Adding color to your historic home

When it comes to adding color to a historic home, it is appropriate to try to incorporate colors that match the structure's era. In some areas, it is also a requirement. If your home is in a designated historic district, the exterior may have to be painted from a predetermined palette of colors. The interior colors, however, are not included in these restrictions.

Before you choose paint colors for an older home it is important to know the home's exact age. The colors that are appropriate for a mid-century modern home are not the same as those that fit a Victorian structure. A colonial beauty will not look best with the color scheme that is ideal for an Arts and Crafts building.

Once you know the home's color scheme, the fun begins. There are quite a few paint companies that can help you with the correct choices.

California Paints is a New England Company that offers homeowners lots of options. Their paints are divided into historic categories. You can choose from colonial, federal, Greek revival, Victorian and 20th century. According to their website, these paints were designed in conjunction with Historic New England, the Historic Colors of America collection features 149 authentic shades used from the 1600s to 1895. Each color has been researched and verified for authenticity.

Once you find the color palette that works best with the age of the home, it is up to you how to incorporate them. You can, of course, use a historic color to paint your walls but it may be more than you want to do in all the rooms. If you are a person who prefers neutrals, the sometimes surprisingly bright colors that were used in the past may seem garish.

Accessories are a good way to incorporate a small amount of a historic color. This can mean using throw pillows in your bedroom or a family room. It can mean picking up the historic color in a throw rug or a throw for your sofa.

Little splashes of color in a vase on a table or in linens used in a kitchen or dining room will work. All these will bring in some of the historic colors without having the entire interior painted in these colors.

Adding historic colors to your home will be paying homage to the past while giving it an update today. There is nothing quite as attractive as a historic home that has a little of the past combined with a little of the present. Most of all: choose colors that you will enjoy.