--- title: "Little Women: A Guide To Creating The March Family Home On Stage" description: Scenic Artist Bridgette Dennett shares ideas, scenic design tips, and color palettes for creating the world of Little Women on stage. image: https://spectrum.rosco.com/hubfs/Brandfolder%20Assets/Brandfolder/Rosco%20blog%20Little%20Women%20feature%20OG.jpg --- ![](https://spectrum.rosco.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/Rosco/Images/page-top-bg.jpeg) [![NewSpectrumlogo](https://spectrum.rosco.com/hs-fs/hubfs/NewSpectrumlogo.png?width=320&height=150&name=NewSpectrumlogo.png)](https://spectrum.rosco.com) - [Home](https://spectrum.rosco.com/) - [About Spectrum](https://spectrum.rosco.com/rosco-spectrum-featured-products-3?hsLang=en) - [Featured Products](https://spectrum.rosco.com/rosco-spectrum-featured-products?hsLang=en) - [Rosco.com](https://us.rosco.com/en) Home About Spectrum Featured Products Rosco.com ![](https://spectrum.rosco.com/hubfs/Brandfolder%20Assets/Brandfolder/Rosco%20blog%20Little%20Women%20feature%20OG.jpg) # Little Women: A Guide To Creating The March Family Home On Stage *Louisa May Alcott's beloved classic,* Little Women, *follows the March sisters, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy, as they navigate the challenges of growing up during the American Civil War. Much of the story revolves around the March family home in Concord, Massachusetts, which serves as the backdrop for the sisters' relationships, personal growth, and aspirations. Below, scenic artist [Bridgette Dennett](https://www.bridgettedennett.com/) shares color palette ideas and tips for recreating this key setting on stage using Rosco [Paints](https://www.rosco.com/products/family/paints) and [Coatings](https://www.rosco.com/products/catalog/scenic-products?field_product_type_target_id=19).*  [![Little Women Design Palettes.](https://spectrum.rosco.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Brandfolder%20Assets/Brandfolder/Rosco%20Web%20Little%20Women%20mood%20board%20header.png?width=1122&height=557&name=Rosco%20Web%20Little%20Women%20mood%20board%20header.png)](https://spectrum.rosco.com/design-palettes-little-women?hsLang=en)[*Click the image to explore Little Women Design Palettes.*](https://spectrum.rosco.com/design-palettes-little-women?hsLang=en)  ## Choosing colors for the March family home In the March home, we have two main locations: the Parlor and the Attic. To begin playing around with colors, a strong place to start is with the floor and trim for the March family home - the wood colors used for the floor can also be used to create the range of wood tones for the rafters and framing in the attic. To create a period, wood-planked floor, you could start with [Rosco Off Broadway Earth & Wood Scenic Set](https://www.rosco.com/product/rosco-scenic-set-earth-wood-ob): Raw Umber, Burnt Umber, Raw Sienna, and Burnt Sienna. These colors can be blended together to create a dynamic range of wood tones to help you tailor your wood floor to the color range that you desire.  [![Rosco Off Broadway scenic paint colors for faux wood stage finishes.](https://spectrum.rosco.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Brandfolder%20Assets/Brandfolder/Rosco%20web%20Little%20Women%20paint%20browns.jpg?width=1250&height=300&name=Rosco%20web%20Little%20Women%20paint%20browns.jpg)](https://spectrum.rosco.com/hubfs/Brandfolder%20Assets/Brandfolder/Rosco%20web%20Little%20Women%20paint%20browns.jpg?hsLang=en) To start, you’ll want to choose a base color for your floor. It’s helpful to choose something on the lighter end, so that you can layer your woodgrain as you go: either the Raw Sienna or Burnt Sienna (or a blend of both?!) could serve you well, depending on the type of wood you’d like to recreate. From there, mix watered-down layers of darker tones such as Burnt Umber or Van Dyke Brown and layer them to help build a wood grain. Make sure to seal it when you’re finished! An example of [creating a wood-planked floor](https://spectrum.rosco.com/index.php/2016/06/creating-a-plank-wood-floor-with-scenic-paint?hsLang=en) can be seen on the Spectrum blog! [![A plank wood floor created with Rosco scenic paints.](https://spectrum.rosco.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Plank-Floor2-1.jpg?width=1200&height=600&name=Plank-Floor2-1.jpg)](https://spectrum.rosco.com/index.php/2016/06/creating-a-plank-wood-floor-with-scenic-paint?hsLang=en) [*Plank wood floor created by master carpenter John H. Jones for a production of* The Exonerated *at L.A. Pierce College.*](https://spectrum.rosco.com/index.php/2016/06/creating-a-plank-wood-floor-with-scenic-paint?hsLang=en) For the Parlor’s walls, mixing a little of your wood tone with Off Broadway White can help you create a nice, neutral wall color. To add more classic colors to the mix, you can play around with Off Broadway Chrome Oxide Green for a soft sage green or Off Broadway Deep Red for a warmer dusty rose. Play around with the ratios of these colors, and you’ll find that you’re able to create a wide range of warm and cool hues. [![Rosco scenic paints: Off Broadway Chrome Oxide Green and Deep Red.](https://spectrum.rosco.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Brandfolder%20Assets/Brandfolder/Rosco%20web%20Little%20Women%20green%20red%20paint.jpg?width=350&height=169&name=Rosco%20web%20Little%20Women%20green%20red%20paint.jpg)](https://spectrum.rosco.com/hubfs/Brandfolder%20Assets/Brandfolder/Rosco%20web%20Little%20Women%20green%20red%20paint.jpg?hsLang=en) To make your faux wallpaper, begin by creating two colors: a base coat and a stencil color. You can play around with this - it’s fine to use the lighter color as the base and the darker color as the stencil, or you might find that you like the look better when you reverse these and use a light color as the stencil on a darker background. I’m a big fan of sampling, so try them both out and see which you like better! After you get your colors prepped, you can apply the wallpaper design by painting over a [damask stencil](https://www.cuttingedgestencils.com/) with the preferred stencil color.  ## Creating durable, matte scenic finishes In creating a set like *Little Women*, you want to keep your colors looking matte while protecting them well. To this end, [Rosco Clear Acrylic Flat](https://www.rosco.com/product/clear-acrylic-glazes) can help set and protect your paint while keeping the colors nice and matte - much like period wallpaper and aged floors.   [![Rosco Clear Arylic Flat.](https://spectrum.rosco.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Rosco%20Clear%20Flat%20Arylic%20gallon.jpg?width=250&height=250&name=Rosco%20Clear%20Flat%20Arylic%20gallon.jpg)](https://www.rosco.com/product/clear-acrylic-glazes) ## Crafting an invisible blue moon A blue moon effect can be a great way to enhance nighttime scenes in *Little Women*. Follow this link to see how scenic artist Tim Parati created an [invisible blue moon](https://spectrum.rosco.com/index.php/2019/04/a-magical-invisible-blue-moon?hsLang=en) using Rosco Fluorescent Paints! [*A glowing moon created by scenic designer Tim Parati for a production of* Pete the Cat *at Children's Theatre of Charlotte.*](https://spectrum.rosco.com/index.php/2019/04/a-magical-invisible-blue-moon?hsLang=en) | [![Portrait of scenic artist Bridgette Dennett.](https://spectrum.rosco.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Bridgette_Dreher_Headshot-1.jpg?width=300&height=300&name=Bridgette_Dreher_Headshot-1.jpg)](https://spectrum.rosco.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Bridgette_Dreher_Headshot-1.jpg?hsLang=en) | Bridgette Dennett is a scenic designer, artist, and educator whose work focuses on creating immersive stage designs through the use of color, texture, and composition. She is a faculty member at the University of Mary Washington, serves as a commissioner of Scene Design & Technology with USITT, and is a former board member with the Guild of Scenic Artists. To learn more about her work, visit her website at [bridgettedennett.com](http://www.bridgettedennett.com). For more information about the products Bridgette features in this article, explore the Rosco [Paint](https://www.rosco.com/products/family/paints) and [Scenic](https://www.rosco.com/products/catalog/scenic-products?field_product_type_target_id=19) product pages on the Rosco website. | | --- | --- | [![See All Theatrical Design Palettes](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/21823942/4760f457-74bf-433a-ad56-2166c695a6a5.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/21823942/4760f457-74bf-433a-ad56-2166c695a6a5) Tatiana Massano October 28, 2026 [Questions?](mailto:spectrum@rosco.com) [Scenic and Staging](https://spectrum.rosco.com/tag/scenic-and-staging) ![](https://spectrum.rosco.com/hubfs/Tatiana-Massano2-160x160.jpg) ## About Tatiana Massano Content Marketing Specialist: Based in the Madrid office, Tatiana is ideally positioned to share inspiring stories of how customers use Rosco products to accomplish their ideas in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. ### Related post [The Origin Story Of Earth Umber – The Overlooked Earth Tone You Should Be Using](https://spectrum.rosco.com/index.php/2019/09/the-origin-story-of-earth-umber-the-overlooked-earth-tone-you-should-be-using?hsLang=en) [Into The Woods: A Guide To Creating A Fairy-Tale Forest On Stage](https://spectrum.rosco.com/into-the-woods-a-guide-to-creating-a-fairy-tale-forest-on-stage?hsLang=en) [Cinderella: A Guide To Creating A Fairy-Tale Kingdom On Stage](https://spectrum.rosco.com/cinderella-a-guide-to-creating-a-fairy-tale-kingdom-on-stage?hsLang=en) [The Addams Family: A Guide To Creating A Delightfully Macabre Manor On Stage](https://spectrum.rosco.com/the-addams-family-a-guide-to-creating-a-delightfully-macabre-manor-on-stage?hsLang=en) ### Receive Email Alerts About New Spectrum Blog Posts! ### Categories [Architecture](https://spectrum.rosco.com/tag/architecture) [Dance](https://spectrum.rosco.com/tag/dance) [Entertainment Lighting](https://spectrum.rosco.com/tag/entertainment-lighting) [Film, Television and Broadcast](https://spectrum.rosco.com/tag/film-television-and-broadcast) [Photography](https://spectrum.rosco.com/tag/photography) [Rosco - The Company](https://spectrum.rosco.com/tag/rosco-the-company) [Scenic and Staging](https://spectrum.rosco.com/tag/scenic-and-staging) © 2022 Rosco Spectrum - [Home](https://spectrum.rosco.com/) - [About Spectrum](https://spectrum.rosco.com/rosco-spectrum-featured-products-3?hsLang=en) - [Featured Products](https://spectrum.rosco.com/rosco-spectrum-featured-products?hsLang=en) - [Rosco.com](https://us.rosco.com/en) - ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Tatiana Massano", "url" : "https://spectrum.rosco.com/author/tmassano" }, "dateModified" : "2026-10-28T15:15:00.618Z", "datePublished" : "2026-10-28T15:00:00.000Z", "headline" : "Little Women: A Guide To Creating The March Family Home On Stage", "image" : [ "https://spectrum.rosco.com/hubfs/Brandfolder%20Assets/Brandfolder/Rosco%20blog%20Little%20Women%20feature%20OG.jpg" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://spectrum.rosco.com/little-women-a-guide-to-creating-the-march-family-home-on-stage", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://spectrum.rosco.com/hubfs/ROSCO_WAL_H_RGB.png" }, "name" : "Rosco Laboratories" } } ``` ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "VideoObject", "contentUrl" : "https://21823942.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/21823942/Moon-Grey-blue-Carousel.mp4", "dateModified" : "2022-11-23T01:08:02.450Z", "duration" : "PT5.1S", "height" : 906, "name" : "Moon-Grey-blue-Carousel", "thumbnailUrl" : "https://21823942.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/21823942/Moon-Grey-blue-Carousel.mp4/medium.jpg", "uploadDate" : "2022-11-23T01:07:51.072Z", "width" : 1200 } ```