Paint can be tricky. Add to the mix the lightening effects of painting exterior surfaces, and I become frozen with indecision. Whatever I choose, I’m stuck with it, and so is everyone who drives by and/or visits my barns. So here I sit, paralyzed with indecision as the warm summer painting season passing by.
A mere six years ago, when we purchased this property from my family, we had the barns painted. Feeling nostalgic and wanting to honor the past, I simply had them repainted as they had been all my life:
Classic white with dark green trim. If you travel up and down Buckeystown Pike, you’ll find barn after barn painted this same way.
But the job was done poorly, and now, after only six short years, we’re faced with the need to paint again. And I’m itching for a change.
I’d really like to move on to this look:
Farrow & Ball’s Railings is an great choice. I attended one of F&B’s color seminars, where I learned to go 2 tones darker for exterior color, as the sun washes it out, making it appear much paler outside than it does indoors.
Here’s Railings as a trim color – so beautiful.
There is no comparison for richness and fullness of color to the Farrow & Ball paints. And here’s another choice – but paler: Downpipe:
I really like this color in combination with the red brick. Our house (which could also use fresh paint) is red brick, and I’d like consistency throughout the property.
This image above is F&B’s Downpipe against Cotswolds stone. But doesn’t anything look beautiful against Cotswolds stone?
And then there’s Benjamin Moore’s Amherst Grey. So elegantly sharp with it’s crisp white trim.
Or, Benjamin Moore’s Kendall Charcoal. This image gives you a great look at how color can change. On the cards, Kendall Charcoal is darker than Amherst Grey, yet if you compare these images, they appear to be almost the same color.
And here is Benjamin Moore’s Black Forest Green. Try to envision this barn with crisp white trim framing the small door, and outlining the detailing on the large barn door.
You see how it goes? I just need to choose and get on with it. But whatever I choose, it necessarily eliminates all those other beautiful, tempting choices.
It’s just so hard to decide . . .
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this vexing issue!
Thanks for reading,
Virginia
The Chartreuse Life 
Railings!!!!!
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Love your enthusiasm, Rosanna!
F&B Railings, hands down – gorgeous all the way!
Painting! What fun! About your request for feedback (if it matters at all, I do have a degree in design and 35 years of experience…), the color ideas you have are all lovely, however, my vote is for your last color choice: the B. Moore Black Forest Green. A very nice charcoal, but the green gives it a rich, warm, elegant and distinctive earthiness that, IMO, the other schemes, while bright and fresh, lack. Also, I am familiar with your property–love your business and buildings–and as it is not new construction, but a lovely vintage farm, so again, IMO, I feel that the other grays are too crisp and project a too-modern feeling for your gracious and comfortable antique buidlings.
I do have a suggestion though (if you haven’t already done so). I found that it is SO worth it when painting large buildings to purchase small samples or a quart of the 3-4 (or 10-15 in my case!) final choice colors and paint LARGE test areas and some of the trim and then observe the colors at various times of the day over the course of a week or two or four or… This really helps with the evaluation/decision process!
I write today because your post struck a chord with me, as we just finished painting our wooden building (dark chocolate/espresso brown wood siding with deep teal doors–looks yummy). And, FYI, for a bit of shared comraderie, I invested a several months in painting (many) samples on the building and working with paint company to custom mix our deep mocha color stain to get the…perfect shade. (Folks were amused by my patchwork quilt of test color patches on the front of our building!) And I’m glad I took the time, as painting such large objects and projecting your vision/personality for a highly visible project of (hopefully) long duration is so important.
So, I just crossed another big item off of my to-do list and, as our painter did a very nice job and now that our building looks really nice, I hope the material will give us 8-10 years of durability?
Have fun and good luck! : )
Thanks for the insights! I’d love to see photos of your building (with the patchwork and the finished project); sounds delightful.
va
I’m excited about the darker colors. And I love love love those giant sliding doors (the look you’d like to move towards). Big decisions!
Thanks, Sue. We’re going to get some of it started this week! I’ll be posting pictures 🙂
Red attracts money and is good Feng Shui. I painted my front door & kitchen with Finnaren & Haley, Codman claret. Painted my studio the same but it really faded. Kitchen cabinets are still a perfect shade of Shaker red. I match it with a creamy white and sage green. Picks up the colors of brick, the garden and the light sand of my Cape May beaches. Good luck with your choices. I love BMW paint. Barbara
I’d love to see pictures, Barbara!
I know this comment is late, but I want to share. I had a fixer upper painted in Richmond. It, too, needs repainting after 6 years. As does other houses in the neighbrhood painted around the same time as mine. I was told it is the paint and not necessarily the “workmanship”. I watched as my painters scraped, sanded and primed to no avail. It seems the new formula mandated by EPA required the removal of certain chemicals which kept the paint from prematurely peeling. European paints still have this chemical. But that paint is extremely expensively. I am told pure gesso works best as it has an amazing bonding agent. Whatever you decide, good luck with your new paint.
We ended up painting the trim Farrow & Ball’s Railings. And stained the body of it in a soft grey. The staining has retained the aged patina it had, and I hope the Farrow & Ball (British paint) has the agent you mentioned. So far, so good!