An 1891 Victorian on Goodrich Avenue, Painted in Six Colors

The project

Ann and Bruce have lived in this house for 33 years. It is one of the painted ladies of Summit Hill: fish-scale shingles in the gables, Ionic porch columns, a bracketed cornice, a bay window wrapped in a carved frieze of flowers and ribbons, and a carriage house and gazebo out back that match the house trim for trim.

A house like this is not a two-color job. The homeowners chose a six-color scheme, all from Benjamin Moore’s Historical Collection, that pulls each layer of the architecture forward. Van Courtlandt Blue on the lap siding. Windham Cream on the cornice, dentils, columns, corbels and window trim. Georgian Brick on the fish-scale shingles, Hodley Red on the square shingles and accent moldings, Newburyport Blue on the second fascia line and doors, and Bryant Gold in the gables. The decorative gable shingles carry five colors and the floral and ribbon frieze three, all painted by hand, one petal at a time.

Before any paint went on, our carpenters replaced rotted trim and shingles, then the crew spot-primed bare wood with oil primer and painted every surface from the gable peaks to the water table: flat on the siding and shingles, low lustre on the trim so the details catch the light. The carriage house and gazebo got the same six colors. 363 hours of painting, 23 hours of repair, and a house that stops people on the sidewalk.

Why they chose to preserve their 1891 Victorian (2 min).