Monday, January 3, 2011

The Results Are In!

Well they were in several days ago but forgive me, I haven't been feeling well.

The new poll feature was a bit of fun and I laughed when I saw the results were a split vote!  2 for red, 2 for white and 2 for yellow (I'm counting this as 2 since I have one last person commented that they loved the yellow).  Colour is obviously a very personal choice.

I do want to say thank you though to all who commented on my last post.  Many ideas and suggestions were noted and were very helpful.  GardeningBren stated that dark colours would make the house appear smaller.  This was a great piece of advice as I had thought a dark colour would make the house look even larger than it is.  Now looking at the pictures I can see how it actually looks smaller and that helps to ease my mind should we go in a dark direction.

Island Threads mentioned that dark colours hold heat better which could be useful when considering plantings.

TS noted that perennials are useful in plantings around the house as they won't be damaged by snow falling from the roof.  This is a concern I've pondered on a few occasions and I'm glad to hear about somebody elses experience with it.

Other things we've discovered are that dark paint fades faster in the elements and will require repainting sooner than a light colour.  Also, solid stains last longer than oil or latex paints.

All this playing with colour has got us thinking about what it is we really want to achieve by painting the house.  We don't actually dislike the colour of the house right now but I do find the ultra white and darkest black to be too stark for my liking.  Something softer would suit me better.  With that in mind I softened the yellow I had originally chose and brought it to this.


We also really want to show off the shingle work.  Right now you can't see the half dozen varieties of shingle on the house because it's all one colour.  Using variations of the same colour and bright trim colours will hopefully change that.

We liked the creams of this house but added a dark green trim as an accent.
As a gardener I like the option of a light coloured house because I can plant anything I want without the fear of colours clashing.  Although I like the dark red house, my pink peonies wouldn't look as nice in front of it.

You can see we still have a ways to go on choosing a colour but I think we're starting to define more what we want.  Thanks for all the thoughtful tips and when a decision is made you guys will be the first to know!

9 comments:

Gardeningbren said...

You know, it's all so very personal and your color choice must feel comfortable to you. Our house colors were chosen for another reason other than mentioned earlier...I saw a house in Mahone Bay I loved...and actually phoned the lady to ask the color. I picked up the chips of paint and said to myself...no way that's the color. I had to actually stop, walk up to the house and put the chip on the shingle to convince myself that was it!!...the chip being so different from the overall color. So, if you do see a home whose color you love..don't be afraid to phone and ask if they wouldn't mind sharing their color choice.

My eye keeps going to the space in the middle of the two windows on the larger area of the house...a nice spot for a sizable trellis perhaps...just a thought.

Standing by...Brenda

Jane said...

My PEI shingled house is yellow and I really like it. I'm thinking of colourful hydrangea bushes along the front porch.

Anonymous said...

Ack, I forgot to weigh in. Both my husband and I liked the red and the yellow ...

and the green - our house is green, so we kind of favor that.

But I do love the cheery look of old yellow houses!

Diana Studer said...

You've got six colours, and at least three are very close. Are you planning on using all 6? Be warned, if you need to touch up, think it is 1, try it, no, maybe 3, no. If you have different colours, make sure the Painter can tell them apart!

I'll vote with that soft yellow, and maybe a little more accent colour on the trim? It is such a delightful and pretty house, let it shine!!

Anonymous said...

I agree with EE. Make sure you have enough contrast between subtleties of tones because light will play with the color throughout the day and some of the differences in tone may be lost.

Floridagirl said...

Yellow houses are always so cheery and quite perfect for island life, I think. My current house is white with just a hint of a greenish-grayish tint. It is far too light and white for my taste and shows dirt, mildew, wasp nests, etc. far too easily. I think if I painted it again, I'd go with something darker...well, if I got up enough courage anyway. (I miss my old brick house.) Anyway, it is a hard decision....and one that you have to live with a long time. Good luck!

Marguerite said...

Gardeningbren - it is a large space isn't it? I love the look of vines but I worry a lot about the damage they do to siding. Perhaps a trellis with a clematis would work, they seem to be less troublesome.

Jane - I think yellow is a great colour with plants as it seems to go with most anything. You shouldn't have any trouble with hydrangeas. I'm more worried about a dark red or green being a problem.

peihome - another vote for yellow! that breaks the tie! but you also voted for red and green - back to the drawing board ;-)

Diana - you're very right. The large number of colours adds a whole new dimension of work to the project! When it finally comes time we might have to pair it down some.

GardenWalk - Good point. I think we're striving to get enough contrast to see the difference in shingles but not so much that it's too jarring. This will definitely require some fine tuning.

FloridaGirl - funny you should mention. Hubby noted that if we painted the house red we'd no longer have to deal with all the red dirt tracked by the cats all over the front porch!

Jennifer@threedogsinagarden said...

Am I too late to cast a vote?

Your house is adorable, by the way.

We maritimers sometimes like crazy house colors. When my parents bought my childhood home, it was pepto bismol pink! Then it was painted two colors of grey, dark grey to the mid-point and light grey on the top half of the house. After the grey looked tired my parents put up siding in a rather ugly avocado green.

My best advice- don't go by some paint chip in the store. Take the chip home and look at it in the daylight or better yet invest in a small can and try it out on the house in a small patch. The color will look brighter than you thought it looked in the store.

If it were me, I would go safe with the house color. I would suggest a grey mid-tone beige. It is too classic to date (like my parent's avocado green). If you had the money, I would add wood shutters in a contrasting soft black. The trim would be white and then I would go outrageous with the door and make a statement- maybe a deep red-burgundy. I have a magazine tear sheet I could email you.

My second choice would be the creamy yellow. It would be bright and uplifting. Though red is a favorite color, you would have too choose the red very carefully, so it does not end up looking too pink or too rust. I would not choose green.

Hope this rambling helps.

Marguerite said...

Jennifer - All suggestions are welcome and very helpful! You bring up another good point - painting a house a certain colour might look nice now but will it stand the test of time and not look dated in ten years? I worry about that with some of the darker colours. Also, I LOVE red doors! We used to live in a white house with a red door and I miss that combination. Painting the house a light colour would allow me to have my coloured door back.