Best Paint Colors for a White House With Black Trim

Are you dreaming about a white house with black trim, but need some help choosing the right paint colors? As part of my exterior paint color consultations, I do a LOT of white houses with black trim, and I have several go-to paint colors I recommend for achieving this classic look. In this post, I’ll share my favorite white paint colors and black trim ideas for getting that fabulous modern farmhouse exterior look.

Before we dive into the paint colors, let’s talk about the key features of a modern farmhouse exterior. 

• White home exterior (white siding, painted brick, or stucco) 
• Black or dark gray trim
• Wood accents and/or black accents (wooden front doors, black front door, black shutters, etc.)
• Black windows (white windows can work, too!)

White House Paint Colors

When it comes to choosing a white for your home’s exterior, there are a few important things to keep in mind. First, you don’t want to choose a white that is too bright, or you risk your house looking too stark or just too difficult to look at. So, you need to be aware of the paint color’s LRV (Light Reflectance Value).

LRV is a measure of how light or dark a paint color is on a scale of 0 (darkest)  to 100 (lightest), and it’s important for white exteriors. You can find the LRV of a paint color on the manufacturer’s website. 

A good rule of thumb for exterior white paint colors is that an exterior LRV should be no higher than 85. If you get higher than 85, the white tends to be too bright, and you might need sunglasses to look at your house. However, for a modern farmhouse style white house exterior, you want a white that is on the brighter side, so aim for a white that has an LRV between 80-85. 

Secondly, for a modern farmhouse look, you want a white that looks fairly neutral. You don’t want your white to look overly creamy, and you also don’t want your house to look overly stark (like primer). My recommendation is to go with a white that has a touch of warmth to it, with greige undertones. Here are the whites I recommend most often for a white house with black trim.

• Benjamin Moore White Dove
• Sherwin-Williams Alabaster
• Sherwin-Williams Pure White
• Benjamin Moore Seapearl

For traditional homes, you can go with a creamier or darker off-white, but for a more modern look, it’s best to go with one of the whites above. 

Benjamin Moore White Dove

Hands down this is my favorite white for that modern farmhouse look! BM White Dove has an LRV of 85, which puts it on the brighter side for a white. It is a warm white, with beautiful greige undertones that keep it looking quite neutral.

White Dove will look crisp and bright on an exterior that gets a lot of natural light, and it tends to perform really well in a wide range of lighting conditions that often affect how paint colors look on your exterior (things like shade/sun and warm/cool directional light).

Source: J. Taylor Designs

Sherwin Williams Alabaster

Sherwin Williams Alabaster has an LRV of 82, so it’s slightly darker than White Dove. It’s also a little bit creamier than White Dove, which can be great for north-facing houses that need a touch more warmth to counteract the cooler lighting.

While this is the creamiest of the whites I recommend for a modern farmhouse style exterior, it’s definitely not overly creamy or yellow due to its brightness and more subtle undertones. You can read more about SW Alabaster in this post.

Source: Meredith Teasley

Sherwin Williams Pure White

With an LRV of 84, SW Pure White is brighter than Alabaster, and only a hint darker than White Dove. Pure White is considered a warm white, but it has stronger gray-greige undertones than both White Dove and Alabaster, making it a great choice if you are West-facing with a lot of warm light. Pure White looks like the perfect neutral backdrop on most houses, but could be a wee bit too gray and stark looking if your house faces north or east.

Source: The House of Hood Blog

Benjamin Moore Seapearl (aka China White)

OK, you know how I said the ideal LRV for a modern farmhouse exterior was between 80 and 85? Well, BM Seapearl (also known as China White) is slightly under that at 78. However, Seapearl is a fabulous white for exteriors!

Seapearl has greige undertones that lean ever so slightly more gray than beige, making it a great option for west-facing homes. Also, if your house gets a ton of bright sun throughout the day, and White Dove, Alabaster, and Pure White look too bright, Seapearl should be next on your list to try.

Source: Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles Magazine

What about BM Chantilly Lace or BM Simply White?

Chantilly Lace and Simply White are two very popular white paint colors, so it’s natural to think of them for a white exterior. However, with their high LRV values, they are much better suited to interiors. Chantilly Lace is very neutral, crisp, and bright, but has an LRV of 92. Simply White has tad more yellow to it, and an LRV of just under 92.

I’ve seen these colors used on exteriors, and they are super bright….like “too difficult to look at” bright. The only way I would recommend either of these two paint colors as an exterior house color, is if your house is very shaded, and doesn’t get a much sunlight. 

Black Trim Colors

Even though paint colors tend to look brighter outside, I really don’t recommend using the darkest black shade you can find for your exterior trim. The reason being that it tends to look too dark and severe as a house trim color, especially when paired with whites. In other words, it creates too much of a stark contrast.

Instead, you want to look at off-blacks, which are colors that are almost black, but not quite. Off-blacks tend to be a little softer, and can have richer undertones that give a more sophisticated overall look. I recommend having an LRV for your “black” trim color that is greater than 5. Here are my favorite off-blacks to use as a trim color with a white house.

• SW Iron Ore
• SW Urbane Bronze
• SW Black Fox
• BM Wrought Iron

Sherwin Williams Iron Ore

Sherwin-Williams Iron Ore is my favorite off-black trim color to use with a white house. It is very neutral, leaning maybe just a hair toward the warm side, and pretty dark with an LRV of 6. It has just enough softness to cut down on the contrast with a white body, while still giving you the black trim look. 

Source: M House Development (FYI…the siding color is James Hardie in Arctic White)

Sherwin Williams Urbane Bronze

SW Urbane Bronze is lighter and warmer than Iron Ore, with an LRV of 8. It has a bit of brown in it, which leads to its bronze appearance, but it’s not overly warm. There’s something magical that happens when you pair this trim color with SW Alabaster, and it’s become a popular exterior combination.

Here’s a rendering I did for one of my exterior consultations, with SW Alabaster on the body, SW Dorian Gray on the shutters, and SW Urbane Bronze on the trim and doors.

Sherwin Williams Black Fox

SW Black Fox is a little darker than Urbane Bronze, with an LRV of 7, and has more brown to it. It’s a rich, dark shade with enough gray in it to keep it from looking overly brown. It’s a beautiful color that works well with any of the whites on my list. In this next picture, you can see Black Fox on the trim and garage door, and how nicely it ties it with the warm wood tones.

Benjamin Moore Wrought Iron

If you want your trim color to appear a little cooler and grayer, you should definitely give BM Wrought Iron a try. It has the same posted LRV as Iron Ore, but it doesn’t seem to look quite as rich and dark as Iron Ore on exteriors. Wrought Iron can be the right choice when other off-black trim colors look too warm, or if your home gets a lot of warm western sunlight. However, it might look too cool on a heavily shaded or north-facing home.

Source: Sherwin Williams ColorSnap Visualizer tool

What about SW Tricorn Black?

Tricorn Black is a well-known popular black paint color. It is a deep, dark, pure black, and has an LRV of just 3. I love Tricorn Black for exterior shutters and front doors, but I don’t recommend it for trim with a white house. It’s usually just too dark!

The contrast of a bright white house with a super dark black trim is a little too jarring. You’re going to be much better off softening that contrast with an off-black. If you really want something that is a true black, but maybe not quite as dark as Tricorn Black, give BM Onyx a try. 

Summary & Sampling

These days, you don’t have to look far to see beautiful examples of a modern farmhouse exterior. The combination of a white house with black trim has exploded in popularity over the last few years. Even though it’s become a huge trend, white and black is a classic color pairing that will never go out of style. And with these paint color tips, you’re sure to have a home that looks fresh, yet sophisticated. Just be sure to always sample your paint colors before committing to one!

For exteriors, be sure to view your samples in the morning and late afternoon sun, and also in shade and full sunlight. The color that looks best in all lighting conditions is the right one for your home!

My favorite source for paint samples is Samplize!  Their peel-and-stick sample sheets are inexpensive, and super easy to use. For exteriors, I recommend sticking the sample sheets onto poster board or foam board, rather than directly on your exterior. Or, you can just leave them on their backing paper.

The reason for this is that they don’t always stick well to exterior surfaces, and the heat from direct sunlight can cause the adhesive to transfer onto your exterior surfaces. However, the generous size of Samplize sheets still make these a great option for viewing and testing color options for your exterior. 

Need some help with your exterior design?

Want some help choosing paint colors for the exterior of your home, and wish you could visualize how things will look before committing? Do you need help convincing your significant other to paint your red brick exterior, or you want to explore different shades and accent colors to boost your home’s curb appeal? If so, my exterior paint consultation service is exactly what you need! It’s the perfect opportunity to explore new colors and looks on your own home to make sure you love the look before you start painting. Learn more HERE.

Want more paint color recommendations?

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