Paint colors for 1903 Victorian farm house

17 years ago

I have recently moved into a farmhouse that was built in 1903. The home was built by 2 brothers who were Victorian House builders. I would like to repaint the house in more traditional colors of the 1903's, but don't know where to begin.

On the first floor we have the "parlor" complete with sliding pocket doors; the bathroom, a living room, a bedroom, pantry, walk in closet, and a huge kitchen with built in drawers, cupboards, and broom closet.

The second floor has 3 bedrooms, 2 storage rooms that have no electricity so can't be bedrooms, and a "dressing" room which connects to the master bedroom.

There is one long hallway that connects all the rooms on the second floor which also needs painted.

Please help me if you can. I love the original woodwork, but these walls are not pretty.

Comments (7)

aprilwhirlwind
17 years ago
A lot depends on the house itself, the style, size of rooms, exposure, is it sunny or dark in the room?
There were many different kinds of architectural and decorating looks in the 1890's and into the 1900's, so if you prefer darker colors you'd go one way, lighter ones than another.
Overall, when I think of "modern" rooms of 1903 I think of flower sprigged wallpaper and soft flowery, fresh colors.
aprilwhirlwind
17 years ago
I suddenly remembered Bricks and Brass. It's a British site, but still applicable to US homes of certain styles and eras. In Britain, your home would be from the Edwardian era.
This link should take you to a page about Edwardian colors.

Here is a link that might be useful: bricks and brass
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I recently went through this with my own house (built in 1892 in a large city), and it looks very similar to yours. And given my related education, I went down quite the research hole! First, the years given for eras of architecture, art, and design histories are the popular years — so it is possible for a person to build a Victorian house after it fell out of popularity, especially considering these particular architecture eras (Victorian, Edwardian, etc.) are based on the years of queens and kings (i.e., Queen Victoria‘s reign was 1837 to 1901). But I think there is definitely something to you finding the earlier record and the information about the fire. In my city, they started classification at the year 1900, so homeowners with the year 1900 have to take additional steps to dig deeper for the exact year — I got lucky and found my house with the label “being built” on an 1892 map. Secondly, the use of “folk” and “farm” are generalized terms. The style of your house is Victorian Carpenter Gothic — this is a specific type of the Gothic revival period that took place during the Victorian era. If it would’ve been built in a rural/farming area, then it would more so be referred to as folk or farm, or even Rural Gothic. The Carpenter Gothic house style was extremely popular throughout the US, as the invention of the scroll saw allowed basic carpenters to easily create ornate trim from wood or purchase it from mass-produced options. A general google search for Carpenter Gothic house will yield a ton of results from extremely ornate houses to simpler versions (like your house). I spent so much time looking at examples online to brainstorm the exterior rehab I’m doing, I finally checked out a book from my library called “Storybook Cottages: America’s Carpenter Gothic Style” by Gladys Montgomery, and it’s a great resource of photos and history — I highly recommend it! You can also buy it used on Amazon. And if you want to try and find your house on a map, one of the best sources are Sanborn maps; that’s where I found my house mapped. You can view a lot of these maps on the Library of Congress’s website, and then filter the results for your state, city, year, etc. The Sanborn Map Compamny was based out of New York, but they created maps all over the country specifically for fire insurance companies to use in assessing liability in urban areas — so the maps also include details concerning building materials, number of floors, etc.
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@showing my home love I have read through your comments and some of the additional comments. I worked for a real-estate attorney with the evaluation of property values and then as a real estate agent. 1. You were correct in the decision to paint your home - the lead paint was peeling and chipping - requires painting. 2. White happens to be a popular color at the moment, but I believe you made the right decision to paint the home sage. The color will allow you to have white trim and give you the contrast that makes your home interesting. 3. Sage Green is a color that many people like. It is seldom seen as an offsetting color or a negative color. 4. I would not paint the front door purple. It happens to be my favorite color, but I am in the minority - many people dislike purple. I would probably choose a front door color with broader appeal. This would be my suggested colors: Bold - Benjamin Moore Coat of Arms, Less Bold - Benjamin Moore Everard Blue Select a less bold color if your door isn't what you want them to notice and remember - Bold only if your front door is is perfect condition. These colors will have a much greater universal appeal than purple. When looking for resale value you don't want to overspend on renovations, but you must make everything look well cared for. Remove or trim back overgrown bushes and fill in with annuals when it is time to sell. Mulch all the beds. Buying expensive perennials will cost you more than they will return. When I am doing renovations I assume a 50% return on my investment. Whatever I am doing is going to have to bring me the other 50% of the cost through enjoying my space. If you are going to be there 3 years do whatever is needed to spruce things up, but know that 50% of what you spend is being gifted to the next owner and is that much less that you will have to spend on your next home. Your home will be valued based on the neighborhood, the square footage and overall condition of your home. It will sell if it is priced correctly given the 3 parameters above. To know how to price your home visit every home that goes on the market that is in your neighborhood/school district. Are they bigger than yours - reduce the price. Are they nicer than yours - reduce the price. Did they sell fast or sit on the market - if they sat they were over priced. Did they sell at or close to the listing price? Educate yourself on what is going on in your area and price your home right. Don't trust the realtors to give you the right information. They want your listing and will often tell you an unrealistic price because they know that listing your house and advertising your house will make buyers call. The buyers who call will likely buy a different home, but if they can hook the buyer with your house and sell them something else they still make a commission. This gets your hopes up - thinking you are going to get a higher price for your home, but if you price your home too high and it sits on the market and you will be forced to lower your price. Once a house is seen as stale the price people are willing to spend goes down. You usually end up with low ball offers from people who assume you are getting desperate. Hope this helps you with the decision making process.
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corgilvr
17 years ago
This site has some interesting color combinations for a variety of architectural styles.

Here is a link that might be useful: house colors
Miss EFF
17 years ago
I have a Classic-L Queen Anne farmhouse built in the upper Midwest in 1890. The exterior will be a 5 color combination -- in shades of greens, yellow and reds. I have used the same colors in the interiors --- to varying degrees.

I feel that houses will "speak" to you. I am not a green person --- I've always loved blues and pinks. But this house is "comfortable" in green -- it seems to fit! There is still a blue room and the room doesn't "feel" right.

I know ---- that's probably a little too "Twilight Zone". But read everything you can about your house and houses of that era. And you will find the colors that are right for you.

Corgilvr.......... great site!

Cathy
gw:theda-blue
17 years ago
Try looking up the art nouveau style. This was the fashion at the turn of the century, lots of stylized florals and natural colors. Also look up Alphonse Mucha's colored lithographs to get an idea of the popular colors used then. He was the premire artist/decorator of the time and set the fashions. Good luck, this is my favorite time period so if you have any questions just ask. P.S. also look up the arts and crafts movement for home fashions of the 19teen's to 20's. My home is from 1916.
heatheron40
17 years ago
Hi guys!
I'm new here, but my house is old....pre-civil war with a major remodel at the turn of the century.
Anyway, hit the local historical society, wealth of info there!- We found a 100 year old relative to the house who knows EVERYTHING!
Check out the nearest university also. We had someone from the Architecture Dept come out- he did it for free- and he told us how to describe our house using correct terminology. That then made the trail easier to find colors, light fixtures and other details that were missing.
There's my .02. Hope no one minds!
I agree, live and listen, the house will tell you.
Heather
lwehling
12 years ago
I know this is a good 5 years later, but I was wondering if you still live in this house because it sounds like the exact description of the house I live in. We bought it in 2009. The rooms in the house and the layout is my exact house except the larger room upstairs is a parlor connecting to a smaller bedroom, and the living room is actually a dining room and the downstairs bedroom was never a bedroom but a parlor. They used it as a bedroom after they turned the downstairs bedroom into a bathroom and large gentlemen's closet. Anyways, I hope you get this because even if it is a different house, I would like to know what you decided! We are trying to figure out exterior colors at the moment. As far as I know the house has always been white, but it has such beautiful molding and gingerbread trim that I need ideas on accent colors for a white house.

Paint colors for 1903 Victorian farm house

Comments (7)

aprilwhirlwind

aprilwhirlwind

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