on appear larger.

A monochromatic or analogous color scheme can unify your home allowing the architectural elements to speak for themselves, where using varied and complimentary colors can be strategically implemented to draw attention to certain features. However, a word of caution – too many and too varied colors can sometimes distract from, or even contradict, the architecture. The key is to think about what it is that you are trying to achieve in terms of the overall appearance and form of the building, and then go from there.

Personal Preference

Ultimately the most important aspect of choosing a color for your historic home is to select colors that make you happy! That’s not to say that you should just pick your favorite colors and slather them all over your home, but rather, use your favorite colors as a general starting point. Then with those general color families in mind you can consider historic precedent, context, and overall architectural strategy. 

Remember, whatever colors you are thinking about choosing, be sure to put up paint samples on different areas of your exterior and observe them throughout different times of day and lighting conditions. It’s crazy how different paint swatches look in situ versus on those tiny little paint chip cards! 

If you find the selection process daunting, our tailored paint color consultation can help narrow down your choices, visualize potential outcomes through sketches or renderings, and finalize decisions using real-life swatches.