Federation Home Lighting & Heritage Colour Schemes

As a manufacturer, we commonly get asked questions of “We’ve got a heritage listed home, can you comply to this painting standard” – The short answer is “Yes, we can” – If you need a Deep Indian Red, you’ll love our accessibility to our Hunter Red & Manor Red Powdercoats. Deep dark greens such as Hawthorn Green and Deep Brunswick Green Gloss are popular in the Carlton and surrounding areas in Victoria and are also available (You’ll find these in our Colorbond drop-down on the product page). Why “Dark Red and Green pigments” you may ask – these two pigments were the most abundant and hardy of pigments available at the time, these are the result of Green Copper Hydroxide, Red & Yellow Oxides, and Prussian Blue imported oil-based paints.

If you’ve ever been interested in renovating in an area with a large number of older styled buildings, you’d have no doubt heard the terms “Heritage Listed”, “Federation Home”, “I can’t develop it!”. Thanks to the work of various persons, bodies, and government agencies, the general public have the opportunity to appreciate the history of cultural significance over the last century.

If you happen to get stuck because your local council has restricted your colour range (ie. http://www.portphillip.vic.gov.au/heritage-controls-colours-guidelines.pdf) we’re able to provide a specialist 2-Pack Wet Spray finish for our lighting, this is something that Chris from Cherrybrook considered when he first contacted Barn Light Australia.

Chris originally called looking to find a supplier to replace the existing coach lamps that were installed in the 1990’s – Thirty years ago, the lighting industry was there to ensure that their lights lasted thirty years to begin with. As you’ll already have experienced product supplied from overseas, from the big lighting retailers have left a lot more to be desired from their original designs – Unrecoverable Acrylic Panes in place of glass with the dreaded “60W Max” label meaning they can’t be used anywhere that needs decent light outputs (LEDs aside) mounted with a cheap wafer-thin steel frame that’s designed to both rust and fog up the moment a touch of moisture enters to light. While we did state quite clearly that we’d be unable to provide any reputable supplier for replacement coach lights, we did suggest a few alternatives. One such alternative was our Austin Barn Wall Light. It took a little persuading where colours was concerned of course!

The Federation Home was considered a lavish home built during the 1895 to 1915 era, named after Australia’s coming of age as a nation. Unpainted Red Brickwork and Multi-faceted roofs are a defining features of Federation Homes. Image Credit: Chris from Cherrybrook, NSW – Austin Wall Lights in Hunter Red installed.

Three red barn-style wall lights are mounted on a brick wall above three garage doors — Federation Garage with exposed brickwork. Prominent Red and Cream Colour Scheme

A pair of traditional wooden double doors are flanked by brickwork and two wall-mounted lights — The front entrance to a Federation Home is every part rustic and traditional as is the timber to the structure.

A red gooseneck wall light is mounted on the brick exterior of a house — Federation Garage with exposed brickwork. Prominent Red and Cream Colour Scheme

Two wall lights illuminate the brick facade and entrance of a house at night — An adequately lit entryway provides enough to highlight the front door

Two wall lights are mounted on the brick facade of a house with a three-car garage — A typical multi-faceted roof presents on the garage

Exterior wall lights illuminate a brick house with multiple garage doors at night — The soft ebb and flow of these Austin Wall Lights reduced light pollution into the night sky, leaving the stars to shine.

In terms of your lights, well we would like to say that we were searching for just the right light to suit the facade on our house for more than a year before we found Barn Light Australia and the lights we bought match the facade perfectly much better even than what we previously had. In particular we found the ambience of these lights at night to be a truly amazing effect that made our house look more like a home than ever before.
Chris - Cherrybrook

As you’ll see in Chris’ case, finding the right supplier has never been easier for those wanting to make a substantial investment into their property and living spaces. While Chris did consider alternatives, he and his partner settled on the Austin Wall Light, one of our smallest wall sconces by size and width to replace the old coachlamps.

Made from a Hand-spun 25cm Aluminium Shade affixed to a slender 1/2″ Brass-Plated Steel Arm, and Spun Aluminium Sconce Plate – The Austin is designed to keep classic warehouse styling proportions. The Australian Made Sconce plate is 160mm in diameter, marginally smaller than the shade itself providing a pleasing aesthetic to the eye and can take a 200W incandescent or sufficient wattage LED device. As you’ll see from the images below, Chris has made an informed and stylish decision to accent his “new” Federation home.

Read more about Australian Home Periods via “House of Home”
Read more about Melbourne’s Precinct History & Significance via Melbourne.vic.gov.au