-Restoring a historical home to how it looked when it was originally built can be challenging and very rewarding when the project is finished. Although the exact colors of paint may be hard to match, George Borlodan, owner of Borlodan Painting Company, the Templeton house painters, said, “Custom mixing for a close as possible match is always a solution and you will be pleasantly surprised with the results.”
Some people are reluctant to take on restoring a historical home, but before walking away from that charming Victorian or cottage, here are some things to consider:
- There are homes that are on the Federal and State of California historical registries and those that are not.
- If the home is already a registered historic landmark, the National Park Service has guidelines for repairs, rehabilitation and upgrades to the house. These guidelines are advisory and not regulatory. The worst that can happen if the guidelines are not followed are that any grant funds awarded for the restoration project may need to be returned or the house will simply not be awarded historical landmark status.
- If the reason for restoring and rehabilitating the home is for obtaining historical landmark status, the same guidelines and risk apply.
- If the reason for restoring and rehabilitating the home is for personal pleasure, the door is wide-open to what the homeowner wants.
The time to decide on painting and paint colors is when the homeowner decides how to rehabilitate and restore the historic home. It’s a good idea to involve the painter as soon as possible in the planning for some very important reasons:
- Before starting to paint, it’s a good idea to inspect the surfaces to be painted to determine how much preparation is needed. For example, old peeling paint needs to be removed and the surfaces will most likely need to be primed.
- Test for lead paint.
- Over time, interior surfaces in older homes have often been painted and repainted. This can be problematic for trim. Stripping away 100 years of different coats of paint might be more expensive than replacing the trim with new material of a similar pattern.
- What is the exterior condition of the home? What kind of preparation work is going to be needed for an excellent paint job?
- What’s under 100 years of paint? What’s the condition of the walls and ceiling? Is wood rot hidden under there?
- How many layers of old wallpaper are under those coats of paint and what kinds of cracks and holes might be revealed when that wallpaper is removed?
- And more conditions that the experienced Templeton house painter knows are possible.
Choosing the colors of paint is actually the easiest aspect of restoring an historic home. “But,” said Borlodan, “There are some tips that make choosing the paint colors easier.” These tips include:
- Do some research to find out what colors were popular when the home was built.
- If the original paint is still visible, chip off sizeable flakes that can be computer matched. Save those flakes and the computer results while you make up your mind about the final colors.
- Choose two or three contemporary colors that match the colors of the era.
- Get some sample sizes of all the paint colors, including the computer matched samples. Paint those colors onto the surfaces in the rooms and exterior locations. Watch how the colors look at different times of the day to see which colors are the most pleasing.
The Templeton house painters believe that if a painting job is not perfect it compromises the look of even the most impeccably designed space. The best prepared surfaces, the right type of paint and color and the top painting skills all combine to create a quality finished project. Whether it’s a historic home, a new fence, a special room or window trim, the Borlodan Painting Company team takes pride in delivering the best possible results at a fair price.
Borlodan Painting Company
2197 Bel Air Place
Paso Robles, CA 93446
(805) 295-0194
