Bringing back a Victorian era favorite in Winter Park

Beginning in the late 1970s new Victorian style homes enjoyed a revival in North America. These ornate houses were designed to have the look of a late 19th Century home but not the problems associated with the originals. Their designs were a reaction to the modern “less is more” tract homes of the 50s & 60s. Most modern Victorians were painted in brighter colors than their historic prototypes. Widely used colors included yellow, peach, plum and lavender. This house in Florida has a soft set of colors that show well in the bright sun light.

Soft colors for a Florida charmer.

The owners chose enough “gingerbread” for the house to look authentic.
They even had fish-scale shingles placed in the gables to copy the Queen Anne style.
The color scheme is a mixture of yellow, lavender, historic period green, white and blue.

Goal & Solution

Goal

The owners were looking for a color scheme that reflected the victorian period but in colors that worked in the bright sun of Winter Park, Florida.

Solution

This porch emulates its 1890s counterparts with crisp colors, detailed painted railings and sky blue ceiling.  The color placement for the spindles was taken from an 1886 color guide.
The blue ceiling color is from a 1901 historic paint catalogue.