Exterior Color: Noe Valley Victorian

Beautiful Victorian details celebrated with six colors and gold leaf!

This Victorian in San Francisco's Noe Valley could not help being a bit cute. The Stick-Eastlake Cottage had been painted about 15 years ago using the pink colors from the magnificent hortensia blooming in its front entry.

before: a pink and green scheme for the cutest house on the street!

When it came time to repaint, the owners asked me to design something a bit more grown-up.

Choosing a Color: I ask my clients to drive around town and photograph houses of similar style whose paint schemes appealed to them. Every one they chose was green! So we started with green. The color scheme I devised for this house uses six colors, all from from Benjamin Moore's Historic Color range, with 23 karat gold leaf on the buttons and pediment ornaments.

Managing contrast: This palette is as much about contrast as it is about color. One technique being employed here is the use of what I call a "secondary trim" color, in this case HC-96 "richmond gray" which is about 30% darker in value than the "high trim" color (HC -32 "standish white") and is used to support features like brackets and window columns, and to create a break between the main body color of the house and the more vibrant accent colors of the window sashes and insets.

Know when to say when: The custom garage door was simplified from three colors to one, and painted the same as the body color, so as not to compete for attention from the main part of the facade. The front door, which had been whimsically painted with four different colors, now sports a more European look in a solid glossy teal with polished hardware and gold leaf details, leading the eye right to the entrance.

After: the Victorian Cottage as stately home

click on any image to view larger

Expert Painting by San Francisco Local Color Painting
Color Consulting by Lynne Rutter 415-282-8820

Lynne Rutter Murals and Decorative Painting

Exterior Color: Contrast and Simplicity

10th Avenue Edwardian with its elegant new paint job

When less is more.... Once in a great while I find myself needing to use less color to reach the goal. For this circa 1915 stucco Edwardian house in San Francisco, the homeowners asked me to help create a more sophisticated, period look.
The previous paint job called out every detail in a mauve and white palette, with accents of forest green and dark rose. This gave the facade a somewhat whimsical, more Victorian appearance, which somehow de-emphasized the architecture by separating each element with a deep color; many features seemed to float unsupported.

10th Ave Edwardian, before and after

Houses of this era were originally far simpler, often covered in wood shingles, or with unpainted, natural stucco. To create an appearance more in keeping with the home's true period style, I recommended we give it back some of its architectural stability by simplifying the scheme to emphasize the form of the house, and started with a color similar to the stucco material itself.

Using a limited palette and strong contrast, my scheme features charcoal green stucco, with dark ivory woodwork. All of the structural woodwork is painted the same color: brackets and beams are now connected and supporting the roof! Roof tiles that had been painted red were replaced with natural brown tile, to relate better with the dark foundation brick. A touch of a warm light green in the eaves reflects some light behind the beams.

This house now has an impressive presence from the street; the architecture is doing all the talking.




Color Consulting from Lynne Rutter 415.282.8820

Lynne Rutter Murals & Decorative Painting

Exterior Color: using paint to emphasize architecture

Here is another case study on the placement of paint color, and how to get the most from your Victorian facade.
This Laguna Street Queen Anne Victorian had some common issues- raised to add a garage, the house looked so high off the ground that the nice parts of the facade were hard to find; you could see the garage door but not the front entrance.
My clients asked me to give this Grand San Francisco Lady the refined look she deserves. I started by talking to them about not just the colors, but where we put them, and the difference between emphasizing details vs emphasizing architecture.
You see, it isn't just the colors you choose, but where you put them that makes all the difference!

Laguna St. Queen Anne before and after: color design by Lynne Rutter. Click on image to view larger

In the previous paint job, every detail was painted differently. Despite a complicated scheme of 5 colors, the house looked a bit flat; the placement of colors emphasized individual features, but without honoring the role they play in the architecture.
Columns in the entablature as well as in the entry arch, were painted dusty rose while the areas behind them were much lighter, so rather than stand out, these columns receded into the background, and everything above them, crown moulding and brackets, "floated" unsupported. Fancy rosettes had dark "holes" of burgundy, and the lovely egg and dart feature in the crown moulding had been painted out like a dark ribbon, slicing an otherwise substantial crown into three skinny horizontal stripes.

Laguna St. entablature before and after: click on image to view larger

So, in addition to a new palette, we needed a new "map" of where to put the colors to best bring out the shape of the architecture, and help this house stand up straight!

The first thing I did was de-emphasize the garage, creating a "foundation" for the house by painting everything below the entry the same deep neutral gray, a color very similar to the stone covered foundations of neighboring houses.
"Structural trim" that is, everything supportive, or the "bones" of the house - columns, cornices, crowns, capitols, etc. - are painted a warm ivory, so that they are connected and supported by each other. Carved elements like the egg and dart in the crown, now show up as sculptural relief, with shadows and highlights adding detail. From there, shades of green, bamboo, gold, and ivory, are arranged to focus attention on the beauty of the structure. In all, seven colors of paint are in use here, with some choice decorative features highlighted in 23 karat gold leaf.

All colors on this project were specified using C2 paints.


Bring out the best in your historic building, whether it be inside or outside. Color Consultation 415-282-8820

Entablature is in the glossary!

Lynne Rutter Murals & Decorative Painting

Exterior Color: Two Stucco Edwardians

I love working with color, particularly with period homes. Here are a couple of recent transformations which illustrate my motto: do what will make the architecture look its best! Often this involves a bit more than paint colors to get the desired result.

28th Avenue Edwardian, San Francisco: color by Lynne Rutter, painted by Local Color

The previous owner of this home in Sea Cliff had "simplified" this house and painted it yellow in an attempt to make it look "Tuscan." My clients wanted to see the house restored to its original style, and look more like a formal City house. Black aluminum windows were replaced with insulated windows using the original Edwardian profile. San Francisco Local Color Painting stripped the paint off the foundation walls revealing the original red bricks, and then painted the entire house using all C2 paints.

The color scheme is a nod to the arts and crafts era. I started with a de-saturated green/grey accented with oxblood-red windows, and a linen-color trim that appears white in contrast to the body color. A fourth color; a warm, lighter green; is added under the eaves and on the stucco cross pieces to show off the more horizontal features and give these details a lift in the areas where it might otherwise get heavy. The result is a calm, formal facade with elegant detail.

Here is another Edwardian-era stucco and wood house with some similar issues:

Cole Street Edwardian: color design by Lynne Rutter

My clients on Cole Street disliked the whimsical "storybook" look of the house and wished to downplay the decorative half-timbered beams. They wanted the house to be simple and modern. However, previous attempts at "modernizing" this facade- by removing some features and adding others- only served to make it look more convoluted, and the old pink and purple paint job was borderline silly. I convinced the homeowners to restore the facade as much as possible, to give it back its architectural stability, which would go a long way towards creating a more refined entrance to their home. Iron railings were removed, missing brackets replaced, the garage door replaced with something simple.

The color design involves six colors of paint, some of which were custom mixed. The body above the main horizontal beam is painted a warm, tan color, with just a bit of contrast between the stucco and wood. A jazzy cobalt blue front door integrates the blue stained glass surrounding it, and calls attention to the entrance. The base and garage door are painted solid with Benjamin Moore "Hampshire Grey." This deeper color gives the massive facade a grounded base, and makes for a more stately appearance from the sidewalk. Now the overall look of this house is grand, true to its period style, without being cute or nostalgic.

Lynne Rutter Murals & Decorative Painting