The Brochu House (Baroque Manor)
Jim Brochu, and his son, Patrick, are drywallers by trade. You can’t miss their Virgil house on Highway 55; it is unlike any of the surrounding houses. Although the exterior colours are almost understated--a combination of fieldstone, copper, board & batten siding (stained Baroque, R-9935), black trim (Baby Seal Black, 2119-30), and a glossy black front door (133-80)—the interior is far from understated. It is full of bold colour choices and wholly individual.
Baroque Manor is aptly named; it’s castle-like, with rustic wood and fieldstone floors, deeply slanted cathedral ceilings, large domed windows, balconies from every room, alcoves, odd angles, metalwork (by local artist Karen Felesko-Secker), and a large kitchen with fireplace.
The front hall is painted in a dusky purple (Nightfall, CC-38), with terracotta moldings (Red Point Sand, CC-128). Solid wood doors throughout the house are painted a rich, dark brown (Bittersweet Chocolate, 2114-10) and highlighted with Statuary Bronze metallic paint.
The first of three bedrooms is a rich red (Sundried Tomato, CC-62). Its ensuite bathroom combines a rich blue (Kensington Blue, CC-780) below a plate rail in a bold bright gold (Potted Mum, R-9921) with Sundried Tomato above.
The walls in the second bedroom are a soft olive green (Providence Olive, HC-98), with a slightly lighter green (Abingdon Putty, HC-99) on the ceiling, and trim in a deeper gray/green (Hancock Gray, HC-97). Its ensuite bathroom has Providence Olive walls and fieldstone floors.
The third bedroom has charcoal gray walls (Kendall Charcoal, HC-166), with a slightly lighter gray (Chelsea Gray, HC-168) on the ceiling. The three doors are painted Potted Mum, a bright green (Topiary, R-9944), and Sundried Tomato. The ensuite bathroom is Sundried Tomato below a bright gold (Potted Mum) plate rail and Kendall Charcoal above.
Jim’s office is painted in a rich taupe (Flagstone, CC-516), with a light grey-beige (Pale Oak, OC-20) on the ceiling and panelled wainscotting. The back deck, not visible from the road, is stained warm gray (Amherst Gray, HC-167).
The Weiss House
Choosing an exterior colour scheme is never easy, so we often look to our neighbours’ homes for inspiration. More people ask CRP for the colours of Carolyn and Paul Weiss’s house at the foot of Shakespeare than any other NOTL house.
Carolyn Weiss spoke to The Primer:
For our colour inspiration, we looked to the East Coast. We lived in the small cottage at Shakespeare and the lake for thirteen years before we decided to rebuild, but we spent fifteen years in Cape Anne, Massachusetts, and we love the east-coast style.
When we were designing the new house, we were quite definite in what we wanted—no dramatic colours, nothing that would jump out. Grey and white, the watery east-coast colours, blend with the landscape and don’t compete with the lake view. There’s also a lot of grey and white in town, so it blends with the town style. The shingle siding was pre-dipped in a Seacoast Grey semi-transparent stain by the shingle manufacturer; Benjamin Moore’s Sandy Hook Gray (HC-108) comes closest. The exterior trim is Cloud White (CC-40) and White Down (CC-50) on the pergola, swings and columns; the shutters are Sandy Hook Gray (HC-108); and the front door is Farrow & Ball’s Blue Black (95).
Most of the rooms on the main floor, which is quite open, are painted a buttery yellow colour--a combination of Farrow & Ball’s Farrow Cream (67) and Benjamin Moore’s Summer Harvest (CC-190)—and the trim and beadboard paneling are painted Ivory White (CC-130).
Niagara-on-the-Lake Heritage Colours
If your house is in the Heritage district, you probably already know Leah Wallace, Heritage Planner at the NOTL town offices. Heritage house owners wanting to paint their house a different colour need to speak to Leah about obtaining a permit. The Municipal Heritage Committee (formerly LACAC) created the list of approved exterior paint colours in 1986. In the last couple of years, it was decided that that list become a “living colour chart,”so when a homeowner gets an off-list colour approved, it is added to the list.
The list of approved colours is available at the town offices and, across the street, at Creek Road Paints.