In the course of preparing sketches of the proposed color schemes for the front porch, I was delighted to run across some notes I had previously made about the bay window. Somehow, when doing the color sketches of the bay window, I had completely forgotten that the center of each cornice panel had been originally painted a medium brown and not in the olive color which surrounded it!
I had initially been disappointed that the brackets were the same color as their background and sort of got focused on that. Therefore, I’m showing a new rendering of the bay — with its updated cornice — before moving on to the main event… the porch colors.
I’m showing this for two reasons:
- Primarily because I think it makes a big difference in the overall appearance of the bay. This look still draws the eye upward to the ornament, and yet seems somehow more integrated than before. To me, it just looks right.
- Secondly because the soffit and fascia of the bay appear to have been handled slightly differently than on the porch. I want them to be treated in the same way, but they weren’t — presumably because of their different scales. Keep this in mind while looking at the porch renderings which follow.
The use of seafoam for the scroll work (gothic brackets and vine insert in the porch supports) was a fun surprise. I feel that it might be a bit theatrical — even a tad carnival-like? — but I really like it. Is it gaudy? Tell me!
This shows the original distribution of colors for the front porch, but just to satisfy my curiosity I did another rendering (below) showing both a darker olive and a different distribution of color for the soffit and entablature…
Well, I prefer the one with the not-all-brown soffit because to my eye it shows up the detailing better. Dark colors just read as “dark area” from a distance of 10 feet give or take. But as to historical accuracy, paint was never intended to be a permanent feature of your home so I don’t think you need worry about it. Paint it whatever colors please you, gaudy or not, accurate or not. You have to live with it. That’s my opinion.
Your opinion is duly noted and appreciated!
Jim feels the same way you do about the soffit, and I have to admit that the second option is a bit dark. While it is true that paint was never intended to be a permanent feature of any house, it is also true that our intent here is to reflect history as accurately as possible (or tolerable). That is the entire reason for working on this house in the first place; we want to preserve an aspect of local history in an authentic manner and hopefully interest others in history… without scaring them away!
I’m personally OK with gaudy, but don’t want to rile the very small community surrounding the house… we have to live within it!
I agree that the bay window is improved with that color scheme. And I like the seafoam for the porch scrolling, I think it looks great. It seems to me that the ornate, detailed scrolling is meant to stand out against the darker colors. It all works wonderfully though it’s hard to explain just why. It just “feels right,” in the way good design in general just “feels right,” at least for me! The nice thing is that if you decide you don’t like the seafoam you can always repaint it, since it’s not a huge portion of the house.
And the refurbished brackets look amazing. Always happy to see a new post about this wonderful house. Thank you!
Knowing that the seafoam color was used on the porch makes me feel much better about its original use on the gables. I suspect that it may have been used on the soffits, too! Time will tell…
no fibbing, I think you’re suffering a mental collapse. GAUDY is not a word that appears anywhere in the lexicon of the earth colored Midwestern palette. anything that can be done to highlight this place and get people to look at it would be a good thing. belay the dark brown and give the old place some life.
here in God’s country, we knew what color houses were meant to be. white and only white like Henry’s Model T was meant to be black and only black.
Painting this house anything other than white will get people to look at it… I just don’t want them to look at it with revulsion!
I really like this scheme. Both because it’s more authentic, and because it does bring out the brackets without being too blatant.
I couldn’t be happier with it! We’ve also decided to go with the historically correct paint distribution on the porch for the same reasons you mention above regarding the bay window. Spring can’t get here soon enough for me!