Good Design Learns from History

This historic New England barn is original to the property, and its characteristic beauty helps to define the classic regional style. Owning a historic property can be a real joy for those whose passion is preserving the beauty of the past, but don’t think you have to own a historic treasure to enjoy the pleasures of a striking outbuilding. 

If you need more space for a workroom or your vehicles, you can add a lot of character to your property by incorporating  the unmatched elements, colors, and materials used in previous centuries to make your own history, whether it’s a barn, a large work shed, or simply your garage. 

I get lots of questions about how to match exterior colors and blend materials between house and garage, but as you can see from this photo, there’s absolutely nothing matching between this barn and the accompanying house. From the unpainted board-and-batten style siding,  brass lighting, and  farm-style scale, this barn stands on its own. The colonial house has traditional, painted,  horizontal lap siding and white windows. The bridge color between house and barn is black — the black windows on the barn carry over to the accent color on the house (note the black shutters and lighting as well as the black pergola and fence next to the driveway). By painting the wood accessories on the house black instead of leaving them natural, the unpainted barn takes center stage.

Even if you have no plans to build a major additional structure in your yard, keep this basic design principle in mind when you’re working on your exterior. Colors and materials do not have to match.

Contemporary Color Scheme

This contemporary home maintains its warm curb appeal even in the snowy winter months. It looks like the homeowner started with the fabulous stonework on the chimney and gable area and selected the siding and trim colors out of that. The dark rich chestnut shade is perfect for the body of this large contemporary home. When you are selecting a color for your home, don’t shy away from strong colors, especially if your home is large. Just make sure you choose a color that appears somewhere in nature so that the house fits into the neighborhood. With new construction, you can also work in the window color and the deck stain so that everything coordinates. Even the post light style picks up the pattern in the windows. Nice job! Let’s hope these homeowners have a sizeable snowblower! Yikes.

Color Your Holidays

If you yearn for a fresh holiday look this season and prefer to leave the traditional decorations in the attic, try a more contemporary color scheme: apple green and silver; coral and gold; robin’s egg blue and white. As long as you add sparkle with shiny metals and twinkle lights, almost any color combination will look festive.

If your neutral or pastel color palette is soft and calming, and bold traditional colors seem to clash with your home’s style, then try using whites for your holiday color scheme: white candles, white ornaments (like the ones in the photo available from Amazon.com), white dishes, white wrapping paper, and white lights. All the winter whites against your pastel palette will look quite striking.

If holiday memories are most important, then haul out the boxes and baskets of ornaments and figurines and revel in the nostalgia of your own traditions. No picture-perfect holiday décor can replace the fun of reliving childhood experiences and sharing stories from one generation to the next. Who cares if Grandma’s favorite tablecloth is a little worn around the edges. Use it anyway and enjoy this family time.

Happy Holidays from Your Home & Color Coach

Light Up the Holidays

What’s the one thing that separates this holiday season from all other holidays throughout the year? The sparkle and shimmer of lights. Regardless of what holiday colors we use to decorate our homes or even the particular holiday itself, decorating with lights tells everyone we are celebrating. Traditionally, we hang candles in the windows and string lights across the bushes to enhance our holiday curb appeal. We decorate with lights on the inside as well: the warm glow of firelight, candles on the dinner table, and maybe even a magnificent sparkling tree.

This year, instead of altering your color palette for the holidays with the reds and greens of Christmas or blues of Hanukkah, focus on adding light to your home. One easy and “green” way to add light is by using reflective metals like silver and lots of glass. All the silver and glass will bounce light around the room and help to make any color scheme ready for the holidays. Look for old treasures from the attic or even the consignment store, especially silver ornaments, glass ornaments, silver candlesticks, glass candlesticks, mirrors, and silver trays like the one shown in this photo from Country Living Magazine (www.countryliving.com). Add white candles, white twinkle lights, and some evergreen cuttings from your yard,  and voila! For maximum light reflection and a real wow factor, hang a giant mirrored ball (yes, disco) from the ceiling. Okay, you get the idea…

Enjoy your holidays!

Pre-Teen Bedroom Makeover

This cork board from the Pottery Barn Kids catalogue was the inspiration for Hannah’s bedroom renovation. We decided to open up her rather small room by painting wide horizontal stripes all the way around the room in three different tones of blue-green with a white stripe between them. The treatment conjured up, at least in my mind, waves on the beach.

Then we punctuated the stripes with random placement of bright pink dot appliques, a perfect way to accessorize without adding anything permanent. White furniture, grass green/blue/white bedding with pink polka dotted pillows, and multi-colored awning stripes on the window completed the room. She was thrilled — so was I. What a fun project!

 

Traditional Colonial Explodes with Color

Picking a house color is a little tricky for some people. I realize that. And because I cannot bear to show you a photo of the real house I drove by the other day (to protect the innocent), I have pasted in a paint swatch from www.myperfectcolor.com  just to illustrate my point. The color was used on the siding, trim, front door, AND garage doors.

When choosing a house color, paint a fairly large swath of the color on your house before purchasing a 10-gallon container of it. Also, make sure to pick some coordinating  trim and door colors to avoid the “this color was on sale” monochromatic look. Ask your neighbors to throw in their two cents before you settle on a color. What you paint on your house can affect the entire neighborhood. And lastly, if the paint you selected does not seem to be what’s going on the house, stop the painter and make sure they have the right color. Don’t just let them keep going with something you didn’t order.

The name of this color is Sunflower Fields (174). Although it has a nice name and it sounds cheerful enough, sunflowers really belong on the front door (perhaps) or in the garden. What is the bright side for these homeowners (no pun intended)? Guests can find the house with no problem.

Fall Curb Appeal??

Ahhh, how picturesque, like this photo from Southern Living Magazine. Maybe your Fall floral vignette on the front porch  features a few pumpkins in various sizes, perhaps some statuary mixed in with beautiful volumes of rust and yellow and lavendar and cream mums in big heavy terra cotta pots with … the PRICETAGS showing?? Ouch.

I wasn’t going to say anything, but after noticing this blooper two days in a row on two different doorsteps around town, I couldn’t resist. Just like removing those big tags (that say do not remove) from your sofa pillows, kindly remember to remove the big price stickers from your pots (or at least turn the pots around so we can’t see the stickers as we drive by). Curb appeal. It’s all in the details.

Paint Your Old Golden-Oak Cabinets!

Saddled with old golden oak cabinets? Why not paint them. I did and it was very easy (though time consuming). I started by removing the doors from the cabinet base and unscrewing all the hardware. Then I lightly sanded all the surfaces. A good primer like Zinsser’s Bulls Eye 123 covered easily and provided a great base for the finish coat.

I used Valspar’s Kitchen and Bath Enamel in a Ben Moore color called Antique Parchment (there, I plugged both companies). The cabinets looked great but I wasn’t done. In our house with kids, etc, etc, we tend to bang things up a bit so I mixed up a glaze that included some Cognac Snifter (a Ben Moore color used in an adjoining room) and water. I painted the glaze into the seams and cracks in the doors and wiped it off with a rag. The look is rustic but light and allows the new oil-rubbed bronze hardware to finish the room. And any future little scratches will not show. I love it!!

I’m not done with the backsplash yet, as you can see from the photo, but I’ll get there. Still have several more cabinets to go. Now you know what I do in my SPARE time.

When Roof Selection Becomes a Headache

Whoa! Does anybody else get a headache from this dizzying roof and brick combo? Although selected for the brochure of one of the major roof manufacturers, I find this photo to represent all too many not-so-great roof decisions. The brick in this home is very busy since it has a lot of color variation. Adding the color variation from the architectural  shingles takes the house (and it’s big!) way over the top. An alternative might have been a more traditional roof with less color variation that would complement the brick and not clash with it. And that alternative would have been cheaper too!

If you have a brick home with a lot of color variation and you’re trying to decide on a roof, consider the whole look before making your selection. Avoid going with a trendy roof style just because the neighbors are doing it. Consider your house style and the effect that the new roof will have on it. If you need help, click on the If I Can Help You page and we’ll work on it together.

Sharing Responses

Hi Bloggers,

Thanks to many of you for your donations. I plan to share many of my responses on this blog.

More soon.

-Barbara, Your Home & Color Coach