Thanks--definitely got good info, I know. Guess I'm just down to the wire and can't find exactly what I want to model it after. T-minus one week to having to order paint. :( Internet research, toured several historic neighborhoods in the area, checked the library, and even tried to work the virtual house painter thing on the Benjamin Moore website and still not 100% sure. Thought I was sold on light yellow for clapboards, dark green for shutters and white for bandboards, scalloping and trim, but then I worry that yellow might be too "cute" for a big house. Oh well...I'm just not great with color--takes me forever to paint interior rooms and this is ten times worse! :( Sarah

First, start hanging out at the Old House forum - what a wealth of knowledge there! Second, think color on top of color - an Eastlake (also often called a Stick Style if there are vertical and horizontal trimboards decorating the exterior walls) could have as many as nine colors on the exterior, but unless you've got the all-out detail I'd probably stop at five! Main body, main trim, roof, major accent, minor accent. Color of the same value (dark/lightness, intensity) as the roof will work best as long as the yellow isn't super pale, but if it's a good medium yellow you've got it made. While earthier tones (although still in sometimes eye-popping combinations!) are more or less most "period", there's no reason at all to avoid using clearer, brighter colors to keep consistency with existing elements like siding and roof, and it does typically appeal more to the modern eye. Believe it or not a light plum/deep lavender would look fantastic with the yellow (my groomer has a yellow Victorian farmhouse with white trim and deep lavender and green accents, just picked my dog up about an hour ago and had to stop to ooh and ah over the color choices). A midtone blue with a little bit of gray to it will also work, goes nicely with yellow and green, and be a bit more sedate as yellow-green-blue are adjacent on the color wheel. A sort of cool darkish red has potential but that can be trickier. Best to use that in smaller accents, like window sashes. Tiny amounts of black also go well, especially if you have any wrought iron or cast iron accents, but if you use too much there's a potential for the "bumblebee effect"! Something like banding on porch posts bracketing another color (either your major accent or a secondary accent color) would be the best place for that IMO. There are some wonderful books out there to give you inspiration, I've linked a few here. If you can spare the time, popping into a Barnes & Noble or a Borders that has a cafe where you can sit down with a stack of books and an iced tea to look at some pictures is a lovely way to spend an afternoon (especially if it's hot and sticky out!). Victorian House Designs in Authentic Full Color (a publication of the period, to boot) America's Painted Ladies Daughters of Painted Ladies Authentic Color Schemes for Victorian Houses Victorian Exterior Decoration Century of Color: Exterior Decoration for American Buildings, 1820-1920 Exterior Decoration (1885 book intended for a paint counter display!) Old House Colors House Colors: Exterior Color by Style of Architecture Dover Books' Victorian Houses CD-ROM and Book If you have access to a paint brand called California Paints, they have developed some excellent historically accurate color palettes in association with Historic New England (one of the premier preservation organizations in the country). Paint's excellent quality, too. There's a dealer locator on that website. Under no circumstances should you use brown as a major accent color IMO. It is a popular color scheme around here but (sorry to be so blunt!) to me the combination of yellow, white, and brown reminds me of the contents of a used toilet, it's just gross. I'm bracketed on both sides by Folk Victorians with this color scheme and it actually sometimes makes me grateful for the dreadfully bland cream-and-white PO chose. LOL I have a millworker's cottage ca. 1900, which we call it "Victorian Lite" as its Eastlake detailing was stripped away and there are some early Arts & Crafts type elements... I daydream about restoring the shingled exterior and polychrome color scheme. Maybe someday. I would love to see pictures of your house should you wish to post some. I'm sure the Photoshop gurus would be willing to take a crack at it as well, with some suitable buttering-up. ;-)

That's the funny thing...house got aluminum in 1952, reportedly b/c my husband's grandfather got astronomical quotes for painting that made it cost-prohibitive. So, I assumed it probably had a paint job from 1940-1945 ish. The body of the house is not peeling at all in most places--very tight--and where it is, there's only wood underneath. Most definitely no other color. Around the windows, I have found chips of a very dark red and a dark green. But nothing on the band boards, trim, friezes, etc. I read somewhere that this style of house (Folk Victorian, I think?) was built by solidly working class/middle class people out in the "country"--we are about 10 miles south of Albany, NY, so that was definitely rural in the late 19th c. They were able to copy some Victorian traits--scalloping, thick trim, etc., but never really copied some other Victorian things like turrets or Gothic influences or the super-dark/intricate color schemes. So wish I could find a pic of this house from the turn-of-the-century! I have some very elderly neighbors, so I may ask them--you never know--our house might be in the background of their old family photos! Thanks again for the help! Sarah

You are correct that both windows probably had the bowed leaded glass windows. Please DO NOT replace the original Greek Revival columns with square ones that will ruin the look of the house. Yes replace that awful metal railing with a wood one. Try to find the appropriate style in architectural salvage places. As for color combos. The creamy yellow for the trim and the green for the fish scales. In fact you can use the way this house was painted as an inspiration.Here's a similar color scheme. Obviously the brick would be the red, but I'd also consider painting the window sashes in a red to match the brick.The cream color Judy G suggested painting the whole house would work, but it's really not authentic to the style and it won't really highlight the beauty of the house. Here's a great article on painting a victorian beauty.