Old House Colors

[RichD]

Not sure if anyone has ever stumbled across this.. but I found it interesting and educational..

http://oldhousecolors.com/

[David Emery]

That's a good find!  The lead article there today "The Great Divide" was particularly interesting, talking about the color shifts that occurred around 1900, and -why-. 

One thing to remember is that these shifts aren't instantaneous.   In 1920, for example, you'd see a variety of stiles from the latest trend back to probably 1880/1890 and earlier.  But remember paints (except for white lead :-) didn't last as long as they do now, so houses would be painted more often, and those that weren't refreshed would probably look pretty beat-up and weathered.

dave

[RichD]

Dave.. Not to mention faded... I can't imagine that the paints back then stood up to UV the way paints do now.

[RichD]

If this works.. this will show the house colors as web (html) colors and for the computer savvy the hex codes to produce them.

click on the attached file

[Malachi Constant]

Interesting stuff -- thanks!  Dallas

[nk]

On the very subject of house paints, a colleague has written this book: House Paints 1900-1960: History and Use.

I use this book all the time, but then again I analyze paint as part of my job. It still may be interesting for paint idiots savant!

[Bill Sartore]

Here's a link to an old paint brochure that I scanned a while ago.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9483972/Eagle%20Lead%20Paint.pdf

The front and back covers contained paint chips for interior and exterior color combinations. The rest of the book just plain makes you appreciate latex paint.

Bill

[mabloodhound]

thanks Bill.   Hadn't seen that one before.   
Interesting how few exterior colors there were available back then.