We have been dyeing textiles for thousands of years using plants, animals, minerals and even shell-fish. In Europe in the Middle Ages the most common colours used were red, yellow and blue, which were derived from the madder, weld and woad plants, respectively. The discovery of the Americas revealed that scarlet could be derived from the cochineal beetle, black from logwood and yellow from quercitron. Blue came from India in the form of indigo and brown from West African bar wood. Until the mid-nineteenth century all pigments were derived from natural sources. In 1856 a young chemist, William Henry Perkin, accidentally discovered the world’s first commercially successful synthetic dye.
We have a basic desire to im
Each country has it’s own traditions with colour. In Europe black is the colour of morning, in China it’s white.
In hot countries like Africa and Greece, the locals often paint pale blue around the windows. They believe that this colour discourages flies from coming into their homes. Maybe they’re right!
Early cave men used colour made from earth, minerals and vegetable material to decorate their homes, and record the animals they hunted.
The Ancient Egyptians were aware of the significance of colour and healing thousands of years ago. They had special temples with different coloured rooms that the sick sat in, Each colour worked on a different part of their body.
The Chinese and Indians also use this idea. The base of the spine is red, the pelvis is orange the navel yellow, the heart green, the throat blue, the center of the forehead [third eye] lilac, and the top of the head violet.
The Chinese art of Feng-Shui is many thousands of years old, and is gaining grater popularity in the west. Colours are given to certain walls in the home to promote health, wealth, career or love.
ROMAN
In the wealthier villas there were beautiful frescoes on the walls and intricate and colourful mosaics on the floors.
MEDIEVAL
Even the 13th century walls were white or colourwashed, and stone walls were given a smoothing coat of plaster. Green was a fashionable colour. They may have been decorated with a floral design, or a frieze. Murals were also common.
ELIZABETHAN
In the wealthier homes, wood panelling lined the rooms. This was often painted. The plaster in unpanelled rooms was painted and divided into dado, infill and freize.
QUEEN ANN
Strong, dark hues were common, usually in olive green, brown, grey, and off-white.
GEORGIAN
The walls were painted with stuccco and hung with rich fabrics. Walls were painted one colour, white was popular, and decorated with a border. Dados were still popular.
Heritage Colour Schemes
Recreate the authentic colours of traditional homes using modern paints. We can not use many of the authentic traditional paints as they contain highly dangerous substances like arsenic and lead. These were inhaled or absorbed through the skin and gradually poisoned anyone exposed to them over a long period of time.
When renovating older properties or furniture avoid accidental inhalation by getting the paint tested for dangerous additives, getting doors and furniture chemically stripped by experts, and always wear good quality masks [preferably with filters] and goggles when sanding.
If in doubt, assume the worst and take precautions.
Traditional homes are an integral part of our heritage. It is therefore pleasing to see the growing trend towards restoring older homes and the subsequent resurgence of interest in the house colours of our past. Many homeowners with older houses, especially those pre-1940 are striving for authenticity in colour repainting to enhance the true architectural heritage of their homes.
Most paint companies have developed a set of colour guidelines that reflect the various historical periods of home design.
It is important to note that the range of colours used in the past was somewhat limited and changes between periods were gradual. Not every early homeowner may wish to recreate the exact colour shades of another era, but for those who do, this is an ideal starting point.
Early Colonial 1840-1870
| 1840 – 1870 |
The use of imported paints or homemade limewashes with one or two-toned colour schemes typified this period.
Ochres, umbers, creams and fawns were widely used colours for limewashes on cob and earth buildings. The same range of paint colours, including light yellows, were common with domestic timber buildings that were designed to imitate stone. Although white was not common, it was used for window sashes on the simplest buildings.
Corrugated steel roofs were either left unpainted or painted in dark reds. Natural roofing materials such as slates and shingles were not painted.
Wallpaper was introduced towards the end of the period and became popular. White or coloured whitewash was common for smaller houses, while plain paint or wallpaper colours such as soft grey blues, mid green, crimsons, reds and lighter shades of these were popular, together with whites and creams. Timber ceilings, architraves and skirtings were varnished.
Mid Victorian 1870-1890
| 1870s – 1890s |
The same earthy colours were used as in the earlier period but a darker range of tones was introduced. Weatherboard colours were buff, or dark buff. Trim, if picked out, was several shades darker. The sashes and doors were very dark reds, browns, greens or olive greens.
Roofs were painted the same dark reds as in the earlier period but dark greens and greys were added. Striped veranda roofing was common with the darker colours alternating with creams.
Inside, colours for all wall and ceiling surfaces and materials were carefully chosen to harmonise with each other, with common colours including crimsons, buffs, blues, greys, browns, reds, tans, olives, terracottas, greens, roses and golds.
Usually architraves, skirtings, doors, window sashes and decorative timberwork were all varnished or, later in the period, doors, architraves and skirtings were black japanned. Painted plaster ceilings and decorations became popular towards the end of the century. The kitchen was likely to have had painted tongue and grooved match lining of whites and creams.
Late Victorian and Edwardian 1890-1914
| 1890s – 1914 |
The most commonly used dark colours remained the dark greens and reds and maroons with dark browns also used. Light colours were creams, fawns, drabs, dark pinks, buffs, pale greens and greys.
Simpler homes retained the three colour palette with light weatherboards, dark trim and a different dark colour for the window sashes and doors. The alternative scheme used the same range of colours but the weatherboards could be a dark colour and the trim a light colour.
The complex, detailed styles usually picked out trim and framing elements. Veranda posts had brackets and mouldings of opposite colours to posts, finials were an opposite colour to their brackets, doors had the panels a lighter colour than the styles and rails, and gable framework was an opposite colour to the filigree detail between.
The same colours were used on roofs as in the earlier period.
Interior colour schemes were less bright and used more colours. Colours included soft pinks, soft greens, light and dark grey, blues, yellows and detail sometimes picked out in gold.
Dominion Years 1914-1945
| 1914 – 1945 |
This period saw a greater range of style and use of colour than ever before. Pale colours such as off whites, buffs and creams for the body of the house and dark greens, dark reds and even blacks for trim and shingles under the gables and bay windows.
An alternative was for the entire house to be painted or stained black.
The Art Deco and Moderne styles from 1925 to the late 40s used paler colours such as off whites, pale greens, pale pinks, and light browns. Details were picked out, often in contrasting colours such as mid green and orange or mid green and dark blue , green and cobalt blue. Window frames and sashes would be a light colour, while doors would often be a dark colour such as blue or green.
Interior colours in this period were paler even than the previous period with pastels being common. A greater complexity of interior colour was introduced with stained glass and lead light windows.