Exterior Historic Paint Colors to Honor Your Victorian Home

As a color consultant, something I’m passionate about is maintaining and honoring the soul of each home I work with. 

By aligning your home’s exterior paint colors with the true identity of the home, you get colors that are appropriate for the home’s style that also honor and bring out all of the best aspects of the home.

The best color choices vary depending on when the home was built and what style the home is in. For example, you don’t often see a super contemporary home painted like it’s a Victorian, do you? 

Whether you want to give your Victorian home an update or you want to learn more about traditional colors that honor it, keep reading!

This marks the beginning of my series on honoring your home’s roots with its colors. In this post, I’m going to go over historic paint colors that are great for Victorian homes along with some ways to add some other colors to honor your personal aesthetic.

Let’s get started!

Victorian Homes: A Brief History

As the name suggests, Victorian homes were usually built during the reign of Queen Victoria meaning they were built between 1837 and 1901. 

As this time period included much of the industrial revolution and a change in how people lived and viewed their homes, many Victorian houses have distinct and ornate features.

Decorative architectural elements are common in Victorians along with features such as:

• Patterned bricks
• Terraces & porches
• Bay windows and overall large windows
• Gothic-inspired architecture
• Angled wooden frames
• Heavy in ornamentation
• Rounded tower-like structures and other rounded angles

Victorian homes often exude the feeling of extravagance mixed with a welcoming hominess. This combination makes for unique and amazing houses with a lot of personality and historic roots shining through.

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Victorian House Colors

Victorian house colors can vary widely depending on when they were built.  Because Victorians were built over such a long time period, they have many different architectural styles along with a variety of historic paint colors each giving your home its own personality.

Early in the Victorian period, homes usually had a three palette color scheme, but the number of colors increased as time went on with some using four to five colors.

Here are a few historic paint color options to consider for Victorians:

Staying Traditional: Dark and Saturated

Darker & highly saturated colors are some of the most popular and most traditional with Victorian-style homes.

Traditionally quite dark, olives, browns, greens, dark reds and maroon were all quite common. Darker shades of yellow that skewed towards brown and dark gold weren’t uncommon to see for bands of color or used to highlight the architecture of the home.  

Green, brown and tan and golds, even reds, will bring out the woodsy and natural vibes of these homes. These darker and saturated colors were sometimes broken up with those yellows or lighter shades of green and tan.

Another common practice with these Victorian house colors was to use three of the same color in increasingly darker shades. For example, a light olive green, a forest green and, finally, a very deep green. The same idea was applied with shades of brown, reds and others. 

Make the accents and ornamentation pop by using the lightest or most contrasting shades in the palette for those details.

Black Windows

People often think black windows are a new look, but it actually originated in the Victorian era. 

The dark windows were meant to create “holes” in the facade, visually pulling you into the home. What a concept! 

Contrasting Colors

Victorian house colors are also often chosen for contrast while still maintaining the saturated age-appropriate color palette. 

Think lighter browns contrasting the dark ones. Olive greens as contrast for maroon or dark red. Deep navy blue (so dark it’s almost black) contrasted with lighter tan or beige. 

These contrasting colors were often used in order to highlight the architectural elements of these ornate and beautiful homes. From the trim to the shutters to the ornate designs, even a slight contrast can help the details pop while still honoring those traditional colors.

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Bringing Your Home Up to Date!

If you want the home to be a bit more contemporary while still incorporating the colors I’ve mentioned so far, don’t fret! You can bring your Victorian home into the modern era while still honoring the traditional colors. 

Up the contrast that was so common with Victorians by going for even lighter colors along with bright whites. While these colors aren’t necessarily historically accurate, they can be in the same family as traditional colors to align with the roots of the home. 

Lighter and brighter contrasting colors on the trim, the ornate details, shutters and other details can make the rich and deep exterior colors pop even more, keeping it fresh and giving it a brighter palette overall. 

Speaking of lighter and brighter, if you want to mirror historic home colors without going as dark as the historic color palettes, try choosing colors that are in the same family as the original style that just happens to be a bit lighter. 

A lighter shade of brownish-yellow or a lighter shade of gold would work great to bring together tradition and modernity. Instead of a deep green you could opt for a lighter and brighter version in the same color family! 

Or, you can take things to a different level: try bold and saturated trim & accents instead of making those your lightest shades. You’ll get the feel and overall Victorian palette applied in a different & more unique way.

Need Some More Help with Historic Paint Colors?  

These are just a few ways to create a color palette that will honor your home’s Victorian personality and style. 

Of these Victorian house colors, which is your favorite? Are there any other color palettes that you love for these homes? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comment section below!

I’m also available for online consultations to help you choose your home’s next colors, whether that’s modern or historic paint colors. Contact me here to set up a consultation where we will discuss your home, your personal sense of style,  and how to bring the two together!