My Cornice is Showing!

I've never thought much about the color and shape of cornices, but now that's all I notice on houses! As I mentioned before, Mike and I had to choose historic paint colors for the bay window and cornice. We were really at a loss, because there are SO many more bad paint jobs for row homes of our style than good ones, so it was hard to find some good precedent colors.

Fortunately for us, our contractor introduced me (Mike was still out of town) to the KING of cornices and historic paint colors! Honestly, this guy is a TRIP. I just tried to Google him, but all I know is his first name so unfortunately I couldn't find anything. I want to write a story about him, or at least go have a few beers with him. He's absolutely crazy, but in the best way. He recreates historic cornices by hand, not only to be historically accurate for the city, but historically accurate for each BLOCK. He knows everything about the cornices and historic paint colors in the city. He saw that I was struggling for color choices, and reassured me that I can give him general ideas of what we are looking for, and he'll pick colors that "will make me CRY!" And if he doesn't make me cry, then he'll keep trying until I do! I wish I could do justice in describing this guy - just full of energy, full of passion, full of obscure analogies and full of crazy. Jon said that when this guy dies, a piece of Baltimore history will die as well. I believe it!

So this is what the cornice and bay window looked like, primed and ready to go:

My boy Adam recreated the corbels to their historic integrity

Closer view of the corbels. Also notice the decorative boxes. Love them!

 

So what colors should we pick? Green? Yellow? We settled on "Greige" (love that name - Gray + Beige!), a cream, and a dark blue accent.

 

And this is the result! But...it's not perfect yet. The blue is a bit too light and purple-y. Guess I'll have to go back to Adam and ask him to make the blue darker! I'm glad Mike will get to meet him. Do you think it's awkward or inappropriate to ask your painter to grab a beer with you?

 

 

Hopefully we'll get it right soon! We still haven't finalized our tile choices, but we need to give them to Jon by Sunday.  I know you're on the edge of your seat in anticipation! :)