Bright idea in homes

Beige. It’s one color you won’t find in Coeur d’Alene’s newest waterfront neighborhood that opts against the blasé and goes for the rainbow.

Vibrant red, blue, purple and yellow are among the hues covering the Hardy Plank and cedar shingles on the craftsman-style homes at Mill River, an upscale development on the former Crown Pacific mill site along the Spokane River. The jumble of meticulously chosen colors causes rubbernecking by drivers on Seltice Way. And it’s created buzz – even prompting the nickname “Clown Town” by some.

“That’s what we want. If people talk, they buy,” said Dixie Reid, the designer who spent hours picking color combinations for Victory Homes. “The purpose of this development is to set a new standard for Coeur d’Alene.”

Three colors grace each house, never in the same combination on any of the 43 homes. To tie the neighborhood together, the homes share the same off-white trim and rock porches.

Perhaps the boldest display in the neighborhood fronts the Spokane River and has a pinkish-red bottom with a smoky blue second floor and blocks of a sunny yellow that accent the box windows and chimney.

“It’s absolutely outstanding, exciting,” Reid said when asked to characterize the recipe. “I can’t wait to see what’s inside that house.”

A few doors down, a house sports a smoky purple bottom and vanilla top.

Then there was the pumpkin orange, officially named Caribbean coral.

“That was a little bright, too much for us. So we toned it down a little,” said Roger Harte, a Realtor selling the Mill River homes. He liked the concept so much he bought a house, yet he admits his is one of the least spunky, with a combination of steely green-gray and light gray.

Reid is still disappointed the Caribbean coral got cut. “I really loved that one,” she said. “But they said they didn’t like it and that’s fine.”

Victory Homes expects the scheme to catch on, giving courage in a paint can to homeowners in established neighborhoods who may have secretly wanted to break free from the constraints of dreary vinyl siding that covers miles of the Northwest in seemingly endless shades of beige, white and light gray.

And the company thinks other developers will copy the idea, but perhaps in a toned-down version.

Jae Enos of Victory Homes said most builders aren’t brave enough to go bright.

“No guts,” he said. “They are afraid of change and afraid of doing something that won’t sell. We could have played it safe and done the lodge look, the Idaho feel. People expect that.”

So far, Victory’s gamble is a winner, with the houses that range from $650,000 to $900,000 selling fast.

The company’s punch colors are limited to the most expensive homes. The west end of the development is more affordable and the homes are more traditional in nearly every sense, with toned-down colors and front-facing garages.

Next door, developer Marshall Chesrown is building River’s Edge, townhouses done in earth tones – his way to combat the beige blahs. He’s upfront about his dislike of the neighboring color display.

“I don’t care for the red, blue and yellow,” Chesrown said.”I don’t think they are obnoxious. It’s just not my taste.”

Greenstone Homes, the Liberty Lake-based builder of some of the area’s largest subdivisions, is adding more color to its houses to distinguish each one in a changing market. Escalating land costs force the company to put homes on smaller lots, explained company President Jason Wheaton. That means the houses are closer together, so distinct colors are used to define each one.

“That’s where strong colors come in, but I wouldn’t say bright colors,” Wheaton said.

A few years ago in an interview, he said Greenstone stuck to lighter, neutral colors because he didn’t want the developments to resemble baskets of Easter eggs.

He says now that theory still holds. Even as the company moves to more color, such as traditional barn reds and dark greens, the harmony of color is still important.

Wheaton said he commends Victory for its bravery but doesn’t think Greenstone will ever be so bold as to use colors such as billiard green, hammered silver or mesmerize purple.

“Some of their buyers would walk into ours and think this is too bland,” he said. “All the difference of opinion makes (this) a fun industry.”

Unique and vibrant is the only theme at Mill River. Victory Homes told Reid to do something different but gave no specific guidelines. So Reid pulled out a black suitcase of Sherwin-Williams color chips and piled stacks of potential combinations on the floor of her home office. Then she began figuring out which colors should go on which houses.

She views Mill River as a public art project.

“These houses give people an opportunity to express themselves in a way that hasn’t been available before,” she said.

Color is more popular since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Reid said, because more people stay home seeking a comfortable and relaxing space. In the past, many people embraced white for its sterile, clean properties.

But Reid said white offers no comfort. “You don’t feel very safe when you are out in the snow,” she said.

Reid is a longtime Coeur d’Alene City Council member. She said no conflict of interest exists because she was hired by Victory Homes after the city annexed the land and the Planning Commission approved the development. She also is a member of Lake City Development Corp., the city’s urban renewal agency, which provided $3.4 million to the Mill River project to help provide water, sewer lines and other public utilities. Enos said color isn’t the only thing that makes the development stick out. Classified as neo-traditional, the development has smaller lots, detached garages and not much lawn. There are no curbs or sidewalks, which Enos said creates an open feel that encourages neighbors to interact. The idea is modeled after older areas such as Fort Grounds, Sanders Beach and Manito Park in Spokane.

“You pretty much have to wave or you’re going to be rude,” Enos said. “When you barbecue, you’re going to have to talk to people.”

The top buyers so far are from Phoenix, Seattle and Southern California – areas where bright colors in housing already have caught on. Some buyers are locals, looking for a change. There’s a mix of retirees and young families. Some are summer homes while others have year-round residents, Enos said.

The homes come with access to a private beach, including lighted volleyball courts, a covered picnic area and bathrooms. A public beach that developers plan to donate to Coeur d’Alene this summer is next door.

Enos shrugs off any negative attention and nicknames like Rainbow Village.

“If we were worried about it we wouldn’t be doing it,” he said. “When you take a stand like this you’re going to get noticed.”