Picking the right heritage colours for your heritage home in Perth or anywhere in Australia is so much more than picking a paint colour you like. Getting it wrong can be detrimental to how a heritage home feels, what it represents and the historical values of the house and those surrounding it.
There are plenty of ‘heritage’ paint colours to choose from, but being labelled ‘heritage’ doesn’t mean they’re all suitable. With so many shades in the heritage colour palette, it’s easy to get the combination wrong or, commit overkill and use too many.
So where do you start when considering heritage colour schemes for your property? Well, there are some things to consider, including going back in time.
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Steps To Selecting Heritage Paint Colours
Check The Rules And Regulations
Yes, you read it right. If you do own a heritage home, it will likely be covered under rules or regulations. Depending on what area you live in, there will be state and council level rules and regulations that you will have to follow to preserve the heritage look and feel of your home – you definitely can’t paint your house whatever shade you like.
Consider The Type Of Heritage Home
The year your heritage home was built is key to determining the heritage colour palette you choose. Try to match the colours as close as possible to what they were like when the property was built. If you’re considering your heritage colours in Perth for example, you should find out what type of architectural style your home is – Victorian, Federation, Edwardian, a Californian Bungalow or Art Deco, all prominent styles within their own timeframe.
Check Your Neighbours
Take a walk around your suburb, particularly up and down your street and get a feel for the vibe the area is reflecting. Looking at similar homes will give you inspiration on what (and what not) to do with your colour scheme and makes it a whole lot easier to imagine what particular colours will look like on the house, not just a sample card.
Speak To An Expert
Painting an entire house is a pretty significant investment, so you want to make it worthwhile. That’s why it pays to ask an expert on painting heritage homes for advice. Where you might paint one house in your entire life, an expert painter will paint loads more, and many of them will be heritage homes. They have seen what works and what doesn’t and they know which shades work well together. They’ll pull you up if they feel a colour choice is too modern and will ruin the historical feel of your home. Beyond picking paint, an expert painter will know how to treat your old home with respect and will prepare it properly to achieve an impressive paint finish.
Do Some Research
If you own a heritage home, part of the fun is researching its history! Go to your local library and do some digging or visit websites like TROVE to look through the archives in search of photographs of your home. If you’re lucky, you might discover colour photographs so you can see what colour scheme was used and try to match it. You may also find that a painted wall wasn’t always painted. In some cases, it can be better to keep this brick exposed to stay in line with its original façade.
Part of owning a heritage home is paying respect to its history, preserving the memories that it holds within its walls for generations to come. One of the best ways to carry out this preservation work is by selecting the right heritage colours so your home can stall tall and proud for another one hundred years.
Stephen Cochrane manages A.J.Cochrane and Sons, a proudly Western Australian family-owned painting company. Founded in 1933, A.J. Cochrane and Sons are registered Master Painters specialising in residential and commercial painting in Perth.