Exterior Color Consultation

1911 Arts & Crafts Foursquare (detail)

This period appropriate color story honors the urban setting of the home and reflects the creative personalities’ of the homeowners.

1925 Norman Revival

The owner of this home wanted a simple, conservative color scheme that would honor the home and sit elegantly in the landscape of her historic neighborhood. We used classic, humble period colors to meet her goals.

1925 Norman Revival side view

1925 Norman Revival side view

1927 English Cottage

The owner of this charming cottage has a major green thumb and longed for a color scheme that not only honored her home’s history, but also satisfied her poetic dreams of house married to landscape. We carefully modulated her colors to fashion a dynamic relationship to the cottage garden, where house and landscape become one.

1913 Arts & Crafts Home

One of the owners of this lovely house is a contemporary architect and she loves her highly visible home. She had strong opinions about the hues she wanted to paint the exterior but needed help finding the right shades and appropriate combination of colors.

1913 Arts & Crafts Home

This home has metal storm windows, a practical modern element that is often kept when painting an exterior. Careful consideration of the factory finish of storm windows when developing a full color story helps them feel right at home when painting is complete.

1913 Arts & Crafts Home (detail)

This image shows how proper placement of colors showcases a home’s architectural elements.

1912 Two-Storey Bungalow

“I have to tell you about the couple that walked by last night. They saw me outside and just went on and on about how the house looks better than it has ever looked. As they were leaving, they said “Thank you”! That belongs to you guys as well. We could have never done this without you.”

1890’s Queen Anne Cottage

Period accurate colors make this long neglected country cottage a focal point in the small town of St. Paul, Oregon.

1890’s Queen Anne Cottage (detail)

This photo shows how alternating colors between the shingle shapes help highlight the details without distracting from the overall view of the home.

1890’s Queen Anne Cottage (detail)

Historic homes need very careful consideration when specifying color placement for decorative details. This photo illustrates proper color placement, something we often help our clients with once color stories are determined.

1890’s Queen Anne Cottage

The town’s general store was located at the back of the home when this lovely little cottage was built in the late 1800’s. The current owners paid tribute to the scale and positioning of the general store with the addition of their garage. The second floor was designed to accommodate large family gatherings.

1909 Bungalow

Barbara loved working on this project. Our client is very passionate about this sweet little cottage, which she wanted to nestle in to the garden she planned to create. We love the results. Simple and beautiful.

1917 Bungalow

This home belongs to an artistic family who wanted to both honor the history of their architecture and represent the vibrant energy of the household with their new colors.

1917 Bungalow

The colors of this home illustrate how Arts & Crafts architects intended different colors to be placed on their structures. Education about architecture, history and color placement is an important part of our color consultation service.

1917 Bungalow

Proper color placement helps make the perfect statement!

1918 Ellis Lawrence Designed Home

The owners of this Ellis Lawrence home wanted a subtle color scheme to honor the architecture and be well seated within their landscape design. The contrast of body colors on the stucco and shingles are essential to the success of the overall vision. The shingle body color is representative of one of our custom developed colors and was chosen to craft the perfect relationship of house to landscape.

1918 Ellis Lawrence Designed Home (detail)

“It is such a delight to observe the ‘changes’ in our greens on the house as the weather changes. I think it looks the richest on rainy days like this. It has been a pleasure working with you both. Thanks again!”

1918 Ellis Lawrence Designed Home

When working on architect-designed homes, it is important for us to understand the architect’s original design intentions for the home, then blend those with the goals of our client.

Queen Anne

The color story we designed for this home was a direct reflection of the personalities and goals of the homeowners and it fits in well in its eclectic neighborhood.

Queen Anne (detail)

“We thank you for your diligent and creative work on our home. We are so happy with it.”

Queen Anne (detail)

When this photo was taken, painting was complete and landscape development was just beginning. The homeowners had plans to put in a drought friendly urban landscape and extensive vegetable garden. Their color goals were in alignment with their personal values and it was fun to create a color story to reflect their wishes.

1937 English Cottage

This home overlooks the river and is fully exposed to light year round. The homeowners desired a warm and inviting color story that would fit right in to their Overlook neighborhood.

1937 English Cottage (detail)

The colors of the beautiful brick and copper were key in developing a fitting color story for this charming home.

New Construction Suburban Home

This home is in a new subdivision where most of the homes are beige and grey. Our clients wanted sophisticated colors that would blend in to the greater evergreen landscape.

New Construction Suburban Home (detail)

When introducing color to this neighborhood of beige, our clients wanted to ensure that their new color story would be timeless over the next ten to fifteen years. We’ve applied the same principles of color placement here as we do on older homes.

English Cottage

“I wanted to tell you how very pleased we are with the way our house looks now. You turned a nightmare of indecision into a big sigh of relief!”

English Cottage

English Cottage

1920 Bungalow

“Barbara, Thanks so much. We enjoyed the transformation of our house. We are so happy with the colors – have had many compliments from neighbors and people just walking by. It was a pleasure working with you.”

1909 Four-Square

This is the home of an active single mom and her two creative daughters. In addition to exterior color design, we designed symbolic stained glass for a feature window and colors for the interior. The bold exterior body color is a great representation of the energy of the family.

1909 Four-Square (detail)

1909 Four-Square (detail)

1909 Four-Square Sleeping Porch

1907 Farmhouse

Sensitivity to the landscape, the surrounding environment and other homes & buildings is very important when choosing exterior colors. The owners of this home agreed with our strategy of finding balance between expressing their personality and being true to history. The resulting color story is simple yet stunning. It is right at home in both the community and the landscape.

1907 Farmhouse Porch (detail)

This image shows how important correct color placement is to the success of an exterior painting project. Notice how the porch floor and porch ceiling colors are secondary, but key to the overall result.

1909 Arts & Crafts

The owners of this beautiful home took on a major exterior restoration project which included removing asbestos siding and replacing trim and details lost to history. For the finish, they requested understated and period inspired colors.

1909 Arts & Crafts (detail) View

1909 Arts & Crafts

1912 Bungalow

We worked as designers and consultants on this home for over a year. After years as a boarding house and rental, our clients undertook a huge project to turn this into their family home. Exterior selection was emotional for them and we worked to develop a color story that would feel perfect for their family for many years to come.

1912 Bungalow

This view showcases the original architectural details.

1912 Bungalow

1912 Bungalow

1914 Eclectic Arts & Crafts Bungalow

The fanciful details on this home were not well showcased in its former grey and white color scheme. The homeowners were initially nervous in accepting our direction for the number of colors and where to place them. However, in the end, they followed our specifications perfectly and were thrilled with the results.

1914 Eclectic Arts & Crafts Bungalow

1914 Eclectic Arts & Crafts Bungalow

1914 Eclectic Arts & Crafts Bungalow

1907 Arts & Crafts Bungalow

The owners of this wonderful bungalow are very knowledgeable about architecture & design history and we were honored when they hired us to design their exterior colors. They have a beautiful, mature garden and wanted colors that would nestle the home within their stunning landscape

1907 Arts & Crafts Bungalow (detail)

1907 Arts & Crafts Bungalow (detail)

1907 Arts & Crafts Bungalow

This view helps illustrate how we used color to achieve the goal of house nestled into the landscape.

1948 Home

“Thank you my dear color expert. We so appreciate your time, talent and patience.”

1948 Home (back view)

When original concrete foundations are left unpainted, it’s best to leave them that way to age naturally. However, many have been painted over the years for various reasons. In that case, we are always careful to give the surface it’s own color, paying careful attention to how we need to integrate the home with the surroundings.

1948 Home (detail view)

1897 Queen Anne

When our clients first saw this house back in October of 2005, they said, “She beckoned to them and seemed to say in a weak voice ‘Save Me’." When painting was complete, they sent a 2005 photo to us and their painter, along with this message: “I think with your help our grand Lady is now saved for another 100 years. And we are very grateful to you all.” We are always grateful to our clients for giving us the opportunity to work with them on their cherished homes!

1897 Queen Anne

“Thanks again for the fantastic work and your expertise. We loved working with you and hope to do so again soon.”

1907 Emil Schacht Home

This lovely Arts & Crafts home was designed by architect Emil Schacht and is filled with Povey Brothers stained glass windows. In recent history, the home has been owned by multiple preservationists who have been excellent caretakers. Extensive research has been done on the home and our clients wanted to honor, but not necessarily duplicate, the original colors of the home.

1907 Emil Schacht Home

The foundation had long been painted. Here you can see the importance of selecting a foundation color that roots the house and works in harmony with the other colors in the design.

1907 Emil Schacht Home

1907 Emil Schacht Home

Note the stucco surface in the upper level of the dormer receives a second body color.

1907 Emil Schacht Home

Contemporary Colonial Revival

“Thank you so much for your help with the colors. We have literally had people stop their cars and tell us how much they love the colors. We're very happy with the overall project and we'll be very happy to refer you to others -- you have a great 'eye'.”

1910 Bungalow

This spectacular Arts & Crafts Bungalow sits at the base of Portland’s Mount Tabor, a dormant volcano. The home has every key tenant of Arts & Crafts architecture—it is nestled beautifully into the surrounding landscape, the structure of the foundation and roofline emphasize the close connection to the earth, and clinker bricks emphasize the use of organic materials.

1910 Bungalow (detail)

Our color selections for this home were driven by the surrounding inner city mountain and the immediate landscape around the home.

1910 Bungalow (detail)

1924 Arts & Crafts Foursquare

The owner of this home wanted to make a statement with her new colors but she didn’t want to be so bold that the home would feel out of place in her sophisticated, historic neighborhood. We presented her with several color story options that would meet her extensive list of goals and this is the one she chose. The home gets a lot of strong afternoon sunlight and the colors are quite intense during that part of the day.

1924 Arts & Crafts Foursquare

1910 Arts & Crafts Foursquare

This image illustrates the importance of proper color placement on trim details. The architect for this home intended for the trim elements to be substantial and have visual weight. Using the sash color on the eaves emphasizes the prairie influence on this home.

1910 Arts & Crafts Home

Working with natural stone can be challenging for homeowners when designing exterior colors. Notice how the dark body color in the background contrasts greatly, allowing the stone to be showcased.

1910 Arts & Crafts Home

The dark, rich body color is a great contrast to the natural stone chimney. The storm window frames were painted to match the sash color and provide a good amount of contrast to the trim.

1907 Foursquare

The owners of this home are vibrant, active men dedicated to their children and dogs. They called us after seeing one of our client’s homes that they loved and they were interested in matching those colors. But after learning of our personalized approach to each project, they embraced the opportunity to have house colors suited to their architecture, landscape and family personality.

1907 Foursquare (detail)

1907 Foursquare (detail)

1907 Foursquare (detail)

1907 Foursquare (detail)

This porch photo gives a close up view of how we used body, trim and accent color to capture the essence of our client’s goals for their home.

1905 Arts & Crafts Country Retreat

This house was originally built as a weekend home but has been a full time residence for decades. Our clients love the evergreen forest that surrounds the property and they have planted a wild English cottage garden with lots of native plants. Our design for an exterior color story was closely tied to the landscape and the homeowner’s goals for how the two related.

1905 Arts & Crafts Country Retreat

1905 Arts & Crafts Country Retreat

1905 Arts & Crafts Country Retreat

Just outside the french doors leading from the home's eat-in kitchen is a lovely patio overlooking a charming English Cottage garden. It is a great place for morning coffee and pastry or afternoon tea while enjoying the lovely flowers, butterflies and numerous bird species that fly in to enjoy the garden. The colors we selected for this special home were chosen to create an intimate relationship to the home's landscape.

1921 Bungalow

This home belongs to an active, vibrant family who were excited to transform their exterior to be more in keeping with their lifestyle. They love the architectural details of the home and appreciated our suggestion to integrate the home aesthetically to the adored neighborhood tree behind the home. The house now sits beautifully in the landscape, yet the colors are bold enough to come forth and make a proud and pleasing statement.

1921 Bungalow

“Thanks for the opportunity to work with CJ Hurley Century Arts! We appreciate your good council and look forward to many years of enjoyment of our new paint job.”

1913 Foursquare

For our own home, we developed custom colors for the body, eaves and sash. After removing asbestos siding that had been put on in 1931, we did extensive work to replace all of the trim that had been removed during the depression. We selected a historically appropriate green colored roof, which was a key factor in designing the overall paint scheme.

1913 Foursquare

The body and eave colors, seen here, were custom developed for our personal home. The yellow used on the body is a complex color that changes in different lighting and with the seasons. Some days it is a very vibrant gold and other times it appears as green – an effect we worked hard to achieve!

1913 Foursquare

We use our front porch quite a lot in the warm seasons. This was an important consideration in the development of our colors. While many of our clients want their porches to feel open and light, we wanted to create an atmosphere that would be intimate for evening dining and entertaining. Our choice of porch ceiling and porch floor colors were key in creating the right mood for the porch.