49 Gray Houses (Exterior Examples and Ideas)

Choosing gray exterior paint or siding for your home creates instant curb appeal since it stands as one of the universally appealing colors. Check out our list of inspiring ideas!

Gray siding home with gray stone accents, large wrap arounf porch, white columns, nicely landscaped planter beds, sunny day

Choosing gray exterior paint or siding for your home creates instant curb appeal since it stands as one of the universally appealing colors. Gray comes in a plethora of shades and hues. Whether you adore dark gray with its near-black appearance or a light, nearly blue-grey that evokes steely water, you can paint a home exterior in that shade, and most people will find it attractive.

Table of Contents show

What is the Appeal of a Gray House?

Gray provides a bold look without using what Bob Vila refers to as “foreboding black.” You can use a dark gray in place of black and choose black as your trim color. Long considered drab, gray painted houses have made the transition from industrial use to residential favorite for a multitude of reasons, explains home designer Karen Haller. According to Haller, the color gray evokes security, a sense of belonging, and acceptance. The color says inclusion.

Depending on the shade of gray you favor, you can draw the exterior color inside your home, too, using similar wall and ceiling paints, as well as furnishings and rugs. Choose from warm grays with their yellow base or cool grays with their blue base. Your accent tones depend on the hue of gray chosen. Light gray houses work best with white or dark gray trim.

Gray provides an understated elegance that creates an almost universal appeal. The un-color works on any part of the home’s exterior – the roof, the siding, the trim, the steps, the porch. Because of its neutral standing in the color wheel, you can pair it with nearly any color and not go wrong. Since it comes in either true gray, yellow-gray, or blue-gray tones, sticking with colors in the same family, such as a light or dark blue with a blue-gray creates depth and complements one another.

One popular way to add a pop of color to a gray home is to choose a door in a bright color, such as red or yellow. This can also add to the curb appeal of the home, since you can match the door color to your front yard plantings.

Many Ideas for Gray Houses

While any single location likely has limited home ideas, a quick search the world-over turns up numerous ideas for gray house exterior options. While siding might prevail in your hometown, you don’t have to stick with what everyone else is doing. You can come up with a unique idea that lets you express your personality while developing a gorgeous living space for yourself.

As grey has popularized as an exterior home color, the creativity of its use has grown. Designers find new ways to integrate it seasonally and each new development or custom home seems to utilize the color in a new way. Europeans can draw from American design and vice versa. Both sides of the pond can offer ideas that can foster architectural growth locally and encourage a more diverse design environment. While the mid-to-late-20th century encouraged large-scale building developments, in which each home resembled the other, the 21st century can foster a new era of ecological, neutral and unique buildings.

Two-Story Modern Cottage

Blue sky, white fluffy clouds, greenish gray home with white trim, teal door, large green lawn, big green trees, sunny day

This modern cottage home combines a slate gray exterior paint with white trim for a fresh look that evokes the ocean. The bright blue entry door continues this theme.

Two-Story Blue-Gray Contemporary

Blue gray split level home with white trim and earth toned stone accents small green lawn and small green bushes in planters, blue sky

The rambling roominess of this northwestern home blends a light grey roof with blue-grey siding, and white trim for curb appeal. The brickwork extends to the front columns of the porch stoop.

Light Gray Contemporary

Blue sky, white clouds, single story home with gray stone, green grass, large gray rocks in front yard

Blend modern lines with contemporary styling using light grey siding with complementary brickwork for this exterior.

Gray and Cream Contemporary

Clear blue sky, 2 story contemporary modern home with gray siding, cream stone and tan garage doors, black frames windows, very tall green trees all around

The contrasting cream bricks and columns of this home accent and lighten the darker grey main exterior color of this two-story slate grey and cream contemporary with a staggered, two-car garage.

Gray Three-Level Craftsman-Style Home

3 Story Craftsman Style home, gray brick with white window trim and black shutters, large front porch, green grass and bushes, blue sky, sunny day

Enjoy warm weather on the spacious front porch of this grey three-story craftsman-style home. Its black shutters and white trim add interest to the façade.

Two-Tone Brick Exterior

Old home with a combonation of red and light gray brick, white trimmed windows and black shutters, black front door, red brick walkway, green front lawn with green bushes and huge green trees, tall flagpole flying American Flag

This red and gray brick Georgian colonial home provides a roomy two-stories in stately repose.

Gray Rustic Contemporary Home

Grayish brown home in the mountains with gray stone columns and gray garage doors, blue sky with white clouds, sunny day

This home mixes rustic and contemporary styles and mixes light and dark grays with gray, white, and cream brick for exterior wainscoting.

Gray Brick and Siding

Light blue sky, gray blue home with dark gray garage doors and gray stone accents, pink flower bush and green shrubs with green grass in front yard

This gray brick home artfully added a three-car garage with siding but continued the brickwork only to knee-height on the garage support walls. Its blue garage doors liven up the home’s façade.

Neighborhood Association Friendly Paint Job

Tan home with gray garage doors, gray stone walkway and small front porch, blue sky

This cream, gray, and white paint combination provides interest while blending with any neighborhood association rules.

Sophisticated Contemporary Design

Blue sky, gray with black trim contemporary 2 story home with lots of windows, light turned on in home, beautifully landscaped front yard with green grass, green trees and shrubs and pretty flowers

You’ll find nothing boring in this contemporary design mixing gray as the main exterior color with black accents. Its many large windows allow streams of light that frame views of its manicured lawns and show how gray houses with black trim evoke sophistication.

Gray New England-Style Home

2 story gray home with white trim and black framed windows, white columns supporting front porch and stair leading up to front door from the street, blue sky

Enjoy nights on the spacious front porch of this New England-style two-level home. It works perfectly in the city, in town, or as a beach house.

Classic Gray Tones for Townhouses

Street of townhouses in gray, red, blue and cream, red brick accents stairs leading to front porch with white wooden stair railing, blue sky, small green lawn in front of each home with a small tree

A dark gray home and a light gray home banks the ends of these townhouses, proving that you don’t need a bright or garish color to stand out from the crowd.

New England Meets Mid-Century Modern

Brownish gray home with white trim and columns, concrete steps and porch, green grass and small green bushes, dark blue sky, sunny day

Not every New England-style home provides Gothic styling, too. You can find them with a mid-century modern influence, like this efficient design with a small sitting porch.

Gray Snout Ranch Home

Blue sky, gray concrete single story home, green lawn, tall green trees behind home, sunny day

This gray snout ranch home uses white bricks as an accent to create interest in an otherwise unassuming home.

Gray Suburban High Ranch

Bright blue sky with white fluffy clouds, light gray home with white window trim and two white garage doors, red front door, green front lawn and bushes, sunny day

You could easily open a bed and breakfast in this gray suburban high ranch with a two-car garage. Its light gray siding evokes an East Coast beach house feel.

Gray Masonry Two-Level Home

Building with gray stone and lots of black trummed windows, ornate congrete design

Regular maintenance proves key to keeping this historic gray building in top condition. Its masonry work requires regular touch-ups.

Tiny Gray Houses Make Ideal Guest Houses

Cloudy sky, tiny gray ome with white door, white trim and white railing along front steps, small green bushes

Build this modest gray tiny house as a mother-in-law apartment or as a vacation getaway where land sells for a premium. Tiny houses include all the needed rooms, such as kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, without extra rooms.

Lightest Gray Bauhaus-Style Homes

Blue gray sky, small gray bungalows with glass front out on water

The Bauhaus-style tiny house provides never-ending vistas through its all-glass front. You can pull shut the blinds for privacy, but on the water, who’s looking? The light grey paintwork on these breathtaking homes compliments the water on which they’re built.

Gray Wheeled Tiny House

Tiny house on whels, dark gray with white trim and white front door, parked on a small area of concrete surrounded by green grass and tons of large green trees, sunny day

Put your tiny house on wheels for traveling anywhere you want to go. Unlike an RV, builders craft these homes from the same materials as a regular house. The only difference is it has wheels instead of a foundation. Its gray front and back with white sides and door add interest to the latest trend in affordable, ecological housing.

Gray Tiny Cottage

Beautiful mountain landscape with miles and mile of mountain trees behind a small gray and white rustic playhouse, golden weeds and green grass with yellow flowers

Vacation homes don’t have to be huge to enjoy, as this gray and white cottage with geometric windows proves. Its tiny porch uses gray picket fencing as its railing.

Gun-Metal Gray Contemporary European Home

Gray building with glass doors, fenced in by a wrought iron fence, large green trrs all around, green grass, sunny day

Contemporary design and gun-metal gray paint give this roomy home a unique appearance. A matching wrought iron fence surrounds this home in Verneuil Sur Seine, France.

Gray/Blue Painted Siding on a Cottage

Blue sky, large green trees, green front lawn and bushes, small light gray with white trim home, sunny day

The siding on this small cottage appears grey at some points of the day, lightest blue at others, a trick of the light. Its multi-pane windows provide light and interest to an otherwise monochromatic façade.

Blue-Gray Rambling Mid-Century Modern Home

Little gray with white trim in the country, good size front porch and red brick steps leading up to porch, home is surrounded by large green trees, green front lawn, sunny day

This rambling cottage in dark blue-gray provides a roomy front porch for summer entertaining. White trim and columns liven up the otherwise dark home colors.

Essential Gray Cottage

Small gray brown home with a steep pithced black roof, black front door with white screen door and a window on either side of the door, green front lawn, green trees and blue sky, sunny day

When there’s little room to build but you need family space, a one and a half-level cottage performs perfectly. Sided in light gray, it offers subdued tones with a darker gray roof and a matching chimney.

Gray Traditional Cape Cod Home

Gray Cape Cod home with a black roof, red front door and black window shutters, red brick steps in front of door and red brick chimney, blue sky and green front lawn, American flag hanging to the left of front door

Light gray paint contrasts with a dark gray and black roof and matching black shutters on this traditional Cape Cod-style home.

Inspiring Two-Tone, Two-Level Russian Home

Cloudy white sky, old historic home with red brick on lower half and greenish gray wood siding on the upper half, white trimmed windows, green trees and yellow flowers in front

Take inspiration from the contrasting colors of this 19th century Borovichi home. Its brick-red bottom floor and weathered gray second-floor create a quaint, yet unique exterior appearance.

Two-Level Gray Home with Balcony

Small gray concrete home with painted red stone accents, matching style tan and black home right next door, unkept lawn, sunny day

Gray and brick red also combine effortlessly in this two-level stunner with ample windows.

Slate Gray Mid-Century Modern Home

Light blue sky, typical 2 story home with a small front lawn and green bushes

This all-gray American mid-century modern home combines a medium grey main paint color with a light gray for trim and porch columns. The slightly darker garage door creates a focal point of interest.

Modern Art Meets Contemporary Home

Modern buiding painted cream and dark gray with red accents, blue sky, sunny day

There’s nothing square about this three-color exterior paint job featuring equal parts grey and cream with vivid red accents. Gray railing encloses the second-floor balcony.

Gray House with Black Trim

Light blue sky, light gray stone with black trim 2 story custom home with black front door and black trimmed windows, green front lawn with tiny green plants, sunny day

You can easily design gray houses with black trim without losing curb appeal. Black and gray don’t overpower when you choose a light gray, such as the brick on this contemporary executive home.

Gray Stone Home with Large Gables

Blue sky with white clouds, cream with gray stone house with black window trim and a black front door, steep roof pitches, small green front lawn, sunny day

Black trim, windows, and doors enliven this light gray stone home with matching gray columns and yard steps. The black adds a contemporary feel to this stately home.

Brick and Gray Home with Decorative Trim Motif

Blue sky, two story home made out of gray brick and gray stucco with white wooden trim, concrete steps leading to front door, green grass and a short black light post in front lawn

The added second-level of this once all-brick home draws on the gray cement holding together its red bricks for the second-floor color. Its matching gray paint job with copious white decorative trim helps the addition blend with the original home.

Gray and Light Blue Combine on the Victorian Row Home

Row of Victorian homes in the city, blue sky, green bushes, sunny day

Blue and gray combine on the center row house on this San Francisco street. Decorative trim and a front spire complement this three-level home with a roomy front porch.

Row Homes with Various Shades of Gray

Row of townhomes in the city right off the street, one cream, one purple, one pink and one gray, all with white trimmed windows and short wrought iron black fences

This quadplex of row homes proves you can paint a home solid gray and avoid a boring appearance. One neighbor went a little bright, but the other three homes each use a different shade of gray with white trim allowing each to express their personality while fitting into the neighborhood.

A Gray Chalet

Small light gray wooden storage shed on a concrete slab in yard full of tall green trees, green bushes and plants, small wooden table and chair set with four chairs, sunny day

You don’t have to live in the French countryside to want gray chalet vibes. Painting your chalet a solid color of light gray evokes the European countryside feel, especially when you add a matching terrace.

Gray Stones for an Italian Chalet Look

Close up of a gray stone chalet with an old wooden front door, sun reflecting off building

Choose a roughhewn gray stone exterior wall to re-create the appearance of an Italian chalet in any country. Contrast it with a dark wood door for optimum effect.

Gray Stone French Chalet

Close up of a gray stone building and an old wooden shutter window

This Kerignon, France home uses large gray stones and traditional masonry techniques to create a sturdy and hospitable home. Pair painted gray window shutters with the stonework to create a subtle contrast.

White and Gray Contemporary

Sun setting sky, small modern white and dark gray home with black front and garage doors, green grass and trees

Modern gray houses typically contrast two main paint colors to create interest. The colors may differentiate the areas of the home, such as this home with its gray garage and entryway, juxtaposed with a white living space.

Gray and Blue Bungalows in a Row

Blue sky with white clouds, community full of matching small white and light gray bungalows, green trees and small row of green bushes next to each home

Gray sides with a blue front and white trim create an orderly and subdued effect in this small neighborhood with well-kept yards.

Gray and White Contemporary Villa

Light overcast sky, gray white and black contemorary villa, upper level deck with metal railing

Its gray and white color scheme with black accents helps this contemporary villa exude luxury. Its roof porch also includes a gray metal railing that matches the gray paint.

Rustic Gray Cabin

Rustic log cabn in the woods, stone chimmney, green hill, green forest

Dark gray ash wood or rough-hewn logs in their natural gray bark provide an ideal material and color for a rustic cabin. This design uses white trim on the windows and a dark gray stone for the chimney.

Contemporary Gray Beach House

With few windows and a fortress-like construction, this contemporary home with a sharply pitched roof provides views of the beach from glass windows and a view of the road from one vertical, highly placed window.

Scalloped Trim Accents on a Gray Chalet

Small, old gray and white chalet in the woods, green trees and grass, old wooden table and black chairs on front porch, sunny day

A countryside chalet provides a quiet retreat with a small terrace in front. The gray roof and siding match, while the porch posts, window trim, and scalloped porch trim in white provide a contrast.

Gray Stone and Stucco Seaside Home

Old beachhouse made of stucco and stone overlooking ocean and far off mountains, sunsetting sky

Beach houses can avoid boring exteriors with a mixture of materials that add texture complimentary to the sea. This home uses gray, brown, and cream brick on its first floor, while its second level uses gray stucco with dark brown trim that matches the brown brick. The chimney uses the same bricks as the first floor.

Bright Blue Door with Medium Gray Siding

Close up of a gray wood siding home, navy blue front door framed in with windows and white trim, gray stone porch with yellow door mat, potted plants and yellow door wreath

This home uses a medium gray siding all over for its exterior, lightening its effect with white trim. The homeowner added pops of color by installing a bright blue door with a

sunny, yellow wreath. Potted plants surround the top porch step in colors to match the door and its wreath.

Shades of Gray on a Stucco Contemporary

Close up of a gray stucco home with a tan front door with a modern long pull handle, a large gray stone pot with green tree on either side of the door and a silver metal light fixture above each plant

Gray on gray won’t seem boring when you mix textures. The smooth steel of this front door blends ideally with the rough stucco of the exterior walls. The two shades of gray complement one another in their contrast.

Pale Gray Americana

Blue sky with a few white clouds, two story gray and white home with cream stone accents, lots of windows, and 2 white rocking chairs on the front porch, American Flag flying from front post, green lawn and nicely landscaped bushes

Contrasting a darker gray roof with a pale gray exterior paint color evokes a traditional feeling from this modern farmhouse with an attached two-car garage. White trim and porch posts round out its endearing charm.