How Black and White Paint Colors can Enhance Your Home

Black and white paint colors are timeless, classic, and always trendy.  They pair with anything, they contrast any color, and together they create the perfect duo.  This paint color scheme that is often attributed to a traditional, colonial home has become standard fare for the updated, modern home.  Black windows, gutters, and trim are in.  Red, traditional brick is getting a clean, crisp update by being painted a bright white or more muted off-white.  Either way, there are some great options from which to choose.

Paint Colors We Love

If you’d like to stick to high contrast and to a fairly true black and white paint color, Tricorn Black (SW 6258) and Pure White (SW 7005) are proven winners.  As with any color, even black and white can sometimes sneak in a bit of unwanted color.  Tricorn Black is nice and bold but stays away from any blue or brown undertones sometimes found in black hues.  Pure white lives up to its name and comes off as the perfect white, particularly in natural lighting.  It stays away from the slight blue tone found in Extra White (SW 7006), another popular white, and stays a bit more subtle than the ever bright High Reflective White (SW 7757).  This combo is a great choice for the classic take on black and white.

For those that love black and white but don’t strive to be true purests, two of my favorite paint colors are Aesthetic White (SW 7035) and Greenblack (SW 6994).  Aesthetic White is a gorgeous, muted shade of white that hits the spot every time.  With the slightest greige undertone, it makes for a perfect, understated white that goes with about everything, maintains a clean, crisp feel, but isn’t in your face white.  Greenblack is a rich, dramatic black with just a hint of deep green.  It makes choosing this black a fun, edgy choice and allows for a bit of the unexpected when seen in different lighting.  

The last two options to throw into the mix are Inkwell (SW 6992) and Shoji White (SW 7042).  Inkwell is a unique take on black that actually is as close to a deep navy as you can get, while still coming off as black.  The navy undertone makes it a fun alternative to a true black.  Shoji White is a creamy white with definite warm undertones.  It is a great option if you want to stay light and bright but want to tone down the starkness of white.  This gorgeous combo rounds out our color palettes, ever classy, in black and white.