How Many Colors Does It Take...

to paint a house in New Orleans? Well, that depends.

There was a time when I was young that the classic look for a New Orleans-style house was white boards and dark green shutters. (Turns out that this rather dull color scheme became fashionable in the early 20th century; in the 19th century, houses were painted in bright or dark colors, almost never white.)

But even white-with-green-shutters is more colors than you might at first think. The flooring of the porch is usually another color, such as dark gray, and if the house has any cast-iron trim, that's painted glossy black. And of course, there's the old tradition of painting the ceiling of the porch or under the front eave "hant blue." (This is to fool the ghosts, or "hants," into thinking they're seeing the sky, to get them to fly away from the house. I'm always disappointed when I find folks who are not keeping this old custom.) So even though the main color scheme is white with green shutters, it actually totals 4 or 5 colors.

But nowadays, we seem to be going back to the 19th century style of painting, in coordinated and contrasting bright and dark tones, and then the numbers begin to add up. There's the color of the main house, then the *2* colors of trim, the floor of the porch, the one for the railings, and finally the accent color. My sister L's house is painted in 6 colors, and looks demure compared to some others. I've also seen up to 7 or 8 without looking like a Carnival (or an exploded paint store).

But my real favorite is what's going on over at the marvelous tropical building on Magazine Street at Felicity (always one of my favorite buildings, it looks like it belongs in Jamaica or Haiti or somewhere), where Harkins the Florist has been repainting. So far, Big Man and I count 10 colors, and while it is admittedly wild, it is delightful. It makes me smile every time I drive by.

So, how many colors does it take to paint a New Orleans house? Well, it's limited only by your imagination.