Choosing an interior color palette & using historical colors
Creating a space for now that reminds us of where our home really began.
After studying the Benjamin Moore Historical Color Collection, listening to Pat from Farrow & Ball interview homeowners on The Chromologist podcast, visiting historic homes of Strawberry Banke in Portsmouth, and sitting in our home simply staring at the walls, I can still find it overwhelming to choose a color palette for our big, old, fixer upper farmhouse that both pulls from its centuries of history and compliments our current lifestyle.
If you are in the process of renovating or designing a home or a space, I invite you to remember one thing. If this space is for you, the design should capture all that makes you happy. All that makes you, you. For me, this means a couple of things when it comes to choosing color.
Remember who you are and what you do. It is quite easy to fall into the rabbit hole of Pinterest, Instagram, or magazine spreads with trending colors of the year and design flows. These are great resources for inspiration, all while you still consider how you actually live. Where do you put all of your stuff? What does your stuff look like? For us, we both work full time jobs, and in our free time we like to go to the beach, cook, read, garden, build and restore wooden furniture, and we very much look forward to entertaining friends and family in our “new” home. Not having lived in this space yet, I find it helpful to picture what that will look like in real life, versus trying to mimic someone else’s home design and lifestyle from the internet, as eye catching and mesmerizing as it may be.
Nostalgia. Referencing back to listening to Patrick O’Donnell from Farrow & Ball interview homeowners on The Chromologist podcast. Pat really highlights the value in considering who you are and what has shaped you along the way as a means of creating a color palette that is uniquely suited to you. If you had to choose a handful of colors that have shaped your life, what would they be? For example, I have always had an affinity for the ocean. Whenever I wasn’t feeling well as a child, my mom would take me for a drive to the coast so we could breathe in the salt air and feel better. And let me tell you, it always made me feel better. I’m sure so many of you can relate! I grew up to attend Maine Maritime Academy and study marine biology, and now I live on the tiny seacoast of New Hampshire and cannot possibly imagine ever living inland again. And so, choosing blues, greens, and serene, coastal themed hues that suit a 1700’s colonial and our coastal New England lifestyle is a great starting point.
In addition to creating a space for now, we also want to remember and preserve our home’s history.
We have been learning about historic homes, how they were built, and color and style across the periods ever since we laid eyes on our house, long before we were able to buy it from the seller who left it vacant for so many years. While it is important to us to create a color palette that suits our taste and lifestyle, we also want to preserve the historic charm of our home, tying in the design of its time.
And so, here’s a little history lesson. During the 1700s, the color palette in early American homes was a reflection of the social and economic conditions, really hinging on the natural materials that were available. During the earlier part of the century, colors were muted and earthy, with shades of ochre (think natural clay, like terra cotta pots), browns, and greens commonly used to decorate home interiors. These colors were available from natural pigments, such as clay and plant-based dyes. During the later part of the century, softer, brighter, and more varied colors became available, especially in more affluent homes. Our 1700’s farmhouse has a very simple style and structure, with low ceilings and simple woodwork detail, which leads me to believe the first family that lived here wasn’t on the "more affluent” list. Which we love and really puts things into perspective for us. We are working our tails off every weekend to make this house work, and I can only imagine what that was like centuries ago.
A fantastic resource on historical paint colors by architectural period: https://www.historicnewengland.org/preservation/for-homeowners-communities/your-old-or-historic-home/historic-colors-of-america/
Narrowing down your color choices and creating your perfect palette
The best advice that I can give one year into choosing colors for this house: buy sample pots! Using color books and paper swatches is a great first step and undoubtedly helps narrow down your color options, however I have found that holding a color swatch up on the wall is far from the effect of actually painting sample swatches in the room that you will be painting. Invest in a few small sample pots once you have choices narrowed down to two or three. Paint swatches onto the wall and sit with them for a few days during morning and evening hours to get a sense of the effect of different lighting and time of day. Trust me on this, and it will save you precious time and money.
A fine example: Our dining room was painted a soft yet very saturated green, which I loved however it felt very primary, as do many of the room colors from previous owners. After sifting through color swatches, I found Bone No. 15 by Farrow & Ball. If you click this Bone No. 15 website link to review their website’s inspiration photos for this color, you’ll likely agree that their photos appear to be more earthy, maybe more nutty or just… brown. Even the painted swatch in our local paint store looked tannish-brown. Being stubbornly attached to this color and not convinced, I purchased a sample pot in Farrow & Ball’s Estate Eggshell finish, and I am so glad that I did because I LOVED IT on the original wooden paneling is this room. See before and after photos below.
The fireplace itself is now begging to be restored. The pumpkin wide pine floors have been gently sanded, soon to be finished in the spring once the temperature creeps up and the product can cure properly (we still don’t have heat in the house). More on these restoration projects to come!
In my weekly posts I’ll be sharing stories, photos, and learnings as we move through the restoration of our 1767 farmhouse. I hope you become a subscriber and continue reading, I greatly appreciate your support!
I loved studying the history of interior design back in school. Color theory is a powerful tool that is often under-appreciated! Thanks for the journey back in time!
Eggshell is definitely a great favorite of mine. Makes the whole place warm up like nothing else! Excited to follow the restoration, Carly! Cheers, -Thalia