BM historical collection. Anything with HC-before the numbers. Used SW coastal cool or something collection a bunch out there this year.

 

Cottage Red
Phillipsburg Blue
Lancaster White

 

California has a great collection also. Williamsburg collection or something.

 

Check Cabots also. Check to see what colors SW has that look like a Cape Cod Gray effect.

 

Anything with booze in it.

 

Haha, no joke right? Amber color perhaps lol?

The above posters have brought up some good colors, reminds me of siding, ocean/sea side, gray shingles and what not. It's a very good reference/starting point.

 

Old Village Paint New England Red.:thumbup:

 

Nice color red, not fire engine red in your face. Very interesting, some of the pics looks good with it. Thanks for the tip on that one.

 

Do they want it to look "old"?

If so, I'd suggest going with milk paint. What I've done is paint on a base coat or two of black or green, then switch to another color, like red, for a topcoat. We sand the topcoat and work to remove some of the topcoat at those area that would be ****e to wear, exposing some base coat. Finish with linseed oil.

Micheal Dunbar had a nice article about milk paints in Fine Woodworking a few years back.

http://www.milkpaint.com/


http://www.finewoodworking.com/how-to/article/milk-paint.aspx

 

I've never used milk paints personally, but from what I understand they seam to have a higher water content and go on thinner, in general, than the "regular" latex paints. Am I correct?

If so, would watering down the regular latex I get at sherwin give me the same effect?

As far as any distressing or faux finishing to make it look old or crackled, I'm not sure if that's in the scope. I basically was given the task of "making it look like it belongs in cape cod" area. It's ultimately up to me to decide how best to achieve that look, I figured the color combos would take care of that for me, but who knows.

I was even thinking about trying to get at that weathered grey look too as a possibility, using some steel wool/vinegar to age the wood. I've used it in other projects before and it's come out looking good. Just not sure if that might be over kill to give it that barn wood kind of look.

 

I'm not sure that watering down latex would give the same effect, the milk paint seems like a very different critter.

The iron acetate aging would be another possibility, but only works with woods that are high in tannins, e.g. oak, cherry, etc.

 

Boy, there's a tough one to nail down. Remember first that colors for a table will be different than the colors used for siding and different than used for interior trim and walls.

I've seen furniture plain colors (usually "muted" not primary colors) but also stenciled.

IMO, it was the lesser quality woods that were painted, while the good woods and good craftsmanship were highlighted by being natural. MUCH of the furniture was finished with hand rubbed oil, usually stained.

There is such a wide variety of colors used during the colonial times here, it would be tough to nail down a specific "quintessential cape cod/new england color scheme"

did you hit upon this site:
http://roosterrunantiques.com/html/furniture.htm

Try searching for "Antique Cape Cod Furniture" and then clicking on the images option.

 

Hey everyone,

I got a client looking to do a small table that they want to have the "quintessential cape cod/new england" color scheme. Doing a quick search on google, that yielded all kinds of stuff from grey to super high gloss red, blues, yellows.

I'm trying to get some feedback from everyone that lives in that area to see what colors would work for such a project. The basic prerogative of the client is: "I want someone to walk in the room and the first thing they think is that table must be from new england/cape cod"....based on the paint colors.

I understand shape etc. will play into that, but I'm not sure what color pallet to use/start with...pastels maybe?

What are your thoughts? Thanks in advance!

Edit:
Before I forget, the paint companies I have locally available to me are: Sherwin (use almost exclusively), Dunn-Edwards, and Kwal. But I'm open to suggestions of other brands/colors. Even if I can't get them I'm sure Sherwin could do a color match, I know they have corresponding colors in their computer systems from BM and others.

Quahog or clamshell grey.... Just kidding . The most famous 2 colors on the Cape as we say off Cape are. White and grey. You don't see all kinds of historic colors on the cape what you see are white trim with grey or natural shakes. I've done 5 million dollar homes exterior paint scheme is white trim with Cabots cape cod grey or SW driftwood grey which was originally a Cupinol color for decks for the cape.

If you want a New England scheme thhen the HC colors from BM or California paints are 1-2 . Here's a small Historial job we did in a very old town in New ENgland in the great state of Taxachussetts. Whoops here's a few 2 are on the Cape..

 

Quahog or clamshell grey.... Just kidding . The most famous 2 colors on the Cape as we say off Cape are. White and grey. You don't see all kinds of historic colors on the cape what you see are white trim with grey or natural shakes. I've done 5 million dollar homes exterior paint scheme is white trim with Cabots cape cod grey or SW driftwood grey which was originally a Cupinol color for decks for the cape.

If you want a New England scheme thhen the HC colors from BM or California paints are 1-2 . Here's a small Historial job we did in a very old town in New ENgland in the great state of Taxachussetts. Whoops here's a few 2 are on the Cape..

Here's another one tha is BM HC colors as well. That red makes it pop. Sorry for all the pics hope it helps...

 

Check out this site http://www.historicnewengland.org/ you can see virtual tours of the interiors of the properties it owns. You should be able to get some ideas from it.

 

Nick, I love those slate roofs.

Anybody else thinking that since the OP is asking about a small table, that distressed lacquer would be a good choice?

 

Nick, I love those slate roofs.

Anybody else thinking that since the OP is asking about a small table, that distressed lacquer would be a good choice?

Yes your right...man I really need to make sure I get my glasses before I read a post....

 

Hey Nick very nice photos! It doesn't matter about the house photos, even though its a table, I find them very helpful. I was actually trying to get ideas based on google image search of cape cod houses or just looking at store fronts to see color schemes.

Blue somewhere seems like it's going to be an integral color in the whole scheme of the thing. It does make sense to have either a pastel blue or maybe a dark navy blue in there because it represents water and the ocean side (just like brown/earth tones represent deserts etc., green forests etc.).

White seems to be a very prevalent color in not just exterior works but also for some interior desks/tables/chairs etc.

I'm thinking red would work, but not sure how to incorporate it without it popping out too drastically. I like the idea if I do use red that it be the new england red mentioned earlier, more of a brownish-red than a fire-engine red.

What do you all think of taking some ideas from the yachting world? Or boat/light houses? Just an idea.

 

Thanks Pete & deArch! Links are great, didn't even know they existed. Brings back some good memories and are very informative. I like the detail of some of the things they have out there. Tons of things to get inspiration from!

 

I'm going to throw it out there lol.

What do you all think of using Pink?


And I don't mean the hot flamingo pink or the neon sign pink/pepto-pink.

 

Maybe a bright white would look better than the lancaster white? Or maybe do some sort of distressed white wash finish or something for the white, make it looked weathered a bit?

Just some ideas.

 

It's Victorian era, not so much cape cod though.

 

That pink is a little off for that blue, maybe PICK one that is more of a coral/orange tone. Yes, burnt umber, more of an orange/ red brown.

These are not exactly what I was saying, but just for kicking around ideas...

 

What kind of finish is the top one?

The bottom looks like a glaze of some sort.

 

The top one is real actually a piece of oak that has been "whitewashed".The thing is, the white you use has to be more toward the yellow side, so it doesn't come off as pink or ghosty on the wood.


The bottom one is a dirty glaze. The pic is a little off, it is much whiter in reality.

 

So you're not going for the "pink pickled oak" effect. right?

 

So you're not going for the "pink pickled oak" effect. right?

Say that 3 times fast...lol

 

May be too late but look at California's Historic Colors of America, they are all "those old New England colors" The good news is California Paints shares a color palette with Dunn Edwards (which is why you'll never see california paints in california) the bad news is the Historic palette may not be shared with Dunn Edwards.

 

Do the both use Color Guild decks? IIRC, that's who produces California's.