How to Choose Paint Colors for a Victorian House

our 1881 Victorian, painted in original colors

Here's how to choose authentic 19th century paint schemes for your Victorian home.

Things You'll Need

• knowledge of the year your house was built
• paint samples of colors you are considering
• paint sample cards to see how colors will look together
• a good book on Victorian paint colors

Instructions

1. Date Your Home. Do research at the local courthouse to find out when your house was built. Different periods of construction during the Victorian era (roughly 1850-1910) produced different paint colors.

2. Visit the Paint Store. Two of the best paint stores for authentic Victorian paint colors are Sherwin Williams and Benjamin Moore. Both companies have exact replica colors from the 19th century, and have guides for color choice based on your home's construction period.

3. Sample It. Buy small samples of the colors you are considering and choose a well-lit side of the house to paint on samples of color combination. You want to see how the colors look before you paint the whole house in those shades.

4. Buy a Book. You will want to look at whole-house examples of colors and architecture before making your choices. See the tips section of this article for books to consider purchasing.

Tips & Warnings

• Excellent Books on Victorian House Colors:

• America's Painted Ladies, Pomada, Elizabeth, et.al. (Studio, 1994)

• Victorian Exterior Decoration: How to Paint Your 19th Century American House Historically, Moss, Roger & Winkler, Gail Caskey (Henry Holt, 1987)

• Authentic Color Schemes for Victorian Houses Comstock's Modern House Painting, 1883, Rossiter, E. K. & Wright , F.A. (Dover Publications, 2001)