Painting a Historic Home in The Avenues: What Salt Lake City Owners Should Know

The Avenues is one of the most distinctive neighborhoods in Salt Lake City. Climbing north from South Temple toward the foothills, its lettered streets are lined with homes from the 1880s through the 1920s: Victorian cottages with fish-scale shingles, Queen Anne turrets, Prairie and Craftsman bungalows with deep porches and exposed rafter tails, and dignified brick four-squares. Owning one is a privilege, and painting one is not the same as painting a suburban stucco box.

Met House Painters of Salt Lake City has worked on homes throughout The Avenues, Capitol Hill and the historic core of the city. This guide covers what we’ve learned, and what you should know before hiring anyone to put a brush to your home. If you’d like a second opinion on your own house, request a consultation and we’ll walk it with you.

Old wood is different wood

Most Avenues homes built before 1930 were framed and trimmed with old-growth lumber: tight-grained, dense, and remarkably durable when it’s kept dry and coated. That’s why hundred-year-old porches are still standing. It is also why replacing original trim with modern lumber is usually a step down. Our approach on historic wood is to preserve first:

• Remove failing paint carefully rather than aggressively. Over-sanding or gouging destroys the crisp profiles of original moldings.
• Consolidate and fill small areas of soft wood with epoxy repair products instead of tearing out a whole board.
• Replace only what’s truly gone, matching the original profile so the repair disappears.
• Prime bare wood with a penetrating oil-based or high-quality bonding primer before any topcoat. Old, dry wood drinks primer, and skipping this step is the fastest way to get peeling.

Lead-safe practices are not optional

Nearly every Avenues home built before 1978 has lead-based paint somewhere under the current layers. That doesn’t mean it’s dangerous to live in; intact lead paint that is properly coated is stable. The risk comes from dry sanding, scraping and heat-stripping, which create dust and chips.

Federal rules (the EPA’s Renovation, Repair and Painting rule) require contractors who disturb painted surfaces in pre-1978 homes to be certified and to follow lead-safe work practices: containing the work area, using wet methods and HEPA vacuums, and cleaning up properly. When you interview painters, ask how they handle lead-safe work on older homes and what containment looks like on your project. A contractor who shrugs at the question is telling you something.

Check the historic district guidelines first

Much of The Avenues sits within a locally designated historic district. In Salt Lake City, ordinary repainting generally does not require review, but exterior changes such as replacing siding, altering trim, or changing windows and porches often do. Before a project that goes beyond paint, check with the Salt Lake City Planning Division so you’re not surprised mid-job. We’re happy to help you sort out what’s paint and what’s a “change” before work begins.

Choosing colors for a Victorian or Craftsman home

You don’t have to paint your home in a museum-accurate palette, but historic homes look their best when the color scheme respects the architecture.

Think in three (or four) colors

• Body — the main siding color.
• Trim — corner boards, window casings, fascia and porch trim. Usually lighter than the body on bungalows, often darker on Victorians.
• Accent — sashes, doors, brackets, shingles in gables. This is where a deep red, forest green or black earns its keep.
• Porch ceiling and floor — the classic soft “haint” blue ceiling still looks right on a 1905 porch.

Period-friendly palettes

Victorian-era homes carried richer, deeper colors than people expect: olive, ochre, oxblood, slate and terra cotta. Craftsman bungalows lean earthy: mossy greens, warm browns, mustard, and cream trim. Prairie and four-square homes suit muted, natural tones with a crisp trim. Most major paint manufacturers publish historic color collections, and we’ll bring physical samples so you can see them against your brick and roof in real Salt Lake light, which runs bright and slightly cool because of the elevation.

Brick homes

Many Avenues homes are unpainted red or blonde brick with painted wood trim. Our advice is almost always to leave original brick unpainted. The trim, porch, windows and doors give you plenty of room for personality, and painted brick is a permanent decision that can trap moisture in old, soft masonry.

Interior considerations in older homes

Inside, Avenues homes bring their own quirks: original plaster walls, picture rails, stained fir and oak woodwork, and decades of layered paint on doors and casings.

• Plaster needs cracks properly bridged and skim-coated, not just caulked. A good painter will tell you which cracks are cosmetic and which point to movement.
• Original woodwork that has never been painted is worth protecting. If it has been painted, deciding whether to strip it is a cost-and-patience conversation we’ll have honestly with you.
• Doors and windows with many layers of paint often stick or won’t latch. Careful prep and thin, even coats keep them working.
• Ceilings in older homes are often high; a flat or matte finish hides texture and repairs better than any sheen.

Timing your Avenues exterior project

Salt Lake City’s exterior painting season runs roughly mid-April to late October, when surface temperatures stay above 50°F and cure properly. The north-facing slopes of The Avenues hold shade and moisture longer in spring, so we tend to schedule those homes a little later than valley-floor projects, and we work around the afternoon sun on west-facing elevations in July and August. Because the neighborhood’s homes are detail-heavy, plan for a project to take longer than a simple stucco home; the extra days are spent on prep and brushwork, which is exactly where you want the time to go.

What you should expect from your painter

• A walk-through consultation with someone who has actually painted homes like yours.
• A written proposal that lists prep, repairs, primer, paint line, number of coats and the schedule.
• A Utah contractor license and proof of insurance on request.
• Straight answers about lead-safe work and historic district considerations.
• A local, accountable company. Met House Painters of Salt Lake City is locally owned and operated, not a franchise. We live and work here, and our reputation in neighborhoods like The Avenues is the whole business.

Let’s talk about your home

From a turreted Queen Anne on 2nd Avenue to a bungalow up near 11th, we’d love to help you bring your home’s exterior or interior back to life the right way. Request a consultation online or call (801) 695-4683. We’ll look at the home together and give you a clear, written proposal.

Met House Painters serves The Avenues, Capitol Hill, Downtown Salt Lake City, Sugar House, Liberty Wells and the surrounding neighborhoods. Learn more about our exterior painting, interior painting and cabinet refinishing services, or see our painters in The Avenues page.