Back from Family Reunion at the Cottage
June 21, 2008 § 14 Comments
New windows
Hi Bloggers:
I’m back and what a culture shock. Nothing like two weeks gazing at sunsets and listening to waves on the lake to make you relax but getting back into the swing of things is challenging. There are TONS of queries waiting for me and I will try hard to answer everyone’s questions. We’re working on getting DSL up at the cottage — that will help keep the blog going even on vacations.
I’ve included some photos — my sons and I painted some lawn furniture and the new windows are finally all in. Next comes a fresh paint job on the cottage and maybe a new roof. But that’s enough for this summer. We’re just going to enjoy it.
Thanks for your patience! I’ll start with the ones that came in first and work down the list.
Check back periodically and I hope I’ll have your question answered.
-Barbara, Your Home & Color Coach
Your Home & Color Coach 
For when you return, you mentioned a brick dutch colonial with a purple metal roof and purple door that looking stunning. Do you have a picture? I need to decide about a metal roof on my brick dutch colonial.
Dear Barbara, Thank you for sharing your expert advice! I enjoy reading your blogs. The body of our 1960’s ranch-style home is Wethersfield Moss. Do you have a suggestion for the shutter color and the front door? Our roof is a weathered wood color. Many thanks!
Hi Barbara. We are painting our house – a 1920’s Dutch Colonial – Main color BM’s – Kendall Charcoal with Monterey White (Cream Trim), the door is going to be Black. What color should we paint the shutters? Cream or Black? I would like to send a photo, but not sure how. Any thoughts on the color anyway. Thanks in advance. Renee
Hi Barbara,
Just landed on your wonderful website by accident and need some help if at all possible. Our home is 40 years old and we live in Northern California. I will send photos, but we are in the process of picking out new roofing. I am partial to the Southern California/Mediterranean colors so I thought the Owens-Corning Terra Cotta shingles would be nice with a cream colored stucco home (it is white now) with brown or white metal gutters. We have double front doors in a Mahagony stain. Am I thinking right? The Terra Cotta looks very red to me and don’t want to make a mistake. I will e-mail a couple of photos possibly tomorrow. Thanks Barbara. Never tried a feed before but maybe I will get it right.
Hi donegal29,
I don’t have a photo of the purple door and roof as the house is in a different town. But the next time I’m down there I will snap a photo. I must say, the purple is smashing. Sorry for the big tease. I’ll see what I can do about the photo.
-Barbara
Your Home & Color Coach
Hi Barbara,
I’ve just stumbled upon your blog and I am amazed at the excellent advice that you so readily offer!
I have a color dilemma that I would love some help resolving, if you have time.
I have a red brick ranch (circa 1956) with a gray roof. I’m planning to paint the shutters (which are purely decorative and look completely awful), the front door, all of the trim, the walls of the front porch, the back porch and the stained wood addition in the back of the house. I’m a bit stumped.
If I paint the trim white and the shutters black what color should I paint the porch? It is white right now and it looks a bit harsh. The door has some damage at the base so I think we’re going to apply a brass kick plate to cover it until we can have the door professionally refinished. I had considered a glossy black for the door, but with the white front porch it seems like too much contrast. Would a deep red-brown look all right? What about the door frame? My main concern is the area on the porch and its relation to the door color. If you could give me some advice there it would be a HUGE help! Any thoughts on trim color etc. would be helpful as well.
For reference–the door knob is mounted on a square brass escutcheon. The brass has a beautiful brushed finish–it practically glows–but as you can see it is not clean right now. I will clean and lacquer the brass after I finish the painting. Also, all of the landscaping will be redone as well.
Here is a link to some pictures of the front area of the house. http://netherlanddrive.site.shutterfly.com/
Thanks so much!
-Nikki
Hi Susan (#2),
For a classic look, you can use black shutters and a rich rusty red-brown door. You didn’t mention your trim color, but I’m assuming it’s white. If you’re painting trim, cream goes extremely well with this color combination.
I would rather see black shutters on your house than the “negative-positive” look (dark house with light/cream shutters). Not as crazy about that look although it’s still an option for you.
Hope that helps.
-Barbara
Your Home & Color Coach
Hi matrendays (#3),
With that dark rich color on the house and the cream trim, you don’t even need shutters. That may not sit well with you, but you really don’t need an additional accent. The black door is fine. I would not do the often-seen cream shutters on the dark house. I don’t think they add anything positive to the look.
See what you think of that idea.
-Barbara
Your Home & Color Coach
Hi Barbara,
Just wondered if you were able to see the photos I sent to your website on Thursday.
Thanks,
Dolores
Hi Dolores (#4),
I didn’t get your photos via email but from your house description I love the idea of the terra cotta roof color. Yes, it is red, but so are most Mediterranean style roof colors and I think the terra cotta would be terrific with cream stucco. I would just paint the gutters the house color so they do not become a focal point. That’s easy enough to do. Or just get ivory-colored gutters.
The mahogany doors sound wonderful. I think you’re all set to go!!
-Barbara
Your Home & Color Coach
Hi again Dolores (#8),
I didn’t see them but, alas, they might have vanished with a batch of emails that were deleted en masse. The other option is that my memory is full and they never arrived. I’ll go make more space if you want to try again. Sorry about that.
-Barbara
Your Home & Color Coach
Hi Nikki (#6),
First of all, I would just eliminate the shutters altogether. Your windows are small and not all centered (the ones by the door) so you really don’t need to bring attention to them with the shutters. But I love your brick color and would paint the vertical siding a tan color that goes with the grout (something like Ben Moore’s wilmington tan might work HC-34). Then you can either keep the trim white to go with the windows or warm it up to a cream. As for the door, I would paint it a warm brick color like Ben Moore’s georgian brick (HC-50). You’ll be amazed at the transformation.
Hope you like the suggestions.
-Barbara
Your Home & Color Coach
Thank you very much for your reply and suggestion! It’s very much appreciated.
hmm.. thank you very much. usefull information