Color schemes
Three, five or seven colors
The number is not the goal. The goal is that every color points at a part of the house.
- Calm
Three colors
Body, trim and one accent. It reads clean on a plain facade or an Edwardian.
See three colors - Most Victorians
Five colors
A second body color for the gable, a sash color and one accent. It suits a bay and brackets.
See five colors - Full dress
Seven colors
Every layer of a tall, ornate house gets its own color, from shingle fields to porch details.
See seven colors
Three colors
A body, a trim and one accent
The simplest scheme and the easiest to live with. It works when the facade is plain or when the neighbors already shout.
What it covers
Body: the shingles or siding
Trim: casings, corner boards and bands
Accent: the front door, or the sash
Two or three test boards, then done
Five colors
Two bodies, trim, sash and an accent
Most San Francisco Victorians have a bay, brackets and a gable, and five colors give each its own voice.
What it covers
Body and second body: lower floor and gable
Trim: the frame around every opening
Sash: the thin frames inside the trim
Accent: brackets, the door or the porch frieze
Seven colors
Every layer gets a color
For a tower, scrollwork and shingle patterns, where the details are the point. It takes the most masking and the most time.
What it covers
Body, second body and a third for a shingle band
Trim and a second trim color for the molding
Sash and a color for brackets and carved details
Boards on every side, checked at noon and at dusk
The color consult
How we choose, on your own walls
Chips lie under a showroom light. Boards on the house tell the truth.
Start from what you like 01Bring photos and a list of what you like
Photos of the house, of houses on the block you like and of what you would never choose.
Sunny side and shady side 02Two boards on two sides
We paint a board of each candidate and set one on the sunny side and one in the shade, because the same color changes between them.
Leave the boards up 03Look at noon and at dusk
Fog flattens color in the morning and low sun warms it at the end of the day. We leave the boards up for a few days.
Bring a photo of the house
Send the front and the sides, and we will tell you how many colors it is asking for.