Help Willa Choose Paint Colors

[Mick_VT]

Willa, having read 'Principles of decorating Design' by Charles Dresser I know the technical side of colour selection, being absolutely a colour moron I can not put two colours together. Dresser suggests picking a main colour, in your case the yellow brick. Then picking picking a colour directly opposite as a second colour, and for a third colour pick a colour from one third either side of the main colour.

Hmmm, most of the beautiful examples shown do not seem to follow that advice

[Manalto]

I interpret Dresser's advice to mean: use a bunch of harmonizing colors and one contrasting color.

Who is "Hmmm"? Gothichome's name is Ron.

[Gothichome]

From Mr. Dressers book. In particular take note of statement fourteen.

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[Manalto]

Thanks, Hmmm! It seems I was using "harmony" incorrectly according to color theory. (But see Dresser's #18; you generally use musical notes that are close together to create harmony.)

I should have said "a bunch of analogous colors and one complementary color." According to this explanation, anyway:

http://www.tigercolor.com/color-lab/col ... monies.htm
Manalto, I think the science of all the this colour stuff is what makes it hard to chose.
You are correct, by today's sense of colour, yellow and purple would not be considered. But a 120 years ago that combination was considered as viable as any. Maybe the fact that our old homes were painted with this aesthetic makes them stand out to be noticed by our modern notions of colour co ordination.

[Gothichome]

Willa, how did you make out of n your porch scraping, and have you come with a colour scheme yet?

[Gothichome]

Thanks, Hmmm! It seems I was using "harmony" incorrectly according to color theory. (But see Dresser's #18; you generally use musical notes that are close together to create harmony.)

I should have said "a bunch of analogous colors and one complementary color." According to this explanation, anyway:

http://www.tigercolor.com/color-lab/col ... monies.htm
Manalto, I think the science of all the this colour stuff is what makes it hard to chose.
You are correct, by today's sense of colour, yellow and purple would not be considered. But a 120 years ago that combination was considered as viable as any. Maybe the fact that our old homes were painted with this aesthetic makes them stand out to be noticed by our modern notions of colour co ordination.

Manalto, I think the science of all the this colour stuff is what makes it hard to chose.
You are correct, by today's sense of colour, yellow and purple would not be considered. But a 120 years ago that combination was considered as viable as any. Maybe the fact that our old homes were painted with this aesthetic makes them stand out to be noticed by our modern notions of colour co ordination.

[Willa]

Willa, how did you make out of n your porch scraping, and have you come with a colour scheme yet?

Oh boy - do I still have a lot of scraping to go. I'll post pics tomorrow. Not only is there the complex surface of the wood mouldings, there is also the inside of each box-like structure. I've got one side completely scraped, on the outside, and about 1/3 of the inner side, and about 1/5 of the inner box sides. My feet can only take so much on the ladder. I'll still have to go over all the stripped surfaces with liquid paint stripper, at the end, too !

I have not opened my paint swatch book this week, but I am continuing to ruminate about color possibilities.

I found my garage sale copy of "The Enjoyment and Use of Color" by Walter Sargent ( c.1923). His writing about color is definitely more applicable to artistic painters v.s. house painters, but here are a couple of his quotes that I found edifying:

"But this does not imply that strong and brilliant colours are necessarily crude, nor that a liking for splendid hues is evidence of barbaric taste. The old theological doctrine of the total depravity of the unregenerate has been revived in much of our art teaching, so that the natural untrained preferences in the arts are frequently regarded as something to be wholly discarded in order to make an entirely new beginning. Some of these preferences, however, should be considered rather as the best starting points for development toward a taste for what is more permanently satisfying, and as indications of the main direction which that development should take."

and my most favourite passage:

" We find then that the beauty of color depends upon character of texture and counterpoise of hues rather than upon degree of intensity. These pleasure giving qualities may exist in tones of all degrees of intensity. Flatness and deadness whether of strong or subdued tones is the sign of the commonplace. Of particular insipidity are smooth ungradated areas of color dulled indiscriminately with neutral grey. Their harmony is rather the non-beligerancy of anaemia than the delicate adjustments of positive forces."

No one writes about color like that anymore !

[Manalto]

No one writes about anything like that anymore. Wonderful. His argument for vivid colors would not be out of place today. In my opinion, the pendulum has swung too far in the opposite direction. It's particularly noticeable in flooring; you really have to really dig to find colors other than brown or gray. I'm not sure how authentic the colors of those beautiful San Francisco houses are, but to my eye they make elegant use of color and aren't lurid at all.

Many years ago, I was talking to Charles Bennett, a Hollywood scenic designer who had a magnificent house in Savannah's historic district. He told me that some of the Victorian-era color combinations were atrocious by today's (at the time, 1970s) standards and that the end product of of some homeowners' attempts at authenticity were flat out hideous houses. In the years since I've seen some of those houses with strong colors and I understand what he meant.

A policy of some historic districts is to get the approval of neighbors before changes are made. I get the sense (perhaps mistaken) that in the Victorian era, these choices were more individual and, judging by the grandiose confections that were produced, competitive.

[Willa]

Many years ago, I was talking to Charles Bennett, a Hollywood scenic designer who had a magnificent house in Savannah's historic district. He told me that some of the Victorian-era color combinations were atrocious by today's (at the time, 1970s) standards and that the end product of of some homeowners' attempts at authenticity were flat out hideous houses. In the years since I've seen some of those houses with strong colors and I understand what he meant.

A policy of some historic districts is to get the approval of neighbors before changes are made. I get the sense (perhaps mistaken) that in the Victorian era, these choices were more individual and, judging by the grandiose confections that were produced, competitive.

Boy, I'm glad my neighbours have no say what I'm doing with my house. If they did, my house would be covered with vinyl siding, a new piece of crap front door, with some plastic shutters stuck on for good measure. They would also make me buy an XL tv to watch recent Hollywood action films on.

Taste is such a personal thing. One person's 1950's fantasy is all soda shop and poodle skirts and "good old days", with Pat Boone songs, while someone else is all beatnik with Ornette Coleman recordings and experimental art.

There was a quote in a book I gave away, about late Victorian printing and typography, where it described the ideal color as being basically indescribable - ambiguous. Of course this was juxtaposed with a printing sample that was sort of lilac, with olive, gray, possibly orange, with ornate gold lettering at an angle and several fonts. In context it's pretty great and way out, but take that to your local graphic designer and printer and some intense frowning is surely to follow !

[Willa]

Willa, how did you make out of n your porch scraping, and have you come with a colour scheme yet?

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