Selecting Rosie's Colors

Who would've thought selecting paint colors for a dollhouse could be such a frustrating process? From the first time I saw Rosie sitting in the driveway of the original owners home, I envisioned her done up in pink... Why pink, you ask? While I can think of all sorts of plausible answers, like "that was my vision for a victorian painted lady" or "I wanted a house in pretty, feminine,soft colors" or even "pink would compliment the color scheme of the room she will be displayed in", the truth is I pictured her in pink simply because I like the color pink. It's one of my favorite colors and much to my friend Kelly's dismay, painting this house pink was the one thing I wasn't willing to budge on.

 But while I envisioned Rosie done up in pink, I didn't really have any clear plan or thought on how to come up with a color theme that would compliment her architectural lines without making her look like a play toy or like she's painted with Pepto-Bismol. So first I needed to select a pink that wasn't so pink that it looked childish (think bubblegum or cotton candy - and they actually do have paint colors by those names!), but at the same time, a pink that would stand out next to whatever trim colors I chose. This turned out to be harder than I thought it would be. I ended up borrowing a historical paint color sampler from Kelly and going to Home Depot and getting all the little pink paint sample cards to compare it with and finally selected "Royal Silk" for my pink.

Main house color

Once I settled on my shade of pink for the main body of the house, I had to select the main trim color as well as secondary trim colors. I wanted an antique white or off white for the main trim color - but this antique white would have to do double duty - besides being the main exterior trim color, this antique white will also be carried into the house interior, and used for any painted woodwork. So in addition to needing an antique white that would look good with the pink exterior, this antique white would also need to compliment the wallpaper colors that would be used on the interior!

 Don't ask me why I decided to paint the interior woodwork rather than stain it - I don't have any answer other than if there's a harder way to do something, I'm pretty good at finding it! Eventually found an antique white that I thought would work for both applications and started painting window trim with it. This is when I discovered that the color on the paint card doesn't necessarily look exactly the same on what you're painting. Silly me for thinking it would... The soft, mellow white on the paint card looked way too white on the window trim. So it was back to the store to pick out another antique/off white that would work.  I finally settled on "Creamy White" which to my eye looks more like an antique white than the one that was called antique white.

Main trim color

 Once I had the main house color & the main trim color selected, I needed to select a secondary trim color to highlight the exterior window trim. I really wanted to keep with the pink theme on the house exterior, so I purchased a sample pot of darker pink & tried it out on the window pane frames. Even I, pinks biggest fan, had to admit that sometimes too much of a good thing is pretty awful. Pink trim inside of white frames on top of a pink house is enough pink to make you gag. So I needed to pick out a different color to compliment the pink. I went back to the color sample of historical Victorian colors and selected a pretty blue to compliment the house. The first blue I picked looked great in the paint can but took on a purple hue once it was too close to the pink house. So back to Home Depot I went and picked a much lighter blue sample pot. I can't believe I'm admitting to all the time, energy (and obsessive concentration) that went into selecting the perfect colors for this house!

Blue trim color