A Victorian Keeps Her Colors

About This Project

This is one of Bellingham's old Victorians — fishscale gable, turned porch columns, a leaded diamond window in the attic — and its owner had no interest in making it look like a new house. The old wood siding was failing, but the personality wasn't negotiable: a many-color scheme in the true Victorian manner, with painted shingle scales in the gables and trim that draws every outline in a different color than the walls.

That ruled out the factory-finish route we use on most projects. You can't order this house from a color catalog. So Kristina wrote a different kind of package: primed James Hardie, painted on site — modern fiber cement underneath, brushed-and-sprayed color on top, the way this house has always worn its paint.

Old Bones, Lead Rules

A home this age falls under federal and state lead-safety law, which strictly regulates how painted surfaces may be disturbed — containment, certified crews, verified cleanup. Siding Vault is Lead-Safe Certified by the State of Washington (cert #R24-0173), so the tear-off and the scraping of every surface that stayed — soffits, fascias, porch columns, hand railings — ran under full RRP-compliant procedure.

Under the old boards: rot repaired at no charge, fresh Tyvek HomeWrap, flash-taped openings, and then primed HardiePlank in Cedarmill texture at a seven-inch reveal. One detail Kristina caught at the estimate: several windows sit close to the house corners, so standard corner boards would have left awkward slivers. The corners went in wider — trim sized to close the gap — so window casing and corner trim meet as one continuous line.

The Scallops

The fishscale gables are the soul of this house, and plank siding was never going to replace them. All three gable ends got Allura half-round scalloped fiber cement shingles — the same scale pattern the house was born with, cut in a material that won't curl or split — set off from the lap below by a new band board, the classic Victorian transition.

Then the paint: Sherwin-Williams SuperPaint over the primed Hardie, with PeelBond priming the older repaint surfaces. Three colors, three jobs — Reflecting Pool (SW 6486) across the walls, Fireweed (SW 6328) outlining every casing, corner, and column, and Dishy Coral (SW 6598) across the scales — with the soffits, roof fascia, porch columns, and hand railing repainted in the same Fireweed to complete the scheme. The original stained-wood front door stayed exactly as it was, and it looks all the better for what's around it.

The Finished Look

The before and after tell it best: same house, same bones, same spirit — but crisp where it was chalky, flashed and wrapped where it was bare wood, and wearing colors with the volume turned up. A century-old Victorian that will hold this paint far longer than the wood it replaced ever could.

The owner's review kept it short: professional, courteous, quick, good communication. On a house like this, we'll take "quick" as the highest compliment of the bunch.