If you’re building or updating an exterior right now, you might be feeling torn – Do I go with my urge to paint my house fresh white? Or with my dismay at all the stark black and white exteriors swallowing up neighbourhoods? And choose basically ANYTHING BUT STARK WHITE?
Is there a way to do a white exterior that’s timeless?
I hear you! I too love(ed) a fresh white exterior. But honestly, now that the trend has become so overdone, I’d go out of my way to choose something else for my house.
However, I still swoon over this below.
Nothing could be prettier than a fresh white house with a gorgeous garden (Monrovia)
With all those black and white houses on your street, this is the moment to consider going for a colour for a charming and distinguished look. If you’re surrounded by white houses, a pretty fresh colour will look right as rain. And maybe the neighbours will be inspired to add colour too!
Flash Sale!
If you’re looking to tackle your exterior this season, and you’re spinning on colour. Or if you want to get ahead of an upcoming project. I’ve got you! I’m offering my Exterior Colour Selection Masterclass for 20% off!
Use the promo code FLASH20 at checkout.
The sale runs only Friday and Saturday, so grab it fast, it won’t go on sale again this year!
What’s the right white for exteriors now?
If you really love the look of white, I’d look to some of the pale neutrals that read like softened architectural whites.
I share the complete list of the best ones and what they look like in my Masterclass in Exterior Colour Selection. It’s a self directed course on ALL the things you need to consider to create a beautiful exterior. Not least of which is the importance of beautiful landscaping like this beautiful garden above!
You’ll learn all about how I landed on the perfect cream for my new French Country style exterior (below).
I’m adding updates to the course all the time, and once you buy it, you’ll always have access to my updates!
Going timeless instead of trendy
It was an emergency to update the course to help you all navigate colour for your house in this trend. So in the most recently added modules you’ll find all my best tips for navigating this tricky world of black and white conformity.
Hint: go timeless instead!
Because there are some details that will lump your house into the trend, and some that will have much less of a timestamp and create a look that can withstand the decades.
There are details that transcend the trend as you can see in this stately home above.
- It’s not painted stark white
- They did not opt for stark black windows
- The landscaping is well designed and a feature
So there are plenty of details that elevates the look (above) over this (below).
White and black always looks timeless on traditional colonial homes with pretty symmetrical design like this beauty below.
However, even this (above) I might now consider painting a pale colour just to avoid the way black and white exteriors suddenly look generic.
Just look at the gorgeousness of this lattice detail (below). There is none of the predictably harsh look of the black and white exterior trend in this masterpiece.
Even if your house is not as stately as these inspiring homes, you can get a much more timeless look if you master the details that matter.
And you’ll find them all in my Masterclass! Along with everything else you need to know to create a beautiful timeless exterior 😃
Here’s some feedback:
This was was fantastic class!!!!!!! I am not a designer and this class has helped me analyze what is wrong with the colors of my house. I wish I would have had this resource before we replaced the roof (terra-cotta barrel tile, popular where I live in Florida) and terra-cotta pavers (but slightly different tone. Oh, no!). At least now I know to get rid of the original brown stone that does not relate to anything and then use paint to tie it all in together. This is a must class for ALL homeowners!!!
Comments like these make me love my work even more! I’m passionate about working out systems and ways to make colour easier to choose.
This exterior masterclass is my best work yet, I can’t wait for you to see it! Watch the lessons over and over again for ANY project.
The sale ends Saturday night at midnight PST!
Get it here . Use the code FLASH20 at checkout.
xoxo Maria
Maria, I’m a big fan of your blog and your work! I’d love to hear your ideas about timeless kitchen floors where wood won’t work (because it would abut existing wood floors). Thanks!
We just renovated our kitchen and the contractor managed to match our existing hardwood perfectly. Worth looking into – unless your wood is very unusual. My house is from 1925 so I love that the entire first floor now has consistent flooring.
Oh, good to know! Thank you!
I have added oak flooring to an adjoining room with oak flooring. Requires a skilled flooring person who can weave tongue and groove between the rooms. Then sanded and refinished all flooring so it looks the same. Great result in the end.
We too matched the wood flooring in the kitchen to that in the rest of the house. Our floor guy interwove it, in the kitchen and in a new room at the end of the hall. We had all the floors refinished using Rubio Monocoat, a hard oil European finish. The huge advantage of this finish, in addition to its permanence, is that you can have the floors done room by room rather than all at once: the wood fibers, once saturated, cannot accept any additional oil, so there is no overlap or seam—the floor looks like it was finished at the same time. Even the most heavily traveled areas of the house show no wear at all after nearly 12 years.
Hello Maria and team Color Experts. How do I get an update for the Exterior Color Master Class?
I just logged into my account and the course was already updated.
I’ve seen several black houses in newer neighborhoods and they look dreadful. Simply dreadful. I don’t know what people were thinking to paint a a house in Minnesota black. In two summers it will be faded and weatherworn and I can only imagine how many coats of paint it takes to cover black.
In Greece, the trend now is gray in all its tones and darkness (we are always a bit behind on trends)…dreadful. Simply miserable to walk around neighborhoods, under the constant sun and see new houses popping up painted gray on gray on gray! Why??
My yellow fence ( inspired by Maria 🙂 always makes me happy!
Timely article as we built our white house in a rural setting on a small acreage 7 years ago. No black windows, no black trim, but nobody else was really doing white in our area when we built. Now it’s so prevelant and predictable!
I already have some nice blue grays selected for next spring! And because I was following Maria when we built, I can do any color of the rainbow if I wanted 😊
My neighborhood is made up of colorful homes ranging from the early 1900s – 1960s, but lately there has been a movement to tear down some of the older homes that are not in great condition. They’re being replaced with new homes; some are built in a traditional early 1900s style, but some seem to have no style at all, and those are the ones being painted black or white. Just a few blocks from me are two such homes, built earlier this year. One is completely stark black, with cedar porch posts. The other is stark white, and because these two homes are next door to one another, the contrast is particularly horrible. No one is buying them, and homes in my neighborhood usually sell quickly. I am sick to death of black but from some of the decorating groups I’m in on FB, this black trend simply will not die.
We purchased your exterior e-design just before the white-black house trend started. You suggested a full-bodies shoji white, and we are going with it because our house faces full west and white makes sense for passive cooling.
Green doors and shutters were also recommended, and Maria it is just perfect!
Just ran across some of your posts and love them. Tornado took out 10 houses in our neighborhood and we are rebuilding. Going to be so hard to determine right style and then color for house. Any suggestions on figuring out right style? I love all the windows on contemporary homes but fall in love with the french country homes. Want lots of light in the house