PS: here are some "before" removal of vegetation pictures, showing the doors and tudor trim, etc.

I would be very careful about tarting up your beautiful new house with zippy colors. The colors in the natural stone are so lovely that I would urge you to seriously consider using soft neutrals from those tones on all your trim to make the stone itself the star of the show.

A nice deep red, leaning toward terra cotta rather than purple, for your front door would be great, but please think carefully about the other colors before you commit.

I know...I am opinionated about this...but fine natural materials are so rare in houses nowadays that it seems a shame to push them into the background. Consult some historic architectural sources, and let this lovely, elegant house speak in its own language.

Lovely lovely lovely home!! One of my favorite styles!

Yes -- another very strong vote for neutral colors -- with a dash of brighter but rich color for the front door (so that visitors recognize the front door from the side door) Keep the side the door in that darker neutral (or a dark rich green) to make it blend into the facade.

Use strong bright color in colorful plantings in tall containers or half-barrels (very suitable!!) around the space. Herbal plantings around a tall stone fountain might work in the corner between the two doorways.

LOVE your home! :)

Oh, my. What a beautiful home. Another vote for sticking with neutrals. Once you install new landscaping, the greenery will add rich color. Such a shame the old plantings all had to go -- looks like the tree to the left and some of the rhododendrons, in particular, were lovely against the stone.

No suggestions, but you are so lucky to have such an awesome house!

Gorgeous, gorgeous home. I have to agree with bronwynsmom and teacats and lazydaisynot, keep the colors neutral except for a reddish tone entry door.

I think the house 'pops' all on its own! Lovely place and lucky you! I do think you could go with a deep purple on the doors without compromising anything. That small door already looks a bit purple to me.

Even though there is a bit of half timbering, I think Your house is Norman Revival, more than Tudor Revival. (And the Norman Revivals can have the half timbering, too.)

I would paint the woodwork in a very dark brown like fumed oak, the stucco a cream color and maybe have stained doors as on the house below.

All:

Thanks so much for your honest thoughts! When I said "green," this is what I had in mind:

{{!gwi}}

Too much? Wrong to introduce a color not already in the stone? Especially with a dark red wine or eggplant front door?

The house that you just pictured is a simplified stick style.

You have such little actual wood on your house that it will need to be a dark color to stand out. I don't think the green (which looks great on the house you pictured), will be much different than the colors that are on your house now, in effect.

Pal, in a Norman Revival would that small doorway have a pointed arch? Seems that began to be used after the Norman or Romanesque period which had the rounded arch like those in your example. Mostly I'm just curious and maybe remembering incorrectly.

Some norman castles have gothic arches, but I was wondering about that.

Its just that the house is question is essentially stone with tiny windows and only a bit of half timbering on the porch, and not on the body of the house at all (at least what we can see). There appears to be a romanesque arch and some slight eyebrows as well. The house is kind of a Norman Church form with the castle type windows instead of church-sized windows.

This house is awesome!

Another vote for neutral trim and a stained wood door...gorgeous!

I like the neutral suggestions.

But what I'd REALLY like is to see pictures of the inside! lol. I don't care what the furniture or anything else looks like, either.

What a fantastic house you have there, Tudor is my all time favorite style!

As is so often the case, Palimpsest is right on the money.
Great advice - I'd take it!

All,

Thanks so much for your input!! And especially for your kind words about the house. It's going to be a fun change from the New England cape that we live in now! Thanks, Pal and Cyn, for the quick architecture lesson. We described the house to our children, who haven't seen it in person yet, as "a cross between Hogwarts Castle and Hagrid's Hut". We didn't really know what to call it.

It sounds like there is agreement on the doors either being stained or a reddish/terra cotta color (which might be nice since the entryway -- the room through the little arched door -- has terra cotta tile floors), but I hear two different things for the other painted trim. Pal suggests a dark brown, and others suggest "soft neutrals" (which I am assuming will mean cream and grey, from the stone).

Palimpsest -- you suggested dark brown trim, but would you do all of the trim around the windows the same color or would you do a cream right around the window and the brown outside of that? (There are currently two colors around the windows -- blue/gray and cream). Would you also do the columns on the front entry in the dark brown, so that the only cream would be in the triangular part above the front door?

Lazydaisy: yes, we hated to remove the rhodos, but they were right on top of the house and the stone and slate roof were all a bit mossy. We'll redo the landscaping after we live in the house for a bit.

Let your imaginations run wild with what the inside of this house looks like! Built in the late 20s, redecorated in the 70s and not touched since then. All original bathrooms, velvet wall coverings, etc. It's crazy (in a good way!!)

I think Bronwynsmom hit the nail on the head, let the stone be the star and keep it neutral. If you want pops of color bring them in through the gardens with perennials and trees that bloom. We have a lot of houses in our area like that, it would be quite stunning!

I think I would follow the example of the large Norman house I posted and do it all dark brown with the cream only on the portion that is the wattle&daub /plaster /stucco in between the half timbers. The doors I would do in an accent color as suggested. The terra cotta would be nice.

I like this:

not this:

Gorgeous home! terrific advice on the color selection. I always suggest this book but it has some wonderful ideas on painting with architecture in mind - it is called House Colors: Exterior Style by Architecture by Susan Hershman - it might spark some ideas also.

Annie - Excellent depiction of what-to-do/NOT-DO!

I like the idea of creams and grays pulled rom the stone itself, but if the door is to be red it should be more of an Episcopal church door red--- not terra cotta or brick. Neither of those darker, rustier reds has any relation to the stone colors. Personally, I think the cream and gray stucco and half-timbering would look fabulous with an aubergine door.

I would use an outdoor color wood stain on the doors. To seal and maintain, let the wood be wood. Depending upon your style, adding some architectural iron to the doors would show them off too. Palm's pic shows this a bit in use. The house is so beautiful, I have no idea what I would do. Historic preservation though would be first on my list.

Lovely house! Is there a chance that the portico was an add on? It seems a bit out of place with the rest of the house.

I think the portico has had the columns replaced. Or if original, they weren't a good choice. There don't seem to be many images of "tudor columns" but the ones in Annie's picture make more sense.

Beautiful house - another request for interior pics?

I like this:

pal, the style of the turned posts is much more English than French. But I think your color advice is right.

I would paint the white windows a neutral of some sort to complement the magnificent stone. Hopefully, they aren't vinyl windows.

The other trim colors are fine, but if you want a change, please stick with a neutral to preserve the dignity of this extraordinary home.

Is that a brown steel garage door? Replacing that with a quality carriage house style door, painted in the door color, would do more for the house than trying to make the trim pop with color.

Other than these suggestions, all this beauty needs is good landscaping.

Y'know, I have dreams about finding a house like this. Is there a pool by any chance? May we see more pictures?

Ah, yes...kind hearts are more than coronets, and simple faith than Norman blood...
The interrelationship of Norman and English style is long, and inextricable in houses like this one. William the Conqueror, 1066, and all that, don't-cha know.

So I'd say it's indeed Norman, and it's English, too - is that fair to say, Palimpsest?

When I mentioned terra cotta, I was thinking about a red that is more like earth than like flowers, keeping away from anything that heads toward blue at all. Something like Incarnadine or Eating Room Red from Farrow & Ball, or Rembrandt Red from Fine Paints of Europe. Both those suppliers have wonderful stone colors, too, but you'd have to see specific ones against your stone in your light to choose.

Yes it's English Norman.

What I like about the revival house I posted (there are no extant English Norman houses, I don't think, they were either castles or churches)...the think I like about the example I posted is that the tiny dormers have some presence by their intensely dark brown color instead of fading into the roof.

The porch on your house reminds me of the Victorianized Tudor Revival porches and such added to much older churches. It's probably as "correct" as anything would be.

I'm another who would love to see pics of the interior.

Your house is wonderful!

I'll work on getting pictures of the inside into photobucket and will post tonight. We aren't living in the house yet, so all I have are photos that the home inspector took and they aren't the best quality. You will see that we have a lot of decorating decisions to make!! We are doing outside and systems work before we move in, then will deal with decorating after we move in over the summer. I have only been in the house once, so I can't make interior paint decisions yet (plus, now we have taken down some of the vegetation that was blocking most of the windows.)

Laura: Thanks so much for that book recommendation. I put it on hold at my library and will get it later this week.

emagineer: I looked more closely at my pictures and realized that the front door is already stained (not painted), so I think we can just refinish it instead of painting it.

athomeinva: I don't know about the the portico. I'll have to ask the previous owners, who lived there for 40 years. I hope they'll know about the history of the house. I know they did the kitchen in the 70s, combining some rooms to make a larger space, but other than that I don't think they did much work to the rest of the house. (There haven't been any additions or anything.)

awm: no vinyl windows on this house! The windows are original (and need work) and our contractor is starting work today on the tuck pointing, windows, etc. I'll have to ask the contractor about the garage door -- it was open the day I saw the house, and I can't tell from the pictures what it is. And sorry, no pool, though the kids really want one!

okay -- here are some interior pictures! As I said, these were taken by the home inspector, with the previous owners' stuff in the house. I know this is a lot of pictures, but if you *really* want to see more, the photobucket albums are public so you can click through. ( think!)

The house has an unusual floorplan, because it's built into a hill. When you walk through the main door, you can go up a few stairs to the 2nd floor (bedroom level), or down a full set of stairs to the kitchen/dining room/living room level. There is a separate staircase to the third floor.

Here is a shot of the staircase looking at the front door:

And a view from the dining room to the main staircase:

Dining room (paneled wall opens for full storage along the entire wall):

Living room:

detail of the living room:

Here's a shot of the master bath:

and a jack and jill bath between 2 of the 2nd floor bedrooms:

another bathroom:

back staircase to 3rd floor:

third floor bedroom:

some shots of the kitchen:

side of house:

ohmygosh, it's fantastic! Thanks so much for letting us have a peek. Wishing you many years of happiness there.

roulie, it really is wonderful. Just a dream! It's so nice of you to let us see it.

Yowza...love that trim molding...lots of good bones to work with. You're going to have loads of fun with this!

Sigh, it does get so tiresome viewing pics of same old tikky - tacky tract houses.......... :>) ha! I hope you stay on board as your work on this wonderful old house evolves. Not that it is in need, but expect you will be adding and taking away as you make it yours. Please share the journey with us.
Marti

Oooooooo -- wonderful!! :)

Thanks for sharing photos of the interior -- and yes!! please do let us know how your wonderful home evolves! :)

I adore your house. I live in a glass house now, and I love it. But I started out in wonderful tudors, storybook and Spanish bungalow houses. I think my true heart will always be there. Please do stick around and let us see your progress!

Gorgeous, gorgeous house! I do so hope you will share it with us as you make it your own.

I call dibbs on the 3rd floor bedroom! What a fantastic house!

Wow oh wow. What a marvelous place. Please do keep us posted as you work on it. I am beyond envious and wish you many, many happy years there. :)

I also love the original bath (black/white) and what looks to be the original tile floor in the third floor bath. Your stone wall and pillars are wonderful, too. Did you remove the rhododenron near those? I'll bet they are lovely in the spring.

Thanks for the tip to click on the picture to see the whole album!

That is one gorgeous house roulie. Please don't "tart it up"! Neutral colors!!! No Popping!!!

I love the velvet upholstered walls with the velvet drapes - it's a lovely room. I hope they're in good enough condition to keep! I also love the original tile floors in the bathrooms and the unique vanities. It's an awesome home - congrats!!!!