Colour of medieval houses

[olyreed]

I have started on my first village house for my Barons war project. I have seen on other threads a few houses are painted a pinkish colour and was wondering if this is the way to go. The first one I have done I painted Vallejo brown rose but wondered if this colour is wrong and should go for a sandy or white colour.

[Citizen Sade]

Pink houses are fairly common in Suffolk, at least. Traditionally, I understand that it was done by adding elderberry or sloe juice to limewash. It dates from the 14th century and I imagine that standard limewash was far more common.

[bluewillow]

Limewash I suggest for the 12th century for houses, it depends upon the area and the soil, Suffolk plaster is quite red as are the downs, here locally in France in Pays de Loire a wide range of colours exist but predominantly the same colour as the soil, grey beige through to creamy white through to a golden yellow is common in lower Normandy.

 In Vitré a 14th century city that has a provision order on it, there are greens, reds, pinks and yellows, although much later. The merchants houses and guild houses are mentioned as being very coloured during the cloth making boom in the 13th century.

Cheers
Matt

[Codsticker]

I painted some of mine off-white, some beige and some pink-ish. I read somewhere (I can't recall where) that ox blood was occasionally used to add colour.

[Etranger]

The black timbered, starkly white half timbered house was largely a Victorian invention. Before that a range of colours could be seen for lime wash and timber often left unpainted.

[olyreed]

Finally settled on a colour. The thatch roof is a little rough but should look fine on the table

[Atheling]

I'm with Matt. Just based account the idea that a person might go to another village, not too far away and not completely understand the dialect, I think there would be regional variation. So, semi-localised cultural/aesthetic variation too.

[PhilB]

The thatched roof looks great, but that pink... just doesn't feel right.

My half-timbered houses mostly use shades of yellow ochre:



More pics in this thread: http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=125356.0

[carlos marighela]

Ox blood was sometimes added to lime wash in Italy, from late Roman times through to this century and probably before. Its use elsewhere in Europe and indeed Asia is well documented and said to help waterproof the plaster as well as acting as a setting agent, making the plaster dry quicker. It gives a reddish to dusty pink tone to plaster.

[Codsticker]

Finally settled on a colour. The thatch roof is a little rough but should look fine on the table

Your are right; the thatch will look fine on the table and the colour of the daub looks perfect to me.

[commissarmoody]

That's a nice looking home to me. 

[olyreed]

Thank you for the kind comments, much appreciated

[Little Odo]

I visited Mountfitchet Castle in Essex, England over the weekend. I wrote a very brief blog post on it...

https://littleodo.blogspot.com/2020/10/mountfitchet-castle.html

The buildings here all seemed to be either white-washed or left to the elements as plain wood. I am not sure if this helps in your hunt for building colours, but I am sure a bit of Google-fu can take things a little further for you?