Victorian houses are beautiful, rich, and at times ornate homes that harken back to an era of passionate style and intriguing, eclectic mixtures of various worldly influences. The Victorian home is still part of an architectural style that can be seen all over Summit and throughout the country. However, the word ‘Victorian,’ at least when it comes to houses, actually refers less to a style than it does to a period in time. That is, the era of Queen Victoria’s reign, which stretched from the year 1837 all the way to 1901. Most of the Victorian homes we see today were built in the mid to late 1800s, and characteristically contain somewhat ornate and distinctive exteriors. The interiors, too, are not difficult to detect in style, although there are several types of Victorian homes still in existence. And, with influences coming from both East and West, Victorian homes nearly always have recognizable color schemes. These typically include a three-color arrangement that involves a dominant color that’s used over about 60 percent of the house, a secondary color that’s used over another 30 percent, and a third color that peppers the last 10 percent as an accent. Following is more information on the top interior paint colors to use in a Victorian home that can express its fullest Victorian-era potential.
As mentioned above, Victorian homes typically use a three-color scheme. This design guideline is one of the decorating codes of the Victorian-era home, and it’s often incorporated into interior painting projects for these houses even today. Kitchen painting and bedroom painting especially are important residential painting projects that find the most uses for the Victorian three-color scheme. For instance, one of the most popular color scheme choices for Victorian homes includes a deep, rich red as the main color over 60 percent of the home, with soft yellow or blue as the secondary color to be used on about 30 percent, and then the final color (either yellow or blue) as the third, 10-percenter. One of today’s more updated favorite color combinations for Victorian homeowners who want a taste of the past combined with a bit of a more modern feel is to use the three-color scheme with purple, orange, and green. Purple is often used as the main, 60-percent hue. Then orange typically is incorporated as the 30-percent shade, and finally an olive green is used on the last 10 percent as the accent color that pulls it all together. Both of these choices, the red/yellow/blue combination and the purple/orange/green combo, are big this season for both bedroom painting as well as kitchen painting projects.
These aren’t the only color palettes that work well in Victorian homes, though. Another combination that designers, residential painters, and Victorian homeowners alike seem to gravitate toward involves blue, burgundy, and tan. Any variations on slate blue is a good choice for Victorian home, especially when used as the main, 60-percent shade. Combine a natural slate blue with burgundy over 30 percent and add tan, beige, or taupe on the remaining 10 percent, and you’ve got a beautiful combination that makes a Victorian kitchen or bedroom attractive and elegant. If you’re thinking more along the lines of something harmonious with the natural world around your house, try the combo of a rich caramel brown as the main color, a brick red as the 30-percent hue, and a deep olive as the remaining accent color. This color palette is an excellent choice for homeowners who want to keep their Victorian homes flush with the era as well as appealing for present times.
In all her glory, Queen Victoria was known the ‘grandmother of Europe.’ Her style was a bit on the ornate side, but always elegant and rich, and so too should the homes named for her reign be painted. Though many Victorian homeowners choose updates with appliances and other modern conveniences, that doesn’t mean that Victorian homes shouldn’t remain as close to their queen’s style as possible. In fact, Victorian homeowners tend to choose representational decor that meshes with their home’s namesake as closely as possible. And that fact makes the blueprint of colors used in a Victorian home very important. If you’re an owner of a Victorian home and you need assistance in choosing the right color scheme, contact a residential painter in your Summit neighborhood whose knowledge and expertise can help you decide on the best techniques for your home’s architectural style.