Renovating a Victorian Home

If you want to cover your Victorian home to reproduce its heyday, you will almost surely want to use “authentic” Victorian-era colors and mixture. While many Victorian homes today are painted on unbiased themes, this may not be the best course for a true Victorian atmosphere. “True” Victorian colors may revelation you, as they are not plain, nor always light. In 1885, a critic writing in California Architects and Builders News had this to say about Victorian color schemes in San Francisco: “. . . red, yellow, chocolate, orange, everything that is loud is in fashion. . . if the upper stories are not of red or blue. . . they are painted up into uncouth panels of yellow and brown. . . “While he may not have esteemed the bright colors that were in vogue, there is a definite contingent of home owners today who want to paint their homes in authentic colors of the era and bold ones at that. Contrary to today’s white Victorian, the ‘modern’ Victorian residence in the mid-late 1800s was decorated in dark, vivid colors. Earth tones held sway: rich browns, greens and block reds were what dotted the Victorian middle-class neighborhood. Victorian society was interested in nature and this was reflected in their color schemes, both within and without. Rich colors were commonly used for walls and neat and were reflected in the interior of the home in balancing wallpaper prints and moldings.