How to choose historic house colors for a 1920s–1940s home

The most reliable way to choose historic colors for a 1920s–1940s house is to gather evidence first: old photographs, the paint layers still on the house, and what the architectural style typically wore. Then decide how faithful you want to be, narrow the choice to a few Sherwin-Williams colors, and test them on the actual walls and trim.

Many houses in Grosse Pointe and across Metro Detroit were built in exactly that window, when Colonial Revival, Tudor Revival and French styles were at their height. Their original palettes were often quieter than people expect, and they were built to be seen together with brick, stone, slate and wood. Here’s how to find that palette, and how to use it without turning your house into a museum piece.

How do you find out what colors your house originally wore?

Start with the cheapest sources. Family photographs, old postcards, real-estate listings from earlier decades and local historical society collections sometimes include the house itself. Even a snapshot taken from across the street can tell you how light or dark the trim was compared with the body, whether the shutters contrasted, and whether the front door was a feature.

Then look at the house. A careful look at the exterior reveals a lot before any paint is scraped:

• Protected spots. Under deep eaves, behind downspout brackets, inside porch ceilings and behind shutters, older paint often survived with less weathering.
• Edges of chipped areas. Where the top coat has failed, the layers underneath show like a cross-section.
• Hardware and attachments. Light fixtures, house numbers and shutter hinges can hide a patch of earlier paint.
• Interior clues. Inside closets, behind radiator covers and on the backs of original doors, woodwork may have escaped later repainting.

Finally, study the style. Our guides to Tudor house colors and Colonial house color schemes describe what each tends to wear, and our guide to painting older Grosse Pointe homes covers the common building styles of the area.

Can the paint layers on the house show the original color?

Often, yes, to a point. A house that has been painted every decade or two can carry a dozen layers, and a small sample cut cleanly through them shows the sequence from the bottom up. Preservation specialists examine these samples under magnification, which is how a layer buried under many later coats is identified as the first.

The limits are real, though. The bottom layer may be a primer, not a color. Paint darkens, yellows and chalks with age, so what you see isn’t what the painter saw on day one. And the lowest layer might not be original at all if the house was stripped, or repainted early in its life.

Treat what you find as a clue, not a verdict. It tells you the family of colors, light or dark, warm or cool, and that’s often enough to choose from.

Is it safe to scrape old paint for a sample?

That depends on the age of the house, and in this window it usually matters. Homes built before 1978 may contain lead-based paint, and the oldest layers on a 1920s–1940s house are the most likely to. Scraping, sanding or heating old paint to see what’s underneath releases dust and fragments you don’t want in the house or the yard.

Keep it minimal. Don’t sand, don’t use a heat gun, and don’t do it where children or pets play. If you’re curious about what’s under the paint, a professional paint analysis or a preservation consultant can take and read the sample for you. The EPA’s Renovation, Repair and Painting program page explains the lead-safe rules that apply to paid work in pre-1978 homes, and our guide to lead paint in older homes explains testing.

Should you follow history exactly, or choose for today?

There’s no wrong answer, but it helps to decide on purpose. There are roughly three approaches, and each suits different owners.

• Faithful. You match the documented original colors as closely as you can. This makes the most sense for a house with a strong period character, or one that carries a designation.
• Period-inspired. You use colors that belong to the era and the style, such as cream, earthy browns, deep greens and warm whites, without copying a specific record.
• Period-sympathetic. You choose a modern palette that respects the house’s proportions and materials, and avoid anything that fights the brick, stone, slate or stucco.

Whichever you pick, remember that the fixed elements of the house set the rules. A roof, a brick facade or a limestone trim course won’t change, so the paint has to work with them. Our guide to paint colors for slate roofs, brick and stone goes through those pairings.

Which Sherwin-Williams colors have a historic feel?

Several colors in the Sherwin-Williams range suit older houses. Rookwood Dark Green SW 2816 and Rookwood Red SW 2802 come from Sherwin-Williams’ historic Rookwood colors; the first is a dark traditional green and the second is a deep oxblood red. For bodies and trim, Creamy SW 7012 is a true cream with visible yellow warmth, Greek Villa SW 7551 is a gently creamy white, and Alabaster SW 7008 is a warm, creamy off-white. Urbane Bronze SW 7048 is a warm bronze-brown dark neutral.

Here’s how those might fit common styles. These are starting points to sample, not rules.

For more on whites in particular, our guide to the Sherwin-Williams whites for exteriors compares the common options, and our guide to painting Tudor stucco and half-timbering looks at how timbers and stucco work as a pair.

What if the house has a historic designation?

Some individual houses in the area are historically designated, and the rules about exterior changes vary by community and by property. The safe habit is simple: check with your city before changing exterior colors, materials or windows. A short call to the building or planning office can settle whether anything applies before you buy a gallon, and saves repainting later.

Interior colors are a different matter. They’re generally yours to choose, which is where a historic palette can be most fun to try.

How do you test a short list of historic colors?

Test on the real house, in real light, beside the real materials. A color that looks right on a chip can read very differently against a slate roof or a brick wall, and screens misrepresent color even more than chips do.

1. Narrow to two or three body colors and a trim and accent color for each.
2. Paint large samples on boards or a hidden section of wall, big enough to see at a distance. Put them side by side with the brick, stone and roof.
3. Look at them across the day: morning, noon, late afternoon and in shade. North sides can look cooler and darker than south sides.
4. View from the street. Historic colors are meant to be read from a distance, not up close.
5. Live with it. Leave the samples up a few days, including a gray one.

Our Color Studio is a good place to build a short list before you sample, and our guide to a whole-house color palette shows how to keep colors consistent from room to room.

What does a careful historic repaint look like?

Choosing a period color is only half the job. A color that suited 1928 won’t flatter a surface that’s been neglected, so careful prep and finish matter even more on an older house. Some details worth checking:

• Trim edges are sharp. Period colors often depend on crisp contrast between body and trim.
• Surfaces are cleaned, loose paint scraped and edges sanded so old layers don’t telegraph through.
• Holes and cracks are filled and joints caulked before paint, so water stays out of old wood.
• Bare or stained areas are primed before the finish coats go on.
• Coats are even, with no missed edges on the shaded sides.
• The final walkthrough happens in daylight, with touch-ups noted and made.

Careful prep, laid out on our process page, is what lets a researched color hold up on an older surface. Our process page lays out the steps, and our exterior painting page explains what we paint outside.

Questions

Try these colors on a houseSketch body, trim, shutter and door colors in real Sherwin-Williams colors.→