If there has ever been a color that could be described as “timeless,” brown would arguably fit the bill. As one of the most common colors found in nature—whether in wood, stone, clay, or even just dirt—brown is a color that will almost always have a place in arts and design, especially in architecture.
Rich, earthy, and timeless, darker shades of brown have become quite popular among home designs in recent years. Interestingly enough, though, one of the most common colors that are paired with dark brown is black, another dark color.
Like any color combination, it is always important to properly understand its aesthetic qualities before deciding on using it for your home. For this reason, we have prepared a batch of seven home designs that use this color combination so you have a better idea of how these colors work in context.
1. Modern Three-Tone Color Way
One of the major concerns of pairing dark brown and black together is that the resulting combination can look a bit too heavy and masculine.
As such, designers often work in a lighter third color into the overall color scheme, as seen in this first example.
The tan stonework used to clad the lower floor walls serve to balance the weightiness of the brown used on the wood siding and the black used on the doors, the window frames, and the roof. The result is a color palette that manages to both be easy on the eyes and also blends in well with the surrounding greenery.
2. Milk & Chocolate
This traditional-styled home makes use of a three-tone color scheme as also seen in the previous example. Light beige-colored siding is paired with chocolate brown masonry here for a well-balanced blend of both color and material.
Both colors are used liberally throughout the design to emphasize specific zones or sections in the house that the eyes are drawn to.
The sections are then tied together with bold black outlines that not only split these sections but also serve to emphasize fixtures and features on the house such as the doors and windows.
3. Multicolor Masonry
Masonry is an especially versatile material for exterior cladding, providing both a unique texture and a feeling of strength and security in the home’s structure.
Further variety in the design could also be incorporated with the use of color—brick walls could either be painted over for a consistent look or left to use its natural and slightly variable colors.
The latter of the two options is put to use here, with the multicolor brick wall providing a visually stimulating base texture. Black is most notably used on the roof and the exterior window shutters to help frame and emphasize these elements, as is also part of the mix of shades in the masonry.
4. Modern Rustic Stained Wood
Wood is one of the easiest and most common ways to incorporate brown into your home’s exterior design.
With many types of wood available on the market and even more ways to treat it, designers can achieve all manner of brown hues using wood.
This example home has opted for a modern-rustic approach, with vertical siding made up of stained hardwood used throughout the exterior. The black here is used much more sparingly compared to some of the other homes we’ve seen, but its use along the roof trim and drainage pipes help create solid dividing lines throughout the house.
5. Modern Chalet
Dark brown wood is paired with black again in this modern chalet design, although to a very different effect.
The thick, bold sections of black along the chimney, on the roof, and in the house’s door and window frames allow the color to serve as a second tone in this palette rather than as a mere accent to the brown wood.
The dark wood here also has a different visual effect here on account of its consistent and unstained color. As a result, the wood siding used throughout the exterior looks smooth and clean, which pairs very well with the black on the house to create a sleek silhouette that appeals to most modern tastes.
6. Flat Paint & Textured Cladding
Outside of color, the characteristics of a home’s exterior materials should be treated with great importance, especially as it will have to stand up to all manner of elements and, therefore, may not maintain its appearance for as long as it should. Wooden siding is great for looks and durability, but some homeowners don’t think it has the resilience of other cladding materials.
Regardless, dark brown and black continue to pair well, even with the rather flat-looking paint through the upper half of the home. Of course, stone cladding comes into play here along the bottom half of the exterior to inject a bit more texture into the final look.
7. Contrast for Emphasis
One of the interesting quirks of having a dark color palette is that any brighter color will tend to stand out more because of its contrasting nature.
Such is the case with this final example for this list, which has white fixtures and tan masonry on top of the brown siding and black roofing.
In particular, the black portico over the doors and the window bezels help make the white windows and doors pop even more to add more visual interest. The chocolate brown siding that covers most of this duplex home provides a solid and grounded base color, boosting the contrast of the other colors used in the palette.
