A multi-color exterior paint job on a Victorian home in Lebanon, NJ

Victorian homes were designed to be painted in several colors. This one has clapboard siding, fish-scale shingles in the gables and turret, a bracketed cornice, a wraparound porch and turned balusters all around.

A single body color would have hidden all of that detail. The plan was to give each element its own color so the house reads the way it was built.

Before any color went on, every painted surface was washed and scraped. Loose paint came off the siding, shingles and trim, and bare wood was primed so the finish coats would bond and last.

The clapboard went soft lavender, the fish-scale shingles a pale mint, and the window casings a deep purple. The cornice brackets and dentils were cut in one by one.

The porch took the most hand work. Columns, spindle friezes and every turned baluster were painted in purple, mint and gold. The gold carries up to the gable sunburst and turret finial so the whole house ties together.