There’s nothing quite like the combination of black and white for an elegant, timeless home exterior. Irrespective of how old your house is, this color palette lends to a crisp, newly built presentation.
And if you have lush greenery surrounding your house, it’s even better, as your dwelling will really stand out against this type of landscape.
Farmhouses featuring classic architectural design and sloped roofs do especially well with black or white detailing, which you’ll see as we explore different design options in this article.
Best of all, this gorgeous combination is easy to apply once you decide which color best suits your home’s look and feel.
Ready? Let’s investigate some great examples of black and white home exteriors.
1. Modern Farmhouse Style Homes
Most homeowners opt for a white exterior with black details vs. a black exterior with white details. But there are plenty of options for styling your home’s details – from cladding to garages, to window frames, to decks.
Modern farmhouses usually share a few distinguishing features, like sloping, a-frame gable roofs, covered porches, large windows, and big, double garages.
Opting for black or dark grey metal roofs and garage doors is one classic approach to highlighting your home’s clean lines.
This humble design is simple and effective and holds up well for many years. You can also complement your black and white exterior with pops of grey or brown. The sprawling deck in the picture above is a perfect example of this.
This homeowner has used a clever combination of black and brown too. The designer has chosen a black slate roof, garage doors, front door, and black cladding around large, feature bay windows.
Adding a point of interest are white gutters, fascia, and window frames. Keeping all this house’s finishes black would not have been as effective.
Like brown, grey can soften the hard lines black sometimes creates while still producing a similar effect. Following the common farmhouse identity, this design features both vertical and horizontal plank design, but it’s more of a very light grey than white.
Its multiple roofs (which are so gorgeous and interesting) are slated in a deep, dark grey. This ties in with its black window frames.
And bringing it all together is another common feature of modern farmhouses – a stone veneer siding. In my opinion, this is a fantastic bridging material to connect the natural greens and browns of a garden with a black and white design.
Speaking of greens, look at how these beautifully manicured lawns bring out the drama and appeal of black and white design. These houses look mint, and their clean lines are defined most attractively.
2. Modern Contemporary Homes
With modern contemporary design, we tend to see lots of straight, boxy angles and interesting construction, including the use of various materials. Let’s examine how black and white can be incorporated into non-traditional home design.
This house is simple in shape but becomes breathtaking to view because of its unique use of color and material.
Plain white exteriors look crisp and fresh, but this is further amplified by the black garage door and front door. Striking a harmony between urban and earthy, we see the addition of a horizontal plank design along with a cheeky pop of natural wood.
Modern, black-framed windows and black gutters complete the look.
While the main feature of this house is its large, wood-encased windows, the flat black sheet roof, and black brick facade tie it all together.
Other black accents, like the gutters, fencing, and paving stones, are thoughtful and precise but somehow still look effortless and modern.
In the study of aesthetics, there is a distinct rule of thirds, and this designer has nailed it, both from a color and materials perspective.
White concrete, brown wood, and dark grey-black slate bring this modern design to life. Additional black finishes (the garage, window casings, and paving stones) finish off this look, which in turn pops against a lush green lawn.
This architect has used a similar approach color-wise but opted for horizontal panels that complement a solar-paneled roof.
From the side, you can see how the black portion of this home wraps around it, producing an exquisite sense of continuity. You can also see accents of brown that break up what might be considered a harsh wall of color.
What would you call this style? I think I like “post-modern farmhouse.” Either way, we see another example of how unique and eye-catching a black feature wall can look on a home’s exterior.
The garage, in natural brown, does a great job of adding warmth to this architecture – however, it would likely look just as good in black.
We’ve seen loads of white exteriors in this article that are accented by black, but we see a really interesting tip in the scales with this home.
Here, we have black wood exteriors, and a black metal roof, but features of white windows and a fence. This might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s a smart move for a home near the water, as it will continue to look clean and fresh despite what the elements may bring.
White panel exteriors are matched by a black roof and black solar panels. All the outlines of this home are in white. Perhaps the most interesting thing about it, however, is the addition of grey metal window frames, which breaks what could be an otherwise monotonous presentation.
It feels like modern homes and white walls are synonymous, and this house is the perfect example of that. However, in this case, the bluntness of its white walls is softened with the clever gray finishing of the shutters. Personally, I love the idea of a sturdy black gate. It feels like a little tease of grandeur.
3. Traditional Homes
Hold the phone because it doesn’t get better than traditional homes wrapped in a color palette of black and white. What could be more elegant and stately?
This house’s design is breathtaking and looks like something straight out of a novel. Black slate, black awnings, and black iron features on the sweeping front door and wrought-iron balcony railings are perfect against an off-white exterior.
The stunning concrete staircase and lush landscape don’t hurt either.
As pretty as a picture, this cottage embraces black and white through the use of black clay tiles and black accent lines on the gabled roof area. While a little unusual, it also feels unique and whimsical.
Both these houses feel traditional but all-American, likely because of the combination of dormer windows, wood paneling, and shutters.
Striking a balance between the black slate gable roofs with white dormer windows makes these homes feel more friendly, and the black shutters frame their block windows perfectly.
While similar in concept, this is a bit of a different take on a traditional home. At first glance, it can be confusing to the eye, but ultimately the intelligent use of light, almost white grey looks gorgeous against all the greenery.
Framing the windows with black shutters is just enough of a color pop to create a break in the horizontal lines.
This homeowner has also chosen to go with traditional black shutters, which look great in combination with their dark grey roof tiles and the wintery trees around their garden.
What feels homier than a big old porch with a wooden railing and red brick floors? This home is almost entirely white, barring its roof and rain cover, and striking front door and shutters.
Not a house you see every day, but this beautiful design is perfectly positioned to make the most of its snowy environment. Black exterior walls are interrupted by white finishings around the windows and gutters.
A large wooden deck ties it all together, complementing rustic, ruddy roof tiling.
4. Black and White Doors and Windows
Doors and windows are to the home what facial features are to humans. They can easily make or break your design. When combining black and white, it’s good to plan in advance which of these features you want to highlight.
As mentioned, black exteriors are not all that common – however, if you really want them to stand out and look elegant, you can break the black with white window frames.
This look is clean and neat and stops your windows from disappearing into the overall facade.
Modern front doors can also work as feature focal points of the home. They are, after all, your guests’ invitation inside and, therefore, should stand out to a certain degree. You can embed black against white or vice versa.
These are some of my favorite examples of feature doors. While some black doors have windows, they’re not as apparent, which gives a greater sense of privacy. That aside, black always looks beautiful against crisp white or light grey – whether your walls are brick, wood, or concrete.
Other great ways to experiment with black detailing are by painting your shutters or incorporating black garden furniture. These can serve as baby steps if you’re still reticent about whether to go the black-and-white route. Or alternatively, these types of additions can really bolster your look.
Beauty is in the details, after all.
