5 Reasons to Hire an Expert When Painting Old Victorian Houses

Painting old Victorian houses comes with a lot more work than a standard house built in the last 30-40 years. From working with potentially hazardous building materials to navigating all of the numerous trims and decorations, painting Victorian homes requires skill, patience and a lot of attention to detail. For these reasons, most home designers, restoration specialists and other home decor experts highly recommend hiring a professional painting contractor to complete interior and exterior Victorian painting projects. What can an expert bring to the table? 

1. Expertise in Managing Lead Paint in Old Victorian Houses

Lead paint is a leading problem in Victorian homes and one that should be handled by professional painters with expertise in lead abatement. Victorian architecture was extremely popular between the 1840s and early 1900s – which was also the heyday for using lead in, well, pretty much everything. Lead was even used in make-up during that time period. That means that if you have a Victorian home, it is almost guaranteed that lead paint was used on the interiors, exteriors, or both. Lead paint was also not banned in the United States until 1978, which means there are likely several layers of paint containing lead on your walls. 

Lead exposure is extremely harmful, particularly to children, who are more likely to accidentally consume lead-contaminated paint than adults. When deciding to re-paint your home, it is important to hire painters who are qualified to seal in existing lead paint using CDC-approved assessment and mitigation techniques. A painter trained in lead mitigation will ensure that every inch of your interior or exterior surface is fully coated in a paint formula designed for lead abatement, sealing the lead contamination and protecting your family from harm. 

2. Experience Working with Multi-Color Victorian Paint Palettes

One of the most enjoyable parts of repainting your Victorian home is selecting your colors. Victorian homes have all sorts of trim and accents that give them their signature look and selecting colors to highlight that can be a lot of fun for homeowners. When you hire an expert painter to complete your Victorian paint project, you’ll have access to thousands of colors and images of finished homes to help inspire you. 

Traditional Victorian Color Schemes

Traditional Victorian era color palettes used rich greens and reds, warm browns and shades of ochre on the exteriors. Trims and accents were often done in white or contrasting colors to add interesting pops of color that called out architectural details and make the “gingerbread” decor stand out. Victorian interior paint colors relied on jewel tones, stained wood or painted trims. Painted ceilings were also quite popular. 

Painted Lady Victorian Houses

Many people associate Victorian-era decor with the colorful “Painted Ladies” that use vibrant purples, teals, gold and greens. However, Painted Ladies actually did not become popular until the 1960s. The trend has held on strong in the many decades that have followed and a professional painter will have access to a variety of shades to help your home stand out like the original Painted Ladies of the ‘60s. 

Modern Victorian Color Palettes

Modern Victorian paint colors can vary from muted versions of the original popular tones to avant garde shades of black, deep navy and dark gray. Some homeowners have also moved to using neutrals like beige, sage or gray to modernize the look of their home. 

3. Help in Finding and Repairing Damage to Windows, Trim and Siding

Victorian-style houses tend to have older window casings and original fixtures that can become rotten or damaged over time. Most homeowners wish to keep these fixtures intact, which requires professional attention to detail in order to preserve as much of the original architecture as possible. 

At AMC, we provide our customers with minor repair services and other small touches to help them save time while ensuring the details that give their homes character are protected. It is very important that homeowners ensure their professional painters have the knowledge and experience to work with older homes. You need a painter who will tell you about damaged trim, loose windows or dry rot, not just paint over it. A professional painter will also inform you when a repair is too major for a simple repair and more work is required. 

4. An Understanding of Working with Gingerbread — Painting Victorian Exterior Accents and Trim 

Victorians are high-detail projects due to all the accents and decor that make them so noticeable. These accents are often affectionately referred to as “gingerbread” due to their tendency to make Victorian homes look like fancy gingerbread houses in fairy tale lore. In order to make these accents stand out, Victorian homes are typically painted using a coordinated palette with multiple shades of color. 

Protecting these decorations and accents is not easy! They don’t always have the straight edges and 90-degree angles that make them easy to cover and protect while other paint colors are applied. Scallops, curves, lacework, spindles and columns are just some of the potential accents a painter must account for – all of which are best left to the hands of an expert. The more Victorian house colors and accents you wish to include in your project, the more critical it becomes to get help from a professional painter.

It’s also worth mentioning that hiring an expert for your exterior Victorian house painting project will also help you stay friendly with your neighbors. You don’t want to end up with five different shades of paint drifting onto the neighbor’s new SUV. A professional will make sure that your project doesn’t create a new project for someone else. 

5. Extra Care for Your Home’s Interior

The interiors of traditionally painted Victorian houses have vintage features that must also be protected like their exterior counterparts. We’ve already shared the importance of lead mitigation, but what about other aspects of the job, like protecting your interior belongings and preserving your home’s original fixtures? A professional painter is invested in providing you with a finished product that looks amazing without damaging your home. Much like the exterior of your home, there are simply more details to manage in a Victorian, especially those with a significant amount of original materials like hardwood flooring, decorative trim, tall, ornate baseboards, tall chair rails, ceiling medallions, door plinths, wallpaper and much more. 

Give Your Investment the TLC It Deserves!

Anyone who purchases a Victorian-style home with 100+ years under its belt knows that it is truly a labor of love. Give your Victorian home the TLC it deserves by hiring an expert for your next interior or exterior painting project. By hiring an expert, you can ensure that dangerous contaminants like lead are abated during the painting process. You will also have access to thousands of paint colors for Victorian homes to help you find the perfect palette. Last, an expert painter will have the high-level skills required to protect every tiny detail in your home so you have a finished product you feel proud of every time you walk through the door.