Ok, we bought our house a year and a half ago and we’ve known that it has needed to be painted since day one. It’s just a huge undertaking with a lot of scraping and sanding ahead of us. But, I think we are ready to start thinking about it. Here’s the deal – our house is a 1918 Craftsman. Craftsman are typically painted earthly tones and colors. My gut would be to go a shade of green or grey, but our neighbors on either side are green and grey. I feel like it might just end up looking blahhhh. I want it to stand out. Sooooo, I’m considering something a little controversial for a craftsman house, I’m thinking about painting our house all white! All White Houses are popping up all over in modern builds, and I LOVE the look. I’m hoping this will work with an old home as well. My mission has always been to show folks that you can live in an old house, preserve it’s character, and still have it feel fresh, young and current.
Here’s our house:
Here’s my main concern with painting the house all white – I’m worried that we will lose all the beautiful detail in trim and the different roof lines. It’s not a box of a house, it has a lot of unique shapes and angles.
My true heart’s desire is to paint a house, any house, all black (I’ve shared this desire with you before). But, the husband will not approve that. He wants our house to be as energy efficient as possible. And I have to agree that a black house in the desert is probably not a good idea. So, the plan is now to swing the opposite directions and maybe paint our house all white and add so black details. I’m sure what details will be black yet, but the thought has me pretty excited. I’m really not a beige house kind of gal. Yet, both of our houses have been beige. I didn’t pick the colors, we’ve just never painted an entire house, we’ve only lived with someone else’s choice. Oh, and as much as I LOVE the color green, I think the fence needs to be either black or white as well. A change sounds good right now!
Someone in the neighborhood also told us that she remembers for the house being all white in the 60s or 70s, so maybe we would be taking it back to it’s roots.
I might be getting ahead of myself. But, I’ve been looking at white and black paint samples and I’ve come up with some great combos. Sherwin-Williams is my go-to paint store, we have had such good results with their products. If you haven’t shopped for a paint color in a while, there are A LOT of blacks and whites out there. I’ve narrowed done my selections, so the next step is to paint them on the house and take a look at the colors in sun, shade and all the times of day in between.
Ok, to backup my all white plan, I did a little searching for some good examples of craftsman and craftsman-like houses painted all white. I’ll tell you, they are not easy to come by. I don’t know if that is a good thing or a bad thing.
Now, go take a peek at what I’ve found and let me know what you think. Do you think this could work for our house? Can a craftsman be white? One thing I know for sure, these examples I’m sharing with you today are total show stoppers. You can’t deny that a white house feel crisp, clean and has a modern edge.
I’d love to know what you think. It’s going to be a BIG job and one that we won’t want to tackle again in the near future. So, we want to make the RIGHT choice.
Oooh, numbers two, five, and eight. I do love the first one but it’s the modern addition that makes it work. Please don’t do all white. I love your house, but you will lose so much of what makes it distinctive. I can see it in cyberspace and shell white. It would be stunning!
Ya, it’s a risk. Modern builds work with the all white. But, I like to do something different and I’m kind of a rule breaker. I’m sure there will be some black accents here and there.
I’m sold on the white craftsman !! I especially love the example with the kids in front of it ! The black trim is the cherry on the Sundae. And I have to say… I absolutely love everything you do ! The house is going to be amazing!!
Yay for team WHITE!!! I think it could be really fresh and crisp. Thanks for taking to the time to leave a comment and chime in.
I love an all-white house, and I can’t wait to see the results if you do it!! You have impeccable taste, so just trust your gut.
Oh my gosh, you are too nice. I’m really feeling the all white. I think it will happen.
I’m definitely on the go all white team! And I would really challenge the concept that you’ll lose the detailing, sometimes a monochromatic scheme actually causes you to notice the variances in more profound ways. I LOVE the black trim though! And I must say, although I can totally see why the overall look needs a white or black fence, I would miss that green dearly!
Thanks for weighing in. Ya, I’m a fan of green as well. But, I think a black or white fence would look really crisp and clean.
Our house is a white craftsman (w/ black trim and a red porch). The time to paint is upon us as well, and I think we’re going to stick with white for the time being.
Painting an exterior is soooooo much work. I’ve got to pump myself up for this.
hi there! we are about to embark on painting our 1913 craftsman in LA all white with black trim and would love to know how yours turned out and what colors you decided on! And if you could share a picture
Any insight would be great as I am sure you know the number of white options is daunting
thanks in advance for you time
Oh gosh, I wish I could share pics with you. But, we are far from being done. Life got crazy busy and we just haven’t gotten it done. Boo.
So glad I found your blog post – I too am painting a craftsman white with black accents. Examples are few and far between. I’m loving Benjamin Moore black magic and Swiss coffee – they’re both warm colors. Black frontdoor (which we already have) and black garage with very selective trim in black. I’m very hesitant to use black on our porch, since I think it may make our porch look like a cave. Suggestions are appreciated. Looking forward to seeing how your house turns our!
It’s kind of fun to take a risk with color (or lack of). We have the garage painted black now and I LOVE it!!!! I think we might do the main house all white for a stark contrast. I love high contrast! But, if we hate the all white, it’s easy to add a color in a couple of years. Black trim kind of looks cheap to me, so I’m not sure if I will add any to the main house. So, all that to say, we are still trying to figure it out. But, you just gotta dive in a try something. It’s just paint, right?
Hi Jeran,
It was nice reading your posts. I was tossing the white and black back and forth. Your color palette will really help me decide on the black and white colors. Did you post your finished home? I would love to see the results.
Mary
Jeran, since I’m reading ust now I’m curious to know what you think of it. I designed a flip for my husband of a 1920s craftsman and did white with black accents and it was a stunner. I’m designing another one in Seattle from the same era and contemplating all white as well since black windows are out of the budget.
Well, to be totally honest. It hasn’t been painted yet. It’s still in the sanding and scraping stage. YIKES! But, it’s just an evenings and weekends time line because we are diying. I’d love to see the houses you’ve done all white!!!! I still think it’s the way I’m going to go. Once we get the primer on, I have a feeling it will give me a better idea of how it will end up looking.
Jeran,
I’m not able to upload any pictures here. How would you like me to get them to you? We’re about to the painting stage with the house in Seattle I talked about. We managed black for the exterior of the windows and a black roof. I’m going forward with the white on white and I’m excited about it! I think it works better than black on the fascia and other trim work.
You can totally email them to me at oleanderandpalm@gmail.com or send them in a dm on instagram, I’m @oleanderandpalm over there. 🙂
So how did it turn out? We’re painting our 1922 home all white as I type this! We went with Benjamin Moore, White Dove. Door will be black! We’re gotten a lot of comments that the window trim needs contrast but I disagree lol. I think the black door is enough contrast to keep it simple and beautiful.
haha, you are way ahead of us, we are still scraping and sanding sadly. It’s a slow game. But, I think we are going to do all white still. I’d love to see pictures of yours.
Arrrgh… that’s what I’m searching for atm. I have a federation house in Australia with classic red terracotta roof tiles. We lived in Singapore for a while and they have colonial houses called ‘black and whites’. So initially thinking all white, I’ve moved to white with black trim. However my first choices were not right so I’m having to find a warmer white and blacker black.
Sydney is mid tropical so lots of time spent outdoors and think tropical style plants will make the white and black pop. ?
A little like California, we live a lot of our life outside as well. It’s funny, I just looked back at this post and I wrote it 3 years ago. We are actually finally painting RIGHT NOW!!! And I think we are going to stick with all white! We have painted the fence black and the garage is black, so I feel like there is a lot of contrast now. Good luck, and I’d love to see your house when it’s finished.
Hello! I’m so happy I found this post. We have a 1902 craftsman in Arizona, pretty rare for AZ, and I’ve been struggling on the exterior paint color. Historic palette v. warm white. I can’t wait to see how yours turns out. I noticed you recently started painting, so what white did you choose?
Sherwin Williams Alabaster White!
Hi! Just wondering which black you are going with to go along with Alabaster. Perle Noir?