Choose colors you love, regardless

I enjoyed your article about historical colors [“Historical Colors Hit the Right Note,” Feb. 1], but I can’t agree that one should always paint walls in hues true to the home’s era.

Your last sentence is possibly the most important: “While the colors may be old, they can make your house feel new.” I think that the converse is also true: New colors can make a house feel old -- old in the sense of being mature and having character.

I live in a 1950s tract house. Most people would have painted the interior some neutral shade in the mistaken thought that it makes rooms look larger. It doesn’t.

My living room is in a shade of very deep peach (some might say orange) with high-gloss white trim and a sea-foam (gray-green) ceiling. The fireplace is a high-gloss black, with a large mirror as an over-mantel. New visitors inevitably say it feels like Europe, but it is the same room as all the others on the street.

We have been considering a move to the Temecula area, where there are some very well designed new houses, some of which provide a full interior painting service. However, the colors offered range from pure white to a medium tan. Not very exciting!

DAVID CUNARD

Van Nuys