Victorian Paint Colour Schemes
Victorian colour scheme
Brunswick & Oxblood, a Victorian scheme
Victorian rooms were rich, layered and unafraid of depth. Green was the colour of the age, on walls, joinery and front doors, set against oxblood reds, warm creams and soft lead greys. This scheme is built around a proper Victorian green paint, a leafy Butler's Green on the walls, a creamy ceiling, lead or deep green woodwork, and an oxblood red for the details. Every colour is a breathable, low odour Graphenstone Grafclean, kind to the lime plaster walls of a Victorian house. All five shades sit in our Victorian Paint Colours collection. Prefer the lighter look that followed? See our Edwardian scheme, or browse all our room colour schemes.
Five period tones, warm cream to deep oxblood. Screens vary, so treat these as a guide and try a swatch at home.
Start here · Main wall colour
Butler's Green on the walls
A proper Victorian green, leafy and alive rather than murky, the colour of parlours, sculleries and garden rooms across the era. It brings real character without swallowing the light, and loves dark wood, brass and botanical prints. One of the richest of our greens. In our low sheen Grafclean matt.
Shop Butler's GreenUse Butler's Green with
a creamy ceiling and your choice of lead grey or deep green woodwork
Clotted Cream
The warm white above
Victorian ceilings were softened with distemper creams, never brilliant white. Clotted Cream keeps that mellow glow overhead and lets the green walls do the talking, true to the period's creams.
Shop Clotted CreamFaded Lead
The gentle route
Victorian trim was often painted in soft lead colours, and Faded Lead is exactly that, a putty-grey that sits quietly between the cream and the green. Handsome on skirting, architraves and sash windows. In wipeable Grafclean Eggshell.
Shop Faded LeadGables Green
The moodier route
The classic deep Victorian green paint for joinery. Take doors, panelling and stair spindles a clear step darker than the walls for that layered, library feel. Also in wipeable Grafclean Eggshell.
Shop Gables GreenAnd for a little depth
Red Damask on the details
A deep oxblood red, the other great Victorian colour. Use it below a dado rail, on a front door, or inside a bookcase, where a small amount against the greens gives the room its Victorian warmth. It is the pairing you see in every well-kept villa of the period, green and oxblood together.
Shop Red DamaskHow to balance it
- 60%Butler's Green walls, wrapping the room.
- 30%Clotted Cream ceiling and Faded Lead woodwork.
- 10%Gables Green and Red Damask for depth.
Keep the ceiling creamy in Clotted Cream, and let dark wood, brass and pattern carry the Victorian feel rather than more colour.
Softer or bolder
- SofterTake the walls in Forest Slate instead, a gentler grey-green, for the same period feel with less weight.
- BolderTake the walls to Gables Green for a proper Victorian study or library, with Red Damask inside the shelves.
Victorian houses were built to breathe. A breathable matt on lime plaster walls helps them manage moisture the way they were designed to.
Browse all 35 shades in our Victorian Paint Colours collection, or see all our room colour schemes.
Swatch films show the real painted cards in daylight. Screens vary, so always try a swatch or tester at home before you commit. Hex values are indicative only.
