What a cool house, and the the setting is gorgeous! Two kitchens?

What a great old Italianate....with additions!

Are you talking about painbting the inside or outside? Or both?

Thanks! We are so excited about it! We are planning on taken our the extremely overgrown shrubs and painting the outside in more historically accurate colors. We are still in the learning process and would like some opinions. We are also planning on re doing the inside too, but are hoping to live in it for a little while before making any major decisions.

Wow - nice place congrats - Those are what appear to be huge arborvites - Before removing the trees I would live in the house for awhile - they don't appear to have the "landscaping ate the house" syndrome - and may provide some much needed shade and/or windblocking

I recently had the Ext of our home painted - I went to the library & researched the web - really never finding any really great resources for historical colors. So much is dependent on personal taste as well as how the particular house looks in a proposed color - paint colors change hues in differing lights/seasons - I finally started to purchase samples and painted several on front/back of house, lived with it for awhile - then decided. It also helped having a prof painter w/passion & keen eye.

GL

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Before 1916 Italiante houses usually had dark trim and a lighter body color perhaps because more durable white titanium pigments had yet to be invented or because few had actually been to Italy. There are two across the street from me and I have to say that certain shades of green, yellow and brown can be ghastly together.

All major paint manufacturers have extensive information about historic colors and special collections. Benjamin Moore is my favorite but Sherwin Williams is a close second.

Here is a house that combines dark trim and a subtle body color without making the house too stogy. The accent on the window sash is a critical element in my opinion.

Here is a link that might be useful: your house

I can think of 2 Italianates in my town. One has a very very pale grey body and it has dark green trim. The other has a rich light/medium blue body with white trim. I've attached a website which has a few photo samples. If you google 'paint colors italianate house' you'll get lots of other sample photos.

Here is a link that might be useful: historic house colors

Nice house with potential. It's been added onto at least once, looks like twice. Are the kitchen and bath in the newest parts?

Second the idea of retaining the trees for awhile, thinking you may keep them, because they 'are' period authentic. I live in an 1820s federal and there was also a very tall one directly in front of our bedroom window, past the second story. In it sat mockingbirds the first night I slept in this house. Since this house has been around so long, all the other oldsters in our rural area have memories about it, and many have shared, including pictures. There in one picture of a Civil war soldier about to leave for battle, was the tree. And several others still standing on our property. It finally came down in a storm a couple years ago, and I felt like a piece of history went with it.

Thanks for all of your help and advice. To answer a few questions - one kitchen is in the old part of the house, one in one of the additions. The bath pictured is also in the addition. I am interested in learning more about the original structure.

Also, I did check out the Benjamin Moore website - it's amazing! I love how you can try the different colors of paint on the houses. Thanks for the links and the help!

Fabulous house. Here are a few links that can help. It's definitely an Italianate, probably built in the late 1800s.

Italianate style">http://www.oldhouseweb.com/architecture-and-design/italianate-1850-1890.shtml
Italianate style