The Wrong Paint Color

Even with the best laid plans, sometimes the paint color just doesn't work

Restoration Diary,

Yep! After painting numerous test patches of paint on the walls, I still ended up with the wrong color.

The color is too light next to the golden dining room walls and woodwork.

My beautiful sage/silvery green has transformed into baby nursery mint green.

Even David, who has never met a color that he didn’t like, admitted,”Yeah. The color really doesn’t seem to be working. There is just something not right about it.” And that, my friends, means this color is just so very, very wrong.

Off to the paint store. Hallway color round #2.

Comments { 16 } November 13, 2006

Paint Colors

Vintage colors inspire our paint color choices

Inspiration, Paint

I love these colors. They are from around 1910.
I love these colors. They are from around 1910.

Aren’t the colors on the paint sample card above absolutely beautiful? Those colors have been, and continue to be so helpful during our restoration.

Early 1900 paint and stain color offerings from Aladdin Homes
Early 1900 paint and stain color offerings from Aladdin Homes

Exterior paint color swatches from 1915
Exterior paint color swatches from 1915

Sani-Flat paint sample card from around 1918
Sani-Flat paint sample card from around 1918

Comments { 9 } February 7, 2006

Exterior Paint Job Almost Done

Our bungalow gets painted

Exteriors, Paint, Restoration Diary

front2.jpg

The body of the house is completely painted. The painters have started
on the trim and the red accent color on the windows.

front.jpg

The front of our house looks so different. It is amazing how paint can
transform a house.

arbor.jpg

We added lattice over the top of the open beams on the front porch.
I am going to grow vines over the top.

back_side.jpg

Side of the house.

back.jpg

Back. We still have a pile of trash that needs to be removed. We are
waiting to finish up the painting before putting in a lawn or landscaping.

Body color: Amazon NA60 (Ralph Lauren Naturals palette)
Trim color: Hampton Court NA54 (Ralph Lauren Naturals palette)
Accent color on windows: La Mesa Red (Benjamin Moore)

Comments { 24 } November 12, 2004

Primed and Ready

I can’t wait to see our bungalow painted

Paint, Restoration Diary

window_juan.jpg

Juan, our carpenter, retrofitting salvaged casement windows for the
upstairs bedroom. This window was originally a casement window and
it is once again.

primed_front.jpg

Primed and ready! The primer is on. All the salvaged windows are in
on the top floor.

primed_back.jpg

Back side.

paint_side.jpg

And the green goes on…After a long struggle trying to select a house
color and changing my mind many times, it all comes down to this. So,
this is the color I picked? Wow, the painted chimney looks bright – add
that to the list. Remove tacky red paint from the chimney bricks…Check.

dogs_resting.jpg

Simon (the one with black on his back) and Lulu. I don’t make them do
these things. They naturally pose whenever there is a camera around.

All_Ears.jpg

All ears.

Comments { 8 } November 11, 2004

House Color Commitment Issues

Having a hard time deciding what color to paint our bungalow

Paint, Restoration Diary,


All the different colors I’ve liked over the past months.

I used to believe I had trouble making up my mind until the day I read a magazine article about men who are commitment phobic. The article was accompanied by a checklist of sneaky symptoms to determine if your potential mate has closet commitment issues. Questions like “Does it take your man 15 minutes or longer to order from a restaurant menu that contains more than 10 items” or “Does your man change jobs suddenly and often because he loses interest” helped me to learn that my man is fine, but I’ve got some major commitment issues.

“Honey, do you think I have problems with commitment?”

“Heather, I had to propose to you 3 times before you said yes!”

“Well, one time was in a grocery store parking lot and that just doesn’t count.”

Lest you think my husband isn’t romantic, one of his proposals took place in a hot air balloon floating in the clouds over wine country. It was beautiful and romantic. Swept up in the moment I said yes. After my feet touched the ground again I had a panic attack and said, “No, I’ve changed my mind. I’m sorry.”

We did end up married, very happily married in fact. Once I make up my mind, I don’t have regrets and I don’t look back but getting to that point is a whole different story.


The two colors I like this week.

This leads me to the 8.5 month indecision over what color to paint the house. What is a commitment phobe to do?

Comments { 3 } May 18, 2004

Exterior On Hold

So many choices. How will we decide what color to paint our bungalow?

Paint, Restoration Diary

We aren’t moving forward with work on the house until we decide what color to paint it once and for all. This decision has been 8 months in the making. Still not able to decide, we tried some new colors over the weekend just to make sure the grass, er paint, wasn’t greener on someone else’s house. We ended up mostly preferring the colors we had already selected. It is a big decision and we want to make sure that we (ok, me) won’t want to change the color later, like after the paint is purchased and going on the house.

We have run out of room on the front of the house so the side is our new testing ground. Our house looks like it has a case of the chicken pox.


1) I found a beautiful shade of brown that I really like (almost enough to change my mind from green). It glows in the light. It looks like mud in this photo but trust me, in life it is beautiful.


2) This is David’s favorite green. We have been at this so long that it is starting to grow on me.


3) My favorite green, behind the flowers. This isn’t the best photo but the color is a wonderful muted green with a gray undertone.

Any favorites between these 3 colors?

Comments { 13 } May 3, 2004

Farrow & Ball Paint

Traditional paint colors

Paint

I recently discovered Farrow & Ball, a company from England that manufactures traditional papers and paint. I did a little research and discovered that the paint colors were developed from scraping original paint fragments off the walls of historic houses in England.

They claim to use more pigment (the most expensive component of the product) than other manufactures, making the paint unique. It is said that the paint has a depth and luminescence quality that makes it stand apart. I haven’t seen the paint in person yet, but I recently ordered their hand painted color card.

The colors are muted and earthy. Lovely. But, I am most impressed with the color names: Dead Salmon, Mouse’s Back, Ointment Pink…how fun!

Farrow & Ball website.

Comments { 1 } April 14, 2004

Vote on House Color

Help us decide what color to paint our bungalow

Exteriors, Paint, Restoration Diary

housecoloroptions3

The house color debate continues…
Hopefully, whatever color combination we choose will look a little better than in my renderings but this should give you some idea of what we are considering.

Which color do you prefer? Vote by clicking on the text below: Sorry, voting has ended.

(vote only once)

Image 1: 365 votes  

Image 2: 195 votes  

Update
We have a winner! It seems that green is the overwhelming color preference. Maybe, just maybe, we will go with the green color after all? Now, if only I can convince David…

Thanks to everyone who voted!

Comments { 3 } March 9, 2004

The Green House

Inspiring Arts & Crafts and bungalow exterior paint color combinations

Exteriors, Inspiration, Paint

Green house located in the West Adams section of Los Angeles.
Green house located in the West Adams section of Los Angeles.

When I was a little girl, for a short time I lived in a 1920′s house that was painted olive green. The house was called the Bilz Farm but to me it was always “The Green House.” When David and I started looking for a house three years ago we weren’t even sure what type of house we wanted, but I knew I wanted to paint our future home green.

Olive green body color, cream trim, brown and ox blood red accent colors
Olive green body color, cream trim, brown and ox blood red accent colors

Above is one of my favorite green exterior paint jobs in West Adams.

We removed some beadboard panels in the sleeping porch of our house and discovered original clapboard siding that was stained green! It seemed like fate. I spent my free time looking at paint samples, pouring over books, magazines and historical publications agonizing over just the right shade of green to paint our house.

Two toned green exterior with cream trim and peach colored accents. West Adams.
Two toned green exterior with cream trim and peach colored accents. West Adams.

After driving David crazy for months, “Are you sure you like this shade? What about this one?” I finally selected what I considered to be the perfect shade of green. I painted the siding around the bottom of the porch in what became known as Favorite Green. One of our neighbors stopped by to let me know it was the ugliest shade of army green she had ever seen. Two weeks later, another neighbor 3 houses down painted their house almost the same shade as Favorite Green.

Olive body, dark olive brown trim, and burnt red accent color. West Adams.
Olive body, dark olive brown trim, and burnt red accent color. West Adams.

We began to notice all the green houses in our area. A surprising number of restored houses in our area end up painted some shade of green. We are considering replacing all the cedar shingles along the top story and staining them a chestnut color and painting the clapboard siding on the first story creamy tan. We would do this so that our house would be different, but I’m having a hard time letting go of green. In my heart I still desire The Green House.

Green exterior. West Adams area of Los Angeles, CA.
Green exterior. West Adams area of Los Angeles, CA

Comments { 8 } March 7, 2004

Den Almost Done

My favorite part of a restoration is seeing the room come together

Paint, Restoration Diary, Woodwork,

Well, the den is 95% finished. There is some touch up work here and there and we need to hang the light fixtures once they arrive.

My favorite part of a restoration is seeing the room come together, especially after it used to look so bad!


Comments { 1 } February 12, 2004