Discover tons of black door white trim color combinations and learn a few tips for aspiring home-sellers in need of a DIY house facelift.
It’s no lie that turning your front door into a bold statement piece for your home not only adds sophistication to the home’s exterior but raises interest in the eyes of potential buyers. What gets bolder than the contrast of black and white? Nothing! Black and white are polar opposites, but still complement each other as well as any other color you might pair them with.
They’re basically the superpowers of the color wheel!
If you’re looking to make that statement or raise that interest in your home, this is the color combination for you. Sleek and elegant, yes, but they can be made to fit any theme or style. Don’t believe me? See it for yourself!
Exterior Color Pairings for Black Doors with White Trim
First, we begin with pairing the black doors and white surrounding trim design with bold colors. It’s always best to get what you feel is the most difficult out of the way first, right? Well, you’re about to find out how easy and seamless this actually is.
Take a look at this first example! Yellows can be pretty difficult to match with other colors, and are often accented with white. But, what about going a step further and having a bold stroke of black for the door? The darkness gives balance to what some might consider to be a design that is too bright or too cheery for their tastes. Don’t you agree?
What’s next? This pinkish red is not a common color for houses but it can be found, standing out from the normal shades chosen for exterior paint. To take the bright statement one step further, the homeowner has painted their door black and encased it in a crisp white trimming.
While this choice certainly isn’t for everyone, the point is to show that you can be comfortable incorporating this door and trim design no matter what color your house has been painted! Black doors with white contrast of trim really is a design with endless possibilities and no limits.
In another daring display of color, this teal-green colonial style home has truly taken the white accent/trim to heart. This exterior wainscoting has been done in the same white as the door trim and allows the darker shades of the teal paint to lighten up. The agreeable gray shingles and the glossed black door brings a balance of dark and light to the whole of the building.
To be honest, I’m not much for painting homes in bright colors but this design is pretty good! What do you think? Is this something you would explore for your own home? But don’t stop now, there are so many other choices to choose from!
Why not try this bold blue on for size? It’s definitely brighter, and more solid without the white wainscoting design breaking the color up. However, the real star of the show are the black, wrought iron double doors! These are builder grade doors, without a doubt, and add a multitude of character to what otherwise would feel like every other building on that block.
They aren’t only for looks, though. Doors identical to these were used back in the 19th century as doors for jailhouses and prisons. The design would allow them to speak to whoever was on the other side, and the build would ensure that no one could break in or out without great effort. These black doors with their trim being stark white are definitely something to be considered!
The pale green on this building is something with a little less demand but it really gives the door the chance it deserves to shine, and truly become the focal point of the exterior design. This building from Charleston, South Carolina clearly has some years and history behind it, visible in the worn trim and door, but it only serves to prove that this is a color combination that lasts through the ages.
Exterior Brick Pairings for Black Doors with White Trim
Another colonial style house has taken part in this design, with their arched double doors black and the encasing trim white. Arched doors already make a statement, so painting the doors black only furthers the way that this design can stand out. Naturally, brick is a favorite choice for accent designs or for the entire house. Brick homes are highly sought after even today, so if you’re planning to sell make sure you have the home or building that catches their eye with something that pops enough to draw them in.
Now, this is a house that will catch your eye! The black door has a high gloss finish that reflects almost as if it were a mirror. The trim, door casing and fascia are actually done in a white-cream stone and have been intricately carved in a historic fashion. That little detail is plenty to cause interest in this home, so when you add the contrast of the dark bricks, the door, and of course the adorable tabby (his name is Larry, by the way) on the stairs I think we can agree that this is an irresistible London home.
Taking a step back to a more traditional brick, this duplex has spruced up their curb appeal with new slate black, metal doors and a fresh coat of white paint for the trim and additional accent colors along the front porch. You can also see that the trim and doors have been paired with the early 1900’s glass block window creation.
I can’t say that I’m a fan of this particular type of window, however I can say that the neutrals of the white and black door scheme work effortlessly with the brick and the additional design of glass block windows sitting right on the edges of the doorframe.
Should we up the ante and get a little more grandiose? This is another London home, dated back to the 18th century during the English Georgian period. Although it may look like a double door, this black door is actually one massive slab of wood with a doorknob at the very center and the doorknocker hanging above it. Not only is the trim white, but the door casing is also white, with large, textured stones sticking out to expand the arch and make the doorway that much bigger.
Those stones are a great way to make black door white (or slightly off white, such as a cream) trim designs stand out on a brick house because it adds more depth and character. I know I wouldn’t mind walking through a door like this one for the rest of my life.
This door has quite a different stone encasing. Including stone with your brick home can be tricky but, when done right, it can be a very beautiful outcome like what you see here and the previous doorway. Even with raw texture and color, it still provides an excellent frame for the black doors and the white trimming around the doors and windows. An amazing combination of sleek against the weathered bricks and stone!
Exterior Stone Pairings for Black Doors with White Trim
There are so many different ways to include stone into the exterior design of your home, and all of them are absolutely stunning with this scheme of doors painted black and trim painted white. As you can see in this photo, there are white and gray tones among the tans and browns of this stone band around the base of the house that really blend with the door and trim.
As you may have gathered from other home exterior designs, white is the most popular color when it comes to trim and accents. Almost every house you drive by will act as proof of this. When it comes to the color of the door, it begins to really vary. White doors are popular, too, but so are brown, red, and, as you see here, black.
What is it about painting trim white but having the doors black, or another color that brings around a pop of color? Contrast, of course! This is something you’ve been reading constantly through this article, but that is because it is 100% true. Contrasts like these catch people’s attention and earn your home a second glance.
The same can be said for this home. While the trim around the black door is the same color as the stone of the building, it only makes sense that the door stands out even more.
There are different ways to incorporate stone into this color combination. A lot of times, messing around with too many different colors can become overwhelming and ultimately end up looking like a mess. It’s hard to get that nice balance. If you feel that your color scheme appears too simple or too plain when working with the white and black trim-door combination, picking another stone exterior counterpart can save you a lot of hassle.
Stone inclusions can not only add natural colors to your home’s exterior, but they also bring with them various design elements that aren’t likely to overwhelm – just like the black and white color combination.
Exterior Siding Pairings for Black Doors with White Trim
Siding is the most common type of exterior wall you will see on homes. It is a cheaper alternative than things like brick, but has a sleeker look in comparison to stucco. Siding also prevents water damage, so keep that in mind!
Since siding is the most common, it’s only natural that we take a look at design concepts, right? Take a look at this front porch; the door is black and the trim surrounding it and the windows is a crisp white. Although the siding color appears to be more of a grayish-white, it still gets along well with the door and trim designs.
This is another example where the trim not only surrounds the door, but the sidelights (the windows) as well. Rather than being a slight shade off, the white color used for the trim is consistent with the white siding. In fact, the coloring is so exact that you might miss where the trim stops and the siding begins in some areas.
So as not to make the white overwhelming, you can see that black shutters, the same shade as the door, have been added to the windows, which separates and breaks up the strong white paint that takes up a majority of the house.
To look at something with a little more contrast, the thin siding is more of a gray. Neutral colors are always a safe route to go when looking to pair them or complement a design or scheme you have in mind. Notice that the door being black and the trim being white is an effortless combination with the siding.
Interior Black Doors with White Trim
When using dark colors for your interior doors, furniture, walls, or other items, including natural light is key to ensuring that the darker shades don’t overwhelm the room and still allow it to be bright and welcoming. It’s well known to designers that darker colors will shrink a room. A way to get around this is to incorporate it in small increments, make it an accent, furnish the room sparingly, or have a lot of natural light.
The door in this bathroom is not only black but the tile surrounding the sink and the decorative slats on the opposite wall are also black. However, the lighting and other included colors are light and bright, which is what provides balance to a black interior door.
In this picture, you can see that light isn’t a problem. Of course, painting interior doors black is only a small inclusion of the dark color in the overall color palette when used in this room, but even something like that can become overwhelming with poor lighting and additional dark colors. But, alas, this is the perfect example of how to balance dark and light colors – no mistakes to see! The white, door-casing trim that extends to the rest of the interior doorways and additional trim, the light colored walls, and the medium tone used for the flooring keeps the space bright and… well… spacious.
Interior design and interior style is something with incredible value to people and, in particular, those wishing to present their house in a way that gets them the best offer. However, doors are often considered to be dead space and you will see in most houses that they have been painted the same color as the trim around them. It may not have seemed possible before, but transforming the dead space of interior doors into something that makes a statement is 110% something that can and should be done with interior design.
Looking at this design from a commercial building perspective, it is completely achievable! Although I wouldn’t bother with white walls in foundries or similar buildings, the crisp white is often preferred in commercial buildings. Examples would be in office building hallways, hospitals, research laboratories, and so on. If you’re looking for a bold statement, a set of doors that say “Yes, right here!”, the perfect contrast to white would be… you guessed it: Black!
Black interior doors can be a difficult design to pull off, but the end result is worth it. Just because dark doors aren’t so common when it comes to interior doors doesn’t mean that they aren’t absolutely gorgeous when you finally get the black paint out. Wouldn’t you agree?
Tips & Advice
Black and white pairings are constantly seen as an elegant combination and, though this is true, that doesn’t mean you can paint just anything black and white and call it a masterpiece. Any time you pursue a design, you should do so with intent and detail. These two things are what will make your work stand out among others.
In this picture, you can feel the elegance of the front door. Why? Is the only reason because it is black and white? Of course not!
Take a look here, now. Be honest, would you rather have this set of doors at the front of your house or the one you looked at before? They are both black and white doors with trim, as you have seen throughout this entire article, so what is the difference?
Well, for one, the first example has a much more inviting porch. Little touches, such as the mat and potted plants, may seem trivial to some people but, in the end, they are what make all the difference. This is especially true for houses listed on the market. Buyers enjoy seeing a house that feels like a home – adding personal touches are the way to achieve that.
Even though the French doors have the same color scheme, they still feel rather plain. This might be attributed to the lack of décor, but, if you take a second look, you will see that the first door is glossy and reflective while the second has been done in a matte black. You can definitely consider this to be dependent upon the personal preferences of individuals but, statistically, a painting your door black with a gloss over the top will attract more attention – just like decorations.
There are different types of paint to choose from for this project, and whatever you decide on will somewhat depend on personal preference. For example, some people don’t like glossy paint colors and will stick with matte. There are also the options of semi-gloss finish, oil based paint, water based paint, a satin paint finish, and so on.
When deciding which white and black paint colors and finishes, keep certain things in mind. Gloss and semi gloss paint is much easier to clean, so little fingers or marker mishaps won’t be a big problem. Matte paint looks wonderful, but it requires touch-ups if it isn’t finished or sealed.
You can find paints and finishes like these at Walmart.com, Mendards.com, or any of your local hardware stores – provided they have the desired items in stock. Plus, picking up some color swatches at these stores to compare your choices can help you figure out if the shades you chose are really what you want. Maybe you don’t like the black you originally picked and prefer a dark gray instead!
It’s always important to plan projects like this in detail, especially if you are pondering a bold color. You don’t want to waste your time or money on painting black doors that you end up hating, right?