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BlackExterior Colour

Help me Find the Perfect Black for my Exterior

When you’re scrolling for home inspiration, be careful not to fall into the all too common trap of thinking it’s solely the paint colour that makes a house pretty.

There is so much to learn about creating a beautiful home. Leaning how to choose colour is a huge hurdle to clear. You also need to learn about the details of styling and decorating. And because it is a journey and a learning curve, I’ve created my new community to provide ongoing support and connection for colour and design lovers of all levels, just like you!

It’s in all in the details

The other day on a public forum, up came this AI generated image with this comment attached:

blue black row house

 

So after I posted that this was, an AI generated image, which was why it was so pretty and NOT to be confused with that it would ever be fabulous on a beach house, the first person to respond said this:

 

Still missing my point. I wasn’t saying that this house was not pretty, simply that a fake inspiration photo would not be the place to find the perfect paint colour for your house so then I received this comment:

While I appreciate the vote of confidence here 💛 we’re still missing the point of my point. It’s not only that the dark colour palette “hides” the pretty details.

Not to mention that this is not a “paint colour” at all. It’s digital colour so it has an unachievable inner glow.

What is too easy to miss when you’re looking at images of pretty houses through the lens of “finding the perfect paint colour” is that it’s the details, styling and decorating that make it pretty. 

Let’s look at the details that make this attractive image add up to so much more than a pretty paint colour.

Beginning with this (below) is what it and every black house with black windows looks like in the real world.

black windows black house

I also took out the perfect fake foliage. It’s much more bleak without the cozy glow coming from inside the house and the fake reflection of the fake trees in the windows. During the day any window looks black from the street no matter what colour the actual window frame is.

The pretty trim and architectural details that give this imagined house a rich and elegant look are not going to be present on a beach house.  Which is also unlikely to be flanked by equally rich and formal looking homes that look handsome in deep dramatic colours. So there’s also context.

And really, who wants to vacation at a somber looking beach house?

There’s nothing beachy about black

I posted about charcoal lake houses a few years ago before the black trend completely took over. Here’s a photo I snapped while boating around on the lake on vacation (below).

Would this house below look 10 times better if it was the perfect shade of blue/black instead of charcoal grey? 

No.

Because most houses do not have perfect landscaping and all the other pretty details that would really make black on a house look good. And landscaping is to exteriors what styling is to interiors. 

black lake house

Remember this story (below) that went viral a few years ago?

If this black house was the perfect blue/black shade, would it look any better? I’m saying it would not.

black house pink and purple house

LA times

There’s nothing pretty about predictably trendy

My sister recently went to Benjamin Moore to buy a coral paint colour for her laundry room. They sent her to another store because they didn’t have the colourant that could make coral because all anyone wants right now is white or black.

And if not black then white. 

And if not black or white then black and white.

black and white exteriors

There are more colour choices in this world ya’ll and as we are 8 years into this trend, if you’re painting your exterior next season, I recommend watching my exterior masterclass and choose ANYTHING but either of these two (above). Plus you’ll avoid the biggest mistake people make when they paint their house white which is STILL happening constantly.

Right now you can get access to my $397 course for $39 per month. Plus a community of timeless colour people who will help you have a house you’ll love forever. Sign up here.

As always, if you need help with paint colours and/or finishes for your bathrooms, kitchens, new builds or renovations, see my eDesign packages here. Yes I can help you choose the exact paint colours from thousands of miles away, you’ll receive instructions on exactly how to send in photos as soon as you purchase a package.

Related posts:

Never Paint this Style of Exterior Black

What Everyone Should Know About Black

Help! My Black Farmhouse Looks Wrong!

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23 Comments

  • AK says:

    Thank you! AI generated inspo accounts are so misleading. Good point that the AI paint looks (fake) illuminated. The sun won’t do that except possibly at very limited times.

  • Holly says:

    That purple and pink house is just as bad! It looks like cotton candy or a set from the Barbie movie. I agree black houses are sad and the white modern farm house look is so overdone at least near me but let’s not go overboard and paint our neighborhoods to resemble Candy Land.

    • Melissa says:

      I wouldn’t want either house color, but as a pair I think the houses are hilarious and it would tickle me pink to walk by them in my neighborhood every day. It’s like the set of a movie (Edward scissorhands, Addams family… or something).

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    • Lorri says:

      At least the ubiquitous white modern farmhouses somewhat mimic the white houses that are common in areas with lots of historic homes. I don’t feel offended by their color or architecture because they’re grounded in some sense of traditional architecture.

      The black houses on the other hand … A local builder posted a black house with orange wood trim and actually wrote, “When your new house gives Halloween vibes …” like it was a GOOD thing!

      • Holly says:

        I like the modern farmhouse too. I’m just saying in my area there are hundreds, one on every corner.

  • Beth says:

    The person wanting the perfect blue-black also isn’t thinking about what the house would look like during the day. A red rose is a dark purple or even black at night, so which is correct? Color is light plus perception. Change the light dramatically and the color changes. While that’s not all that makes it change, but it’s a factor, and a color at night may not be as satisfying to her during the day. We just don’t know what it will look like.

    As for a Ben Moore store not having a particular colorant, colorants are simply white, red, yellow, etc. Every paint color contains many colorants, of course, up to about a dozen. It’s not as if there’s a coral colorant. Coral would be a mix of common colorant colors, just like an artist can mix many hundreds of colors from just a few. Ben Moore isn’t saying, welp, we don’t need that colorant because of a trend. There’s no doubt someone at ths store said what they did about trends, but t doubt the missing colorant is a sign of that.

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  • Fran W. says:

    I don’t even like the AI-generated blue-black house. Just awful. Who wants to come home to a dark and dreary home every day?

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  • Val says:

    As always a great post! This one really resonated with me because I don’t know the extent of all the AI fakery! Great job explaining for us laypeople.

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  • Julie Norval says:

    My neighbors just returned home from
    a European vacation and had made a book of all the gorgeous things they saw. There were beautiful shades of pink and yellow, along with stone and brick. Imagine if the black trend overtook these beautiful places. ALSO, the flowers and “staging “ of the outdoor spaces pulled it all together creating absolute beauty.

    4
    • Sheree L says:

      Every time we are in Europe, I think “Maria would love this house or this village!” I love the colors! Last summer, I started noticing a few more black houses, most of them in newer neighborhoods. It made my heart sink. I hope it doesn’t get as crazy as it is here in the US. I’ve always loved that many of the newer homes in the areas of Europe in which we travel are made in the more traditional styles and colors, so they feel like they “belong.”

      1
    • Lisa says:

      I felt the same after leaving Ireland years ago. It just made me happy to be out touring the streets. At home here in Hampton Roads, VA it’s awful.

      1
  • Norine says:

    I did not realize the pic was all AI. To me, it looks like an abandoned dilapidated home with shrubbery. I would be afraid to walk by when it was not bright and sunny. In addition, color fades from the elements. Can you imagine how this would look in a year or two? Imagine being the neighbors who would have to look at this monstrosity every day and use it as a landmark for visitors. Change the trim with color or three-dimensional effects. Do not ruin the body of your home.
    PS If the beach house is in a saltwater location, the effects will happen more quickly.

    2
  • Lorri says:

    During the early 1900s and into the mid-century, there was a saying that if you wanted a house to sell, paint it yellow. You almost never see it on new houses anymore and I recently read that yellow houses sell for less money.

    However, lately I’ve noticed some houses in my mountain area have gotten repainted yellow and they are so pretty. It is a color that looks great in all four seasons. Why can’t yellow exteriors get popular again?

    1
  • Carol Johnson says:

    How did you know it was AI GENERATED? The average person would look at this and not realize that. They should make people put this on there photos.

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    • Lorri says:

      If you look at a lot of AI images, you eventually learn to recognize them instantly. They have a vibe that real photos don’t have and they are often overly idealized to the point of being sickening or unsettling. A really good AI artist, however, can do some nice stuff.

      1
  • Annie says:

    It makes no sense to base your house color off AI. For example, in this image, it seems like there is no external light source – ie, no sun. Everything is muted and gray with no shadows. Even somewhere like Portland or Seattle is going to have shadows. This is just very unrealistic for a beach house. I can’t imagine looking at this and going, yes, I want my beach house to look this gloomy. (I say that as someone who LOVES gloomy.) I feel like it would be impossible to find a black-blue that is going to look like that in direct sun.

  • Erin says:

    Honest question. Why is white (without black) not a timeless exterior? I don’t understand why white for interior hard finishes is considered timeless, but it’s not for the exterior?

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    • Maria Killam says:

      That’s a great question! It was until the black and white trend arrived on the scene 8 years ago and suddenly every new neighbourhood or exterior and interior paint job is either black or white placing any white house directly in the trend.

      Is it wrong to paint your house black or white? Of course not.

      But this is the phenomenon that happens: when you buy a new car, suddenly you see that car everywere. It’s like that when you paint your house black or white. Suddenly you see it everywhere and what you’ll notice is that it’s every single new paint job it’s every single new build and YOU will experience fatigue. And then when the trend changes you’ll want the new trendy colour on your house and THAT is what I’m trying to save the world from.

      1
  • Lisa says:

    I get that this AI generated and not achievable, but as someone who loves color I still think the image is GORGEOUS.

  • Kristi says:

    There’s also an issue with exterior paint with too low LRV that can make the paint “fail” sooner than the normal life of a paint job. Especially in a sunny location like the beach. Light not reflected is absorbed, which is be a problem. The Land of Color blog has articles about this.

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