I have to ask what does " LRV of 35 or below" this mean?

changed

This post was edited by redheadeddaughter on Wed, Oct 8, 14 at 2:59

Dark brown?

Perhaps this one? Would look wonderful on the main body of the house -- with fresh white trim and glossy black accents .....

Here is a link that might be useful: BM -- Night train 1567

What a beautiful home. You will have so much trim and glass, the body color is almost a foil for everything else.

I think its kind of neat that it won't be white, and I love white!

Anyway, I almost think you cannot go wrong here. I am kind of drawn to the green as the most traditional farmhouse color after white and red. That said, a dark grey would be more au courant.

I never noticed before, but the LRV is right on the BM site

How about a darker gray with white trim.

Here is an old house with that color scheme (at least on my monitor and they list the colors too) - http://loveearthalways.com/community/2010/08/blood-sweat-and-cheers-painting-this-old-house/

{{!gwi}}

Or maybe a deep charcoal color.

I am going to send you an email with a picture of a house my DH built. I think the color or something close would look fantastic on your home. It's going to be a gorgeous home whatever color you paint it.

Well shoot, I guess you can't attach pictures with emails. Anyone know how?

Bravo for your California Commie rules!

White farmhouses are a glaring blot on the rural landscape; something that landscape designers have been complaining about for more than 150 years.. Actually with a house styled like yours, darker colors will look very nice and also harken back to the late Victoian-era (which is the style-anchor for your house) taste for deeper shades.

You might try to find a California Paints' Historic Colors color brochure for ideas. There are also books on Victorian paint designs (more than the Painted Lady genre). Failing that check out your library for books which show historical color schemes, and look at years from the post-Civil period up to the Colonial Revival era (c.1905).

My own upstate NY, pre-Civil War era, farmhouse in upstate NY - painted white since the early 1900s - had before that been a very greyed red, a mustardy-dried corn color, and a drab grey/olive (drab doesn't in this instance mean dull, it's a descriptor) over the years. I am in the extended progress (been at it now for a decade) of repainting it a warm apricot-y tan medium light drab color with cool stone-y white trim and dark, dark, green/grey window frames and blinds and doors the verdigris color of oxidized copper.

This is a color scheme I've carried in my mind's eye for more than 50 years: the Parthenon just at the point of sunset. It's my visual pun since this is a period Greek Revival-style building (although admittedly a vernacular country-made take on that style) . My colors probably wouldn't satisfy your LRV standards, but I chose them to match the light/dark level of dried forage grass out in my fields in the winter. I wanted the house to look glow-y warm when surrounded by snow. Ordinary white houses just wind up looking dirty against the fierce reflected light off snow. My house is surrounded by a dense curtilage of evergreens and my many barns to the north, so it isn't easily seen from a distance. If it was, I would not be painting such a light color. I would be looking for something along the range that your Building Commission is, to keep from being a jarring point in the natural lanscape.

You may feel resentful of the rule, but I expect whether you perceived it or not, the imposition of this standard on the already-existing builidings is probably an important element in why the area you chose looks so appealing to you. Pay it forward.

If it will make you feel better, I can dig up some sharp 19th c (definitely pre-Marx) commentary about why you should paint your house darker, less-obtrusive colors.

HTH

L.

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L - Your house sounds beautiful! My husband was just trying to be funny. Around here, you have to keep a sense of humor, because alot of the building limitations are ridiculously silly. The actual people that work for the state have been awfully nice most the time. I am just personally of the opinion that education goes alot further than legislation. Truly one big reason we are moving to the country is to teach sustainable living to our children, but I don't feel a top down approach from the state is a good way to teach stewardship to the next generation. As for the white farmhouses...They certainly claim the land rather than blend in... but that is part of their charm to us. We will always love them. The home we are building in is a town filled with white farmhouses (but none for sale unfortunately)... it's only the newbie's like us that are limited in such a way. But the privilege of designing and building a home of our own for our family outweighs the inconveniences... so it's hard to resent much of anything these days.

I so appreciate your period color ideas... your sunset scheme sounds dreamy... and very "happy." I've read up on the arguments for darker homes in the landscape since purchasing the land... they haven't quite won me over yet though. I would, however, love to see your home painted like the Parthenon at sunset. What an amazing vision. I love it!

Oh caminnc... can you possibly attach the photo to a post? I'd love to see this home your DH built!

RedHeadedDaughter:

Since you are building you may find the book "A Pattern Language" by Christopher Alexander, et al very useful. Your library may have a copy, if not I think it's readily available on Amazon

It is superlative on the tricky parts of siting a house on your ground so it appears to have an organic connection with its land and provides human-sheltering spaces outside the building. It also has much to say about interior arrangements, as well.

(No pretty pictures, though, just chock full of remarkably thought-provoking ideas about making buildings that people just love to live in and to be around.)

My favortite of his many useful points of building placement: (Paraphrased in a nutshell): Don't put your house on the prettiest place on the building site (nor in the most visible "view" position). Nothing you could build would be an improvement on what Nature has already put there. Instead site your house where the landscape has already been degraded or affected by human activities. In that case your house will be a net positive, a repairative element, if you will.

If you are moving to the country to teach your kids sustainable living, you can start by keeping in mind the principle that sustainability is founded on the idea of using the least which is sufficient for the task.

L.

I love the house. To my eye, the design is terrific. I would choose a sort of cranberry color if it were me.

But I have to ask the question, gently I hope. How can this home possibly be construed as "teaching sustainability"? I have nothing against larger homes, and have one myself, but I never claimed it was sustainable. Or even justifiable, truly!

It would seem to me that your charge for the architect would have been for a design that, while not Spartan, treads gently on this earth. Your design confuses me given your (admirable) goals!

I love the house. To my eye, the design is terrific. I would choose a sort of cranberry color if it were me.

But I have to ask the question, gently I hope. How can this home possibly be construed as "teaching sustainability"? I have nothing against larger homes, and have one myself, but I never claimed it was sustainable. Or even justifiable, truly!

It would seem to me that your charge for the architect would have been for a design that, while not Spartan, treads gently on this earth. Your design confuses me given your (admirable) goals!

I just realized that the structure to the left is not a garage but an attached (kind of ) barn , yes?

And it will be what color exactly? A shade of red?

I think it gets kind of tricky to make them two different colors when they are attached, though I understand why you want to.

Certainly nix my green suggestion now, unless this is the elves HQ. It would seem to me that you d have to go w grey if the attached barn is red. I would also think they need to be different values to look right, making one an even higher LRV.

Here ya go Red

I like white farm houses, a lot. They are never a blight on the landscape in my Easterner opinion.

But then I love Falun red Swedish farm houses, painted with a dark earth pigment. Most of them are about a fifth the size of yours, though.

Anyway, yours has something of the Shingle Style to it, and those tend to be dark, earth-colored.

So - how about a deep brownish-red, with teal trim? I think it would suit your house well.

Falun red houses traditionally have white trim but yours is too big to carry that glaring contrast off, I think. Here are some with teal trim.

Here is a link that might be useful: Source for Falun Red paint

I love this house. It's the color I want on our someday retirement home.

Is it too dark for you?

Your house is just beautiful.

Wow... I signed on today and am overwhelmed by the kindness of so many of you in sharing these awesome ideas. My anxiety over the color has gone from, "what color could I possibly choose besides white?" to "which of these amazing combinations will I pick?" Thank you.

As to the sheer size of the home, I have to admit, that has been a huge concern since we first saw the original plan. And thank you for asking gently (and you did)... it's a sore spot for me for sure. The designer has made it pretty clear that if we want it to function as a schoolhouse and a multi-generational home, while still maintaining some privacy for our own family, it would have to be larger than we originally planned, or we needed to add a bunch of outbuildings, which wasn't a possibility. I have a library full of "small house" books collected over the years and I was convinced we could fit all our practical needs into a much smaller space... wheelchair access and side hallways and storage and room for frequent overnight guests and coop school classes... well it just didn't fit as I envisioned. It still is larger than needed for it's purpose though... unless we have all the grandparents aging with us in which case I'll wish it was larger! It's over 4000 sf but with no basement (not feasible with our soil). The house is oriented on the site in the least visible location for the reasons mentioned above however. (Although a treehouse is planned for the hilltop. ;)) The shape of the home was determined by a previous site approval and the limitations of geological setbacks, etc. It's a balance. I'm not teaching my children merely to step lightly upon the earth, but rather to step with purpose and wisdom... to improve where possible. There are many views on sustainable living, some I agree with and others I think are idealistic. Some proponents of sustainability would have us stop having children altogether (or limit them as in China) because of the drain on the earth! I'm definitely not in that camp. But I do think as a society we are out of touch with the source of our food, and the land we live in. I've heard glowing references to "A Pattern Languange," so I will absolutely pick up a copy.

Sigh. I'm still mentally struggling with the size however. (Except for the closet space... I'm completely at ease with that non-green, selfish, and not very admirable use of square footage. ;))

That bit on the left, is it stone? Has the stone been chosen already?

This post was edited by kitchendetective on Fri, Nov 8, 13 at 18:10

Yes... it is stone. Ideally, we'd like to use the stone on the site. We have alot of it and it's a darker, multi-colored grayish rock.

Your home is going to be gorgeous. So many great ideas here. I hope you come back and post as it is being built.

Okay, so that, to some extent, dictates your other choices, right? Do you have a photo that shows the colors, variations, and tints in the stone? It's easier to work from stone back than from paint to stone.

Hi, Red :)

Your farmhouse is going to be beautiful and with what you're planning, you'll need more space!

I like white farmhouses (I have one) but I think with the size and stone, gray would be a wonderful choice.

Here's a white farmhouse....and it looks too light with the stone, IMHO {{!gwi}}From Farmhouse plans

Here's gray and white...notice how good the gray looks, especially with that bright white trim? {{!gwi}}From Farmhouse plans

And dark gray would look good with the red barn...here's some barn red accents... {{!gwi}}From Farmhouse plans

You could even include a red door :) {{!gwi}}From Farmhouse plans

I'm delighted you will track down Alexander's book (A Pattern Language).

You will find it has much useful to say about designing inter-generational living within the same spaces.

It starts (at the outset of the book) to describe principles that apply to community and even regional planning design. It progresses steadily down to individual site and building principles, while relating them back to larger ones where necessary. I always suggest people read a few of the earlier ones, then skip backwards toward the level of detail that fits their stage in the process. The book takes a bit of mental effort to work out how it's organized, but it richly repays that effort.

If I might suggest this: Get a copy of the book, and spend some time reading it before you go ahead with your current plans. .Just set aside a weekend to study it. If there are two of you making these design decisions, then get two copies so each of you can wander about in it simultaneously, if time is short. Many of Alexander's ideas are quite revolutionary - and hard to retrofit in a standard iteration of the city (or suburban) family-moves-to-the- country farmhouse design like you have posted. It's not that you won't wind-up with a farmhouse in the end, but it will be palpably different, and I think much more satisfactory to live in.

Regarding sustainability: while I applaud anyone who is interested in producing some of their own food, don't confuse interest in your own flock and gardens with actual sustainability. It far too easily becomes a bunker mentality of we will have food, never mind if our actions have contributed to others' lack of options. Growing enough food for your own family is not the sustainable path.

A sustainable life is more about making sure (in so far as humanly possible) that each of your personal choices does not over-consume the scarce - and growing scarcer - resources we have. It's a different set of choices for different people, in different stages of life and regions and circumstances.

But it never is a unitary focus on making sure your family will prosper separately from the other families in this world. Sustainability is always about community.

If you are nagged by your conscience about the size of your house, then shrink it. Or design it so it can be enlarged down the road if the initial footprint is too small. Starting too big is much more likely to curtail your choices in the future, than starting smaller and growing the house as (or if) needed. Your options will be more flexible, and more sustainable, with a smaller building.

L

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Well, our mobile home is about as light on the land as one can get, roll it onto site right between a couple of old growth trees, attach it to a handful of bolts in the ground, and haul it away again when that time comes. Surely an upscale version should already be in vogue, the height of style, with all this greenish sentiment? instead of just shown off in a glossy magazine now and then. Oh, well.

In the meantime, a lot of greenishness is about style. So be it. At least the idea is floating out there and having a little effect. Liking painting buildings muted colors so they don't offend the eyes of people who paid a lot to look at the land--albeit at the cost of being more likely to need air conditioning in summer (climate is warming)... Hopefully, you're planning your home to be as energy efficient and self sufficient as possible, and in that case some extra square footage won't matter. For whatever else is going on, Mother Nature won't care in the least if you blow off various little greenish conceits off as much as local codes will allow.

What I came all the way down here to suggest before my string got pulled, though, is that if you paint your barn even a muted red the eye will go right to it over a less colorful house. The red building will be beautifully set off by the surrounding countryside. That's how come people come home from drives in the country chatting about charming old barns but can't describe the house.

So, how about painting the house itself red or, if that's a big no, in a color of your choice with white trim perhaps and some strong red details, especially in the entry area to pull the eye there? Then the barn could be a darker version of the house color with minor red details, just enough to tie the two together, but no white. That way the house would have the visual importance it requires. .

I have to say, you may want to find a new word to describe your motivations for your project, because pinning it on "sustainability", frankly, will lead to a lot of eye rolling. And not just by total strangers on a dumb forum, but by the community in which you want to live and raise a family.

A genuine interest in sustainability would include a willingness to make sacrifices for that goal. It's a judgment call, but this does not look like a project of sacrifices toward a laudable goal. It sounds like a fashionable marketing spin on what it is you want.

And, by the way, what you want is perfectly fine. It looks just beautiful, and will be a wonderful setting for a family. And even baby steps toward "sustainability", whatever that might mean to any given person, are worth something. If we require everyone to be doctrinaire or not involved at all, we will just get no involvement.

I won't post on this again, because in fairness you only came to ask about color! I vote all red!

Rosie, you are funny. ;) I've never thought about giving the house the "visual importance" it requires... but hmmm.

LL: As always, your ideas are stellar. I'm leaning towards that color today it seems.

lireodendron: I will take your suggestion. This weekend I've been tasked with planning the entire landscape (a year before we will implement it) for the county to approve. I've a nice stack of meadow gardens and native plant books... so I will have to add Patterns in there as well.

Your posts are interesting, and I think alot of your beliefs on sustainable living are influenced by your philosophical bent. It all comes down to the idea of the One and the Many, doesn't it? Which comes first in importance, the rights of the individual, or the interests of society as a whole? Likely you and I would differ radically in our views on this... I'd like "my own flock and garden" to benefit the community as an ancillary benefit. But it is truly not our primary goal to benefit the neighborhood at large. At least not yet. My primary goal is to teach my children well, and live a life a little closer to nature, and family, than we've been allowed the last few years. We aren't life long townies. :) This approach to conservation and ecological stewardship is different than yours, in that it requires self-government in place of state dictated regulation, but not less valid. I sure would love to have you over for tea and discuss!

changed

This post was edited by redheadeddaughter on Wed, Oct 8, 14 at 3:27