Period-correct PAINT!

[MissTayva]

Maybe I am a big geek, but I am beaming with excitement right now.
My pal Erin just let me know that Sherwin-Williams has just come out with a line of "historically accurate" paint.
I checked out the website and am ELATED. The colors are pretty darm accurate! THey have them for the late 1800s, 1920s, 1930s and 1950s. I am so in love with the 1950s colors, and hope these colors stick around until the end of the year (moving), because I want them in my house SO BAD!
Here is the link, for any of you interested:

http://www.sherwin-williams.com/diy/color/palettes/default.asp

Even though none of it would match with my decor, the 1930s shades are quite beautiful! Well, they are all nice. Go take a peek!

 

[ITG]

No 1940s shades, huh? Oh well. (joking of course)

You might wanna post this also in the Golden Era room as I'm sure alot of guys might be interested in this too (and I'm sure most of them don't keep tabs on our girlie threads over here. I see they even have some exterior historical color paints. I'm impressed.

 

[jitterbugdoll]

Behr has had a line of historical colors for some time--their website is www.behr.com (look under Inspiration.)

We painted our kitchen vintage milk glass green, but we actually found the color in a 'regular' paint line. My aunt, who is a talented faux finisher, came out last March and helped us create a vintage soda-themed kitchen. The combination of red and green makes for a very happy room!

We plan on painting our bedroom Victorian Mauve (you can see the color by looking at Behr’s Victorian collection.)

Vintage color schemes are fun!

 

[KitschNSink]

I am glad I stumbled by.

The only historical colors I am used to seeing is the milk paints from van dyke's restorers for colonial era houses. I will definitely need to check out these....as I am a vintage decorating book junkie!

I had a dresser that had been my grandmothers, than my mothers, then mine and it was painted a fantastic shade of apple green that i have not been able to find. My mother unfortunately decided to paint over the green with beige about 10 years ago after i moved out and I want so badly something in my home to be that cheery color again. Every other color I have seen since has been just a tinge too lime (even though i love lime) or not as wonderfuly saturated and vivid that this color was. I hope to find it!

Chris

 

[Wild Root]

Excuse me ladies for stepping into your chat, but I couldn’t help but see this thread. I am an artist in many ways, but I love color. I’m also a nut for vintage any thing from the 20’s to the 40’s.

Holly, the colors for the late 30’s pretty much carried over to the 40’s. There is nothing like a home that’s painted in the correct colors to suit it’s architecture and period it was built. One thing I use for reference is old magazine ads out of Life, Saturday Evening Post and the like. Look for any ads that show furniture and kitchen deign. You will see some really cool stuff. And most I have seen is in color. The Sears and Wards Catalogs of the 20’s to 50’s are a great reference as well seeing that they have pictures of drapes, sinks, wall paper and pretty much all you’ll need for decorating a home! Some catalogs even have a color chart of the colors that were popular at the time in the paint section!!! I can scan that in very easily for those who would like to see. You can take any paint chip and have it matched at most paint shops today! So, if you find a color you like and no not the name or who carries it, take the sample of it and show it to the attendant at say Home Depot or any do it your self store and they will match it for you!

Root.

 

[jitterbugdoll]

Women's magazines (Good Housekeeping, Better Homes and Gardens, even Cosmopolitan) also provide excellent examples of color schemes--I've seen many home decorating ads that said something along the lines of “Come in to such-and-such store and let us help you color coordinate your home like the pros!� These ads are usually accompanied by 3-5 color swatch groupings that give you an idea of the color trends in that particular year (for example, wedgewood blue, gray and burgundy, or dusty rose, taupe and green for 1938-39.) I actually chose the color I painted my kitchen directly from a late 30s ad for linoleum. The kitchen in the ad was painted a bright, jadeite green, with red cabinets and white trim. We painted our kitchen walls green, and then used red and white for accent in the decorations (old Coke ads, for example.) I actually adored the red cabinets, but my husband wouldn’t hear of it!

Also, I found this website some time ago and used it as inspiration, too:
http://www.oldhouseweb.com/stories/Detailed/314a.shtml
This picture looks very similar to our kitchen, although we used green more heavily then we did red.

I’ll try to scan in some ads as well—the color schemes are amazing and very different from what people choose today.

Even though our house is a new built, I would love to decorate it using vintage colors and furniture. Unfortunately, my husband does not care for the style as much as I do (he thinks antique furniture is *gasp* ‘junk’!), so I will have to let him decorate a couple of rooms using the ‘neutral colors’ he so adores (boring, if you ask me ). Well, at least my kitchen is a happy 40s color!

 

[Wild Root]

Oh man! What a site that is!

When I posted it was real late at night and I forgot all about Better Homes and the like. good pointers in that mag for sure!

Jitterbug, as for your husband not liking vintage decor, I would suggest you show him how well it was made and how it has lasted comepared to todays "Junk". Go to IKEA and then the antique store. He'll get the picture! Or, maybe I should have a man to man talk with him.

Root.

PS. Love the picture! I want a vintage kitchen SO BAD now!

 

[JenLyn]

Those paint selections and those web sites are giving me great ideas for the house we're building. After years of living in apartments with white walls, white trim, white everything, I'm soooo looking forward to using COLORS in our home!!!

 

[swinggal]

I have a 1927 Bungalow and used 1930s colours throughout. We even looked underneath the paint layers and found that the colours we chose were the same as the originals in some rooms, which was a great feeling. It's so much fun to try and recreate what was.

All of the original light fittings in the house had been removed and replaced with skanky modern brass looking things (I cringe thinking about them). We replaced them all with repro (and some original) deco fittings, shades and wall sconces. There is great place here called 'Recollections' who have a line of repro art deco shades and accessories, made from the old moulds. We even have deco bakelite switches to replace the ugly 70s switches that were put in years ago.....joy....

 

[jitterbugdoll]

Sounds great, swinggal! I'd love to move to one of the historic districts in Phoenix, but my husband has a weird aversion to old homes. I keep telling him that these older homes are just about the only ones built on decent sized lots (new homes, including ours, are simply crammed together), and that quite a few have detached garages, sheds, etc, which would make a perfect studio for him. He won’t buy my argument though…

How it pains me to hear people talk about their vintage homes and then find out that they ripped out the bathroom because "it had tacky pink tiles", etc. I cannot watch 'This Old House' because so many people seem to buy a house "because they love history" only to completely gut their home and modernize it. Geez, just buy a new home and leave the good stuff for people who can appreciate it!

Saw this cool website on another board--if only I could convince my husband to let me do this!

http://www.joelp.com/bath/index.html

Love the seafoam green and black combo!

 

[MissTayva]

I've yet to pick up any of the paint swatches! I should do so, just incase they decide to discontinue the line (which will happen with my luck).

I'll spit if I hear another "tacky pink tile" comment! I've known countless people who have remodeled bathrooms to get rid of such things. In our home growing up, we had a pink and black bathroom. My parents remodeled it because it badly needed it, however they still have the sink and toilet from that bathroom (They had to break the tub to get it out of the bathroom, I guess the builders had to place the tub, then the walls!). I told them I want it, granted we ever buy a home. I won't settle for any home, either! There are some very nice ones in central Phoenix, although the market with Mid -Century Modern homes out here is going sky high. I have my sights set on Palm Springs!

I absolutely hate it when I see a great 1940s or '50s home redone in the ultra-tacky '70s style. In my hometown, this woman has a huge and beautiful '50s home (looks like it came straight out of Palm Springs), all done up with stomach acid-green shag carpeting, avocado green cabinets, and horrible op-art wallpaper everywhere. I told my husband I wish she'd kick the bucket soon, she has no heirs that I know of and I wish they'd put the house on the market (haha), but then again, getting the house back to original state would be an expensive nightmare!

 

[ohairas]

And wallpaper too!

HI! Thanks MissTayva for the info, I haven't been into SW for a while! We are redoing our 100 year old home and I keep an accordian file FULL of paint swatches. I get all of my paint color matched at Walmart, and I love their paint. UGH.. talk about the 70's butcher jobs. The only original trim we have left in our home was around the front door. The windows they DID trim out afterwards just had plain boards stuck around them.. and since they had lowered the ceilings you couldn't even trim out the tops! We took all the ceilings out and put them back to original.

ANYHOOOO!!

I bought some AWESOME 40's vintage wallpaper from http://www.hannahstreasures.com/default.asp
This is for my craftroom~ I liked it because it had a rather 'tin ceiling' look to it.. and I will be using it on the ceiling to go in pink and green craft room! I had the paper color matched. I usually buy a mini can to be sure I like the color, and after testing it on my walls I felt it was way to dark. So I mixed the little can with one whole large can of white and it was perfect! (Except when I ran out, I had to do the EXACT same thing, ROFL!) I did this for both the pink and the green shades.

I love almost every era, so I'm quite fickle. I have too much junk I admit, but am always on the prowl for MORE! I have alot of hats and things that will look cute hung up in here..I want to bring in alot of black accents.

Here is my craftroom still very much in progress! You'll have to scroll down to the bottom of the album for the paper, etc.
I also found DARLING 40's curtains to go in there.. though I will have to revamp them to fit my windows. A client of mine gave me the great 30's china cabinet and buffet, I love them!
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/ohairas/album?.dir=/e73a&.src=ph&.tok=phUweLDBmdWF1kvG

Now to find some cute vintage light fixtures..

Jitterbugdoll your kitchen sounds so cool, would love to see pics if you can! I adored your wedding pictures!!

Oh.. Ben Moore has wonderful colors too!


Ohairas

 

[Wild Root]

That wallpaper site is great! Real original wallpaper! I bet it's not cheap.

Any way, I saw this photo on the site and loved it!

I plan on doing my kitchen like this some time when I have my own home! I rent right now. :cry:

Root.

 

[ohairas]

That is a great kitchen!

Hi Wild Root.. I agree, that is a fab kitchen! I remember that pic..

The paper was a bit pricey, but when you look at some of the prices of today's modern paper I wasn't too terribly shocked by the price. It is so cool and 'papery' ya know... not vinyl or slick. They were all different prices.

I got a couple of rolls of 30's paper out of a dumpster when they were cleaning out an old house around here.. (I got alot of cool stuff out of there!)
You can also find vintage paper on ebay, tho usually not enough for a room. I love the old wallpaper sample books, but geesh, they go high!!

THis is the second house I've stripped layer upon layer of wallpaper, including the ceilings. The house before this one there was about 7 layers in each room. I was drooling over many of the layers as they came off. I tried to keep samples for colors, etc.

~O

 

[ohairas]

Chris~

I had a dresser that had been my grandmothers, than my mothers, then mine and it was painted a fantastic shade of apple green that i have not been able to find. My mother unfortunately decided to paint over the green with beige about 10 years ago after i moved out



Hi! Just wondering if you could possibly scrape or genlty strip enough beige off of the dresser to be able to do a color match? Walmart needs about a dime to nickle sized sample for their machine. Good luck finding your green!

~0