American Foursquare

We are only the third owner of this nearly 100-year old house in a small Minnesota town, and the house has been a dingy shade of olive green for many years.  We got someone to paint the house, but they wanted to begin before we had a chance to choose a paint color.  So, I hurried and got paint samples from the local building supply store.  I wanted to paint the stucco a neutral, earth-tone color, as was suggested on a website about maintaining the authenticity of a craftsman-style home.  However, I am not fond of cream-painted stucco houses where rusty water running down the house has created stains.  And my husband and I knew we did not want to choose a paint color with a peach or pink undertone.  Also, the house has dark brown soffits and shingles already, so whatever color we chose for the body of the house would have to coordinate with dark brown.

Here is a snapshot of the house when we bought it in 2008.  The screened-in porch was covered with heavy vines, which we removed almost immediately.

Below is a photo of the house taken after the brown trim around the windows had been primed with white, but before the main color was painted on.