Customer Reviews

Bungalow Colors Exteriors

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book was so encouraging, with its color and colorized photos of old houses. The REALLY helpful parts are the list of resources and the color palettes for helping to choose your home's restored look.

The author really provides a good argument for thinking through what look (historically accurate, modern, romantic, edgy, whimsical, etc.) you want to achieve BEFORE choosing colors--and then thinking a little bit more.

The author's easy-going voice covers an incredible range of topics and suggestions. But at no time does he steer a reader towards any particular conclusion--he doesn't seem to have an agenda, in other words, which is pleasantly surprising.

The book inspired me to peel off a bit of paint from my house (right down to the wood--guess I bought this book just in time!) and discovered its original color (somewhere between butternut squash & peach), painted 72 years ago. Being able to see the body's original color was SO exciting!

Restoring older houses is worth the effort. Get this book and go for it!

We just finished having the exterior of my maybe-sort-of-kind-of a bungalow circa 1929 house painted. This book was critical to helping us decide which set of colors we would use, and how we would use it, and we wound up not too far away from the house colors used on page 160.

Bungalow Howie is right that the colors in the book aren't perfectly matched to the paint. Given the limitations of four-color printing, they can't be. Sure, the Arts & Crafts palette in the back isn't quite what the actual card from Sherwin-Williams looks like. But if you take the card and those pages, you can get a pretty good idea of what the color shifts in the book are. For most of the colors, they're not that problematic. As a lot of these questions are about how these colors go together, rather than precisely which color to use, I'm not convinced that it's really a problem.

The history was excellent, and it was great to see the old sample cards. If you want a book that will tell you what color to paint your house, you probably shouldn't be buying a book. Asking an expert who can come look at your house makes more sense. If, on the other hand, you want a book that will explain to you which colors were used, why they used, and how they work together, this is an excellent book to read. You'll still want to see samples of color on the house, but this can help you evaluate what you're getting and make a decision.

This book does a very good job of outlining the history of bungalow painting but what I liked best was the many houses in the second half where he shows you some very nice color combinations.

If you are beginning to think about painting the outside of your bungalow, I would highly recommend this book.

As a Craftsman bungalow owner, I was eager to turn to this book for some direction in returning my home's exterior to its period. While there is a good attempt to address some of the questions of color, many of the photos are so poor (harshly contrasting sunlight, faded or inaccurate colors, etc.) that the "actual" examples are very disappointing. Further, the best photographed examples are from large A&C homes, not Craftsman, and not "bungalows," as the title implies. However, the color examples provided in the book (in "chip" form, rather than from photos) were helpful. In all, I got something from this book, but not as much as I'd hoped.

While I have to agree that this book was well organized and really fun to look at, I have an issue with the color charts in the back. The colors are way off ( as to be expected when printed), but disappointing anyway. My advice- after exploring the historic color schemes presnted in the book, take a ride down to your local Sherwin Williams paint store and get the paint samples there. They offer a variety of colors - as well as the color swatches presented in this book.

This is a wll researched book. I wanted to use it to help me pick colors for my house. The book features sherwin williams, not the paint I used. It did give my ideas on how to paint the trim in an original way, but did not really help me pick out distinct colors. Most of the colors used in their makeovers were light. I wanted to see more darker colors for the house body.

I was skeptical about this book after reading other reviews. However, I was very pleasantly surprised how useful two particular sections of this book were for me. The "Developing Your Own Color Scheme" section takes you through decisions for each part of your exterior. Not only is there the body of the house to decide a color for, but there are the trim and accent colors, the window sash, the roofing materials, and the foundation. In order for a color scheme to work and show off your bungalow's best features, all of these elements need to work together. The other section I liked is "Before And After," which shows how actual homes were improved by emphasizing or de-emphasizing certain elements of their exteriors. I even chose my own colors from one of the alternate color schemes the author suggests. Warning -- the color swatches printed in the book look nothing like the real Sherwin-Williams colors of the same name. If you see a color you like, take the book with you and find a similar color at the paint store.

I enjoyed this book very much and found it useful in narrowing down color schemes for my home. The author takes the reader through the confusing process of creating an exterior color palette that resonates with the ideals of the Arts and Crafts movement. The photographs and layout were superb and the writing clear and consise.

Some reviewers have noted differences between the SW paint chips and the photos in the book. There are some variations, but printed color reproduction is notoriously difficult and this is a $30 paperback, not a $100 fine art book with perfect calibration. For the price range this book is in I found the color in the book to be fine. The author suggests painting your proposed colors on a sample board or the old siding and living with them so one would see any color differences during this process, in plenty of time to correct them before painting your home.

The binding on my copy was tight and of good quality.

I would highly recommend this book.

It is a well thought out and researched book, beginning with a significant amount of history about Bungalows and their Craftsman cousins. From a historical perspective it is definitely worth the read, and contains many source images of homes from this era highlighting the different color choices and how they changed over time. I learned that dark window sash paint was prevalent until the 1920's, when it shifted to white (paving the way for ubiquitous white vinyl!).

It then goes into the process of picking colors, including very helpful suggestions to work with various roof colors, period and real world examples, as well as specific details such as porches, steps and eaves. The book also has a short technical section on colors, very helpful to educate husbands in how to articulate thoughts about colors.

My only real peeves with the book is the lack of references past 1930, and the lack of any Spanish styles, save the cover of the book. My house is (obvious by my peeves) a 1938 Spanish style bungalow. Even without a plethora of period examples for my specific need it helped me decide where I wanted to go with my house, and how to draw focus without detracting from the whole.

Robert Schweitzer's book helped immensely as I was searching for info on what to paint my 1923 Califorrnia Bungalow. I really wanted to stay true to the original intent of the Bungalow movement, and the many authentic swatches of colors gave me lots of ideas. There are loads of examples pictured, with plenty of alternate color choices provided as well. Tremendously informative.