TO BLING, or NOT TO BLING...

Trim choice is dictated largely by the body color of the house, and the overall architecture.

Basic color facts for exterior colors are that light colors appear to be lighter in visual weight (they "float"), and they also draw a far amount of attention (when carefully juxtaposed with the proper body color). 

Darker hues appear to have more visual density ("gravity"), and they tend, depending a few other factors, to relax away from the eye.

Bright hues tend to advance toward. Lighter colors with grayed tones (muddy as some call them) tend to retreat, and become neutral.

Skilled experts use color as a pawn of sorts, to emphasize or de-emphasize an architectural element, and coax certain elements of a house to behave in a manner that can make architecture features do tricks!  

For instance:


Example #1                                               Example #2

The first house has a lighter, golden body than example two, but the excessive trim is darker, receding away, and doesn't make a big deal out of the porch. Trim color choice forces the viewer (buyer!) to notice other things. The siding and the accent colors advance forward. The overall impression is heavier, and the elements that make the house memorable become a red door and bright blue accents.

The second house has a much darker body, but the trim is nearly white. This dramatically cues up the woodwork to sing loud and clear. The porch reaches out and thumps the viewer (buyer!) on the head. Accent colors are more inline with the body, and play  minor supporting roles to the detail. The house stands at ATTENTION in comparison to the lazier first example.

When would the trim be better darker, you might ask?

Well, if the woodwork is nothing to write home about, or skimpy, or even mismatched, darkening the trim would force another element to come forward, like the door, or the accented details. It takes the heat off trim that is in poor repair. A house with lackluster trim should not feature it's trim. Also, if the house has different levels, a dark trim evens the discrepancy by not screaming where the rooflines are. A tall half of a house feels lowered, as if darker trim actually weighs more.

When would light trim be better? If the trim is very nice, and would lend proportioinally to the overall architecture, lighter is better. It has a crisper posture, and stands taller and swells out. A small house with nice white trim looks both wider and taller.

White puffs it's chest out. Dark slouches lower down in it's seat. But sometimes, you WANT something to crouch down, so that other things will have more impact and leave a better impression.

Here's Some More Examples:

Example #3                                                               Example #4
 

In example 3, there are three major problems. First, it looks like the one house schooched over to tell another house a secret, rather than one single-family dwelling. Also, the house has many rooflines, and the tallest is off-center and drastically more drasmatic. Thirdly, one half of the house has rump-loads of trim and detail, the other half, virtually NONE.

The two halves of the house just don't relate, even though they share the same palette of colors.

So, you have to even the score.

A slight change in body color choice on Example 4 gives the left side more personality, making it "weigh" more, using a richer, less wimpy color. Knocking down the trim to a darker color reigns the heavily trimmed-out porch inward, and pulls those gabled windows down with more gravity, so they don't float so high. The rooflines flow better, because the apex of the left side of the house' roof visually seems evened out with the trio of gable points on the right side of the house. The darkened shutters give the left side more interest and impact.

Without anything other than a well-chosen, well-planned color scheme, you can visually change dimensions on a house. You can make it taller, or shorter, with a big porch, or a smaller one, with a more sober outllook, or a whimsical impression. By choosing color very carefully, and understanding thoroughly the way works on a large scale outdoors, you can control what a viewer notices first, what will be remembered later on.

It's not hard to learn, but it takes observation and practice. Try taking pictures in your neighborhood of houses that you like,  and take some of the ones you dislike. Don't analyze them while you are choosing houses. Just snap off 20 pics or so. Then, go home, load them in your computer, and really take note of what struck your fancy or didn't, and think about how color could be used on the houses you disliked to encourage balance and feature the elements you missed that are there in the pics, but lost because of color. You'll find yourself being able to diagnose a color condition, and half the battle of knowing what colors to choose is knowing what needs to be featured and what need to be de-emphasized.

We hope these tips help you to help your houses show to their best advantage, and give you an advantage, to!

How to Whip an Awesome Color Scheme out of your Arse-nal!

Keep in mind that choosing  an impactful color scheme doesn't mean "your favorite". It means finding the right shades of a color to enhance the architectural interest of the home in question. After you find the most complimentary tones, then you can tweak them towards you or your client's taste. Read on...

Too dark and uninteresting.                                  Graceful and Inviting!

1.) What Color is the Roof?

          The roof is a "fixed element", meaning, 

1.) What color is the roof?

          The roof is a "fixed element", meaning, it is not changeable, for the most part. A roof can comprise as much as 65% of the entire color scheme on some architectural styles. Regardless, it is the first question to be answered. What color family (brown, black, red, green, blue, tan, etc.) is the roofing in? Does the the "visual temperature" of the color lean toward warm or cool? Deciding it is a cool blackish-slate color, or a warm tan with reddish undertones,for instance, is crucial for the rest of the scheme to fall into place. If a color doesn't look good with the roof, chuck it. There are 100,000 other paint colors in the sea. 

2.) What Color is the Brick?

          Another "fixed element", unless you are entertaining the thought of painting the brick (this is NOT a crime. It is a  crime is to have really ugly brick when there is perfectly good paint to be had). Evaluate the fixed brick thru a  "squinted eye." That's the best way I determine a mid-range color in a brick. Find the resulting color on a fan deck, and use it for the body. It is a no-brainer. You can go lighter or darker, but stay on track as far as the color. The body of a house HARMONIZES with it's fixed elements. ). A house with large areas of brick truly must blend with any siding or stucco , or the house will look choppy and small (If there is very little colored brick, then you can get creative, as the smidgen of brick becomes an accent.

3.) What Style is the Architecture?

          Different architectural styles can support different types of color palettes. Learning more about different architectural styles is helpful, and cannot be covered in a blog (see our article on Ranch-Style house color schemes) The rule I, myself, follow is: Elements should only be in the natural color range of the material it is made of. Stone columns should be stone colors. Adobe should be adobe colors. Ironwork should be iron-colored. These things look silly when they are painted unnatural colors. Wood is traditionally painted, so it can be far more flexible, color-wise. Brick looks best if it is a sturdy color, rather than a light, airy bright color. These are rules of thumb, but they make sense, especially when you are selling a house. If it is an odd color-choice, people won't think your house is cool or cutting edge. For the most part,  they'll just wonder if weirdos live there. Daring choices are NOT good for selling houses!

4.) What Kind of Neighborhood is it In?

          You want the house to be well-aspected within the neighborhood's setting. If the scheme is too heavy for the 'hood, it's going to look like the Munsters live there. Too bright, and people will think the Circus has taken up permanent residence. You really want to offer a home that is respectable according to the appearance standards set by the existing neighborhood.

5.)  What Color for the Body?

         Once you have an idea of the relevance of the above factors, now you can go to a fan deck and start considering your first color choice. Choose the body color first. Try the my most-common-neutral method  (squint!) mentioned above, FIRST. Then branch out into other shades of that color, leaning into differing families. Let's say the brick is very pink-brown. Start with a nice mid-tone pink-brown, then move it into an less reddish version, or a more reddish version. Choose three or four winners this way, and work each palette separately using the following advice for trim, accent, and door colors. 

Treat all utilitarian parts of the house like BODY color. Trim colors and accent colors are for the pretty parts of a house, to enhance architectural detail. If it isn't an architectural detail or a focal piont for some reason, HIDE IT with the body color ( I am talking about electrical boxes, attic vents, garage doors, extra utility room doors, air conditioning units, downspouts from rain gutters, lattice, trellises, you name it. If it doesn't say "nice architectural detail", then it gets hidden)! Don't get people to notice your $29 trellis from home depot. It's a plant support. You want them to look at your plant. Now if it's an ARBOR, than pop that sucker with an accent. The body color is the backdrop. You can't feature everything!

6.) What Color for the Trim?

          People think white is white, and off-white is off-white. THE WHITE IS VERY IMPORTANT! If you choose a gray-green body, choose a white that carries hints of gray-green in it's undertone. Tan? Choose a creamy white with a slight cafe-au-lait undertone. Yellow? Pick a white with a whiff of lemon in it. Customizing your white can make a HUGE difference. Whites don't all look alike, and any truly custom look utilizes this truth. Next time you go to a paint store, take a white sheet of Xerox paper in with you. Grab ANY white color chip. I guarantee you lay that chip down and you are going to immediately see an undertone. The wrong white can make a house look really cheap. The right white can make a color scheme positively dymanic and inspired!

Can't take the pressure of white trim-picking? Consider dark trim. It can look very dressy in some instances.

7.) Choose an accent color (shutters, awnings, window boxes, gingerbread woodwork).

           The accent color should compliment (not necessarily match) the fixed elements:the body color, and trim. Don't wimp out with a lightish color. The accent color is like mascara, it should be rich, dramatic, and preferably, very dark. Accent colors frame the architectural elements and make an area come into focus,
and "anchor" the entire scheme. A deep color  choice makes the other colors come to life and find their place. "Loud" shutters are nearly always a mistake, as they don't support, they distract. Find something deeply shaded and juicy. Gingerbread-style woodwork on a Victorian is the exception to this rule. If you house isn't Victorian, don't have two or three accent colors. That is what landscaping is for. 

 8.) Choose a door color.

          This is where you play! The door area should be obvious, interesting, and inviting. Putting the color punch ONLY at the door makes a natural focal point that is instantly welcoming, and entices with a pleasant perkiness even on a ho-hum color scheme. Don't wuss out on the door. It is the star of the show, and the one place that guest will seek out and walk right up to and through. Make the most of this moment for your guests. Don't be scary...just give them a portal they can't resist. 

There you go! It's a process of puzzle pieces to be plugged in. Once you use the formula, with a little practice and you'll be causing dynamic impact!

Best of Skill to You! 

Sue Eldredge 

Paint it Haint: A Paint Color with a Colorful Past

If you know what color "Haint Blue" is, then you may be shocked to find that not everyone everywhere knows what shade this color is, or what it can to do for homeowners today.

Haint Blue is most commonly used on houses in the southern region of the United States; however, many cultures around the world describe similar protective properties of this color.

 The word "haint" is European in origin, and generally refers to bodiless spirits with a less-than-nice agenda. The color Haint Blue supposedly has the unique property of repelling spooks, confusing them by blocking their ability to gain entry into a home. There are references to "haints" being unable to cross over water, so perhaps the blue color just ticks them off by reminding them of their shortcomings as paranormal entities.

 First batches of haint blue paint in the U.S. in the 1850's and were made by hand at the construction site, using raw materials such as blue-colored minerals and ochers, milk, and lime. It was noticed that bugs wouldn't land on the dried paint, quite likely an affirmation for proponents regarding its ghost-busting abilities. However, most likely, it wasn't the power of the color that the bugs were avoiding, but more likely, the lime the paint was made of.

 Many cultures claim to be authorities on the exact shade and mystical properties of Haint Blue, which is also called Gullah Blue, Dutch Boy Blue, Dirt-Dauber Blue, and what they call it here in Louisiana...   "That Blue Color Mosquitoes Hate." The color is quite sought after, and can be found on homes, both historic and on  new construction. The color is extremely popular for the porch ceiling and under the eaves.

Regardless of the myths surrounding Haint Blue, painting a historic house with a color with such colorful past gives us a sense of continuity, a sincere gratitude for the ingenuity and perserverance of our forefathers, and an appreciation of their  deeply-held beliefs.

It also gives us something to think about as we sip lemonade on a hot day, and stare up at the wasp's nest anchored to our porch ceiling coated with our largely impotent modern-day latex Haint Blue paint.

Please be advised: The actual shade of "Haint Blue" varies, as the formulas were mixed by hand with local pigments. Haint Blue can range from a pastel violet-blue, such as a periwinkle, to a rich shade of warm turquoise, and everything in between. If you believe your house is plagued with poltergeist activity, call your local paranormal investigative society to find out what shade of Haint Blue is  most effective on the haints in your county.