The History of House Colors

What color your house is may depend on when it was built, and whether the owner follows fashion or function, although the two may be entwined. As the owner of a bright daffodil yellow house in a white vinyl neighborhood, I follow neither. There are always outliers. But Stewart Hicks takes us through the reasons that the dominant house colors change over time. 

One reason is which building materials, paint colors, and innovative siding was available. Also, there was a historic trend thrown in when people went from colors that hid dirt to colors that highlighted dirt. In some eras, people just got tired of houses that all looked alike, but then HOAs came in and reversed a colorful trend. Picking a color means risking your home's resale value, offending the neighbors, or making a decision you might regret. Maybe that's why neighborhoods tend to move toward the monochrome, even when it's a weird color like black. 

You can lament the lack of color in houses all you want, but there are reasons why people choose the house color they do. I was once able to tell people I had the yellow house near the river, and they instantly knew where I lived. Now they just ask for an address for their GPG system. This video is only ten minutes long; the rest is promotional.