Just read the article on the recommendation to paint your Eichler in dark colors - I have not!
I just read the article about what colors to chose when painting an Eichler (https://www.eichlernetwork.com/article/dont-be-afraid-dark-pop) and there was no place to comment directly on the article so I thought I'd comment here. Basiaclly the current fashion is to paint Eichlers mostly earthen and dark colors suchthat the overall appearnce from the street is brown or gray. I have owned and lived in the same Eichler in Terra Linda for 30 years now and I'll have to say I feel that the overall mood of the neighborhood has become more and more grim and gloomy: all those dark colors seem to me to be inappropriate for sunny California. I know that Eichler painted his new houses those sorts of colors, and so perhaps the purists would want to do the same. My point is, however, that 1950s and 1960s colors were generally bright and brash and not dark and gloomy (unless you take into account soviet and brutalist architecture of the day). My guess is that Eichler chose those colors not for aesthetic reasons but for cost-cutting or some other more practical reason. In any case I have just had my house repainted with two coats of bright Bejnamin Moore highest quality paint - 'mannequin cream' and 'surf blue' with white under th eaves ( it's funny that the acrticle actually calls out cream as being adefinite no-no). I think our house now looks wonderfully clean and bright, a little cheery to brighten up the dull monotony of gray, browns, and even blacks. The thing is that my wife and I have no intention of selling it any time soon and so it really doesn't matter as far as house value, so long as we like it! In fifteen years or so, when it's due for a new coat of paint, perhaps our colors will be back in fashion again.
Hi there: I know your post is about a year old, but let me just react to it. Personably, I've never viewed Eichler home colors as dark, or depressing. Not at all. They are earth tones. Pure and simple. Whether it's a warm brown, cool grey, a blue-grey, or an earthy green, the colors are of the earth. I suspect that this was influenced by Eichlers connection with the surrounding nature and Joes connection to it. I suspect that the world class architects were of similar mindset.
The first Eichler I lived in was in Sunnyvale, in the early '50s. I'm now in a willow glen Eichler. I'll never live in anything else.
Yes, it's your house and you can do whatever you like, but please don't paint it pink! Just sayin'.
To give this conversation a little more foundation, here is a link to one of the other Eichler Network article's that supports Eichler's earthtone color palette, which we feel is still the way to go... https://www.eichlernetwork.com/article/house-many-colors
