1893 Victorian Stopped Me In My Tracks
/I relocated from Long Island, N.Y. to Athens, G.A. 12/30/2018 to be closer to family. Athens is a very cool college town. I have done a lot of exploring in the area and meeting great new people.
One of the first things I did when I arrived here was, join Athens Road Runners. I occasionally participated in group runs. Although I would usually end up spending more time taking pictures of the homes and architecture along the routes. I’m a slow runner to begin with; this did not help improve my speed at all. During one of the runs, I was stopped dead in my tracks. On Prince Avenue, I came upon a house with a paint scheme I had never seen before. My eyes were gazing upon a fabulous 1893 Victorian House, turrets, gingerbread trim, a large porch, and all painted entirely BLACK! I am always preaching that color can tell a story and you can imagine what stories I conjured up about this unique black victorian house…of course, I took quite a few pictures too.
COLOR LESSON - Notice the difference between the 1st picture & the next two. The color looks very different, don’t they? The color lesson is - beware of colors you see on a screen or in print; they are never 100% accurate! Use pictures only as guides for color.
COLOR LESSON - Notice the difference between the 1st picture & the next two. The color looks very different, don’t they? The color lesson is - beware of colors you see on a screen or in print; they are never 100% accurate! Use pictures only as guides for color.
When arriving for my tour, I had no idea what to expect. Well, the interior was lovely. Much of the original charm was preserved. Besides this being Greg’s home, his offices are on the main floor and four spacious and lovely Airbnb rooms are on the second floor. We also ascended to the soon to be finished attic. Attics are so cool and quite often my favorite spaces in an old house. Well, let us get back to finding out about the exterior.
No, Halloween is not their favorite holiday; no, they are not into bizarre rituals; yes, Greg simply went through the process of picking his favorite paint color for this house and it just happened to be black. So, I may not have a sensational story about the color decision, nonetheless, there is a learning opportunity for everyone about the process of selecting YOUR ideal colors.
I was very interested in Greg’s color selection process and experiences. He said, “The house was in desperate need of a paint job; it was WAY overdue. But it took some time to be ready to start, so I had a lot of time on my hands to think about it.
Greg told me, he originally saw a local house and wanted to use that yellow and white color scheme. I asked him what made him stray from his original vision. I loved his reply, “My interior designer forbade it, she said it would be like you are a copycat.” The search continued. Greg said, “As you can see from the pictures I sent, I looked at a bunch of different options.”
COLOR LESSON - I rarely use the virtual painting apps that major paint companies offer. My experience has been that the color saturation/intensity is too strong and has caused a few of my clients to shy away from colors that otherwise would have looked fabulous. If you decide to use these color tools, only use them as a guide and rely on the actual paint sample to make a final decision.
The question remains unanswered, how did Greg get from Yellow & White, and numerous color schemes then finally deciding on Black? A strong consideration was a green/grey color scheme that Greg’s Chattanooga Architect suggested, but then 10 months later when Greg asked him if he was sure, that is when he suggested black instead. His son sent the pictures shown below. This was a “eureka” moment! According to Greg, “it was an absolute moment of decision, I knew it would be black at this point…I was convinced immediately that I was going black, it was just a matter of how black and if there would be any accents.”
I love it when a person experiences their eureka color moment. I always say we are not looking for “it looks okay” we are looking for “wow”. Wow to one person is not the same as wow to another.
COLOR LESSON - Searching images is one of the best ways to get an idea to point you in the direction of what colors you would like for your home. I also advise people to notice what they do not like too. Elimination of what you don’t want points you toward what you do like. Greg’s son found the pic above he found from a search he did. Black was the color direction for Greg’s house!
COLOR LESSON - The ideal way to paint and view paint samples is to isolate each one unto its self. Everything influences color particularly other colors and lighting too. Notice the samples above. Some look black, some blue, as well as green; some look lighter and others darker. When the samples are painted next to each other the differences are more greatly pronounced and not necessarily what they will look like in reality. I also recommend painting in shadowed and highlighted areas too.
