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Mad About … Black Windows

I once bought a house where all the doors, window frames and skirting boards had been painted black. I thought it was hideous and, shortly after we moved in, set about repainting everything in white. Now I think I must have been mad. I have totally come around to this look. Dark frames really finish off a room and add a great sense of drama and style to a space and I’m seriously considering getting out the black (or navy paint) in this house.

image from margas-margas.blogspot.com
image from margas-margas.blogspot.com

Have a look at these pictures and see what you think. And if you’re still in any doubt then you should also have a look at Chantal Coady’s kitchen. The founder of Rococo Chocolates has painted her window frames in Farrow & Ball Hague Blue and it looks fantastic. And her house is often being featured in magazines too so she must be good at this sort of thing.

image from vebidoo.de
image from vebidoo.de

A black window frame can really frame the view outside and turn it into something special.

image from sstevens.co.uk
image from sstevens.co.uk

Dark greys and blacks are also very on trend at the moment but if you don’t want to put it all over the walls, then just painting the window frames can be an effective nod to a style.

image from pinterest
image from pinterest

I love these rooms with a mix of black and white and natural materials. But see how the plant with its purple flowers totally zings up the space.

artforinteriors.blogspot.com
artforinteriors.blogspot.com

And here

image from dailyviolets.blogspot.com
image from dailyviolets.blogspot.com

The look is a little more rustic here but that might just make it easier to achieve. The thought of black cupboards as well as the floor and doors might seem a little overwhelming but it works brilliantly in this space. I particularly like the contrast between the large black doors and the smaller cupboard ones, which have been kept white.

image from myprojectcalledlife.blogspot.com
image from myprojectcalledlife.blogspot.com

The bathroom is a great place to start with a monochrome scheme like this as they often work better with a restricted colour palette.

ourmenu.dk
from ourmenu.dk

The long pendant black lights really pick up the details of the black frames. Another one of my secret desires – internal windows. All very Alice in Wonderland.

image from danish trading
image from danish trading

So what do you think? A little black paint for anyone?

 

 

 

 

 

Kate Watson-Smyth

The author Kate Watson-Smyth

I’m a journalist who writes about interiors mainly for The Financial Times but I have also written regularly for The Independent and The Daily Mail. My house has been in Living Etc, HeartHome and featured in The Wall Street Journal & Corriere della Sera. I also run an interior styling consultancy Mad About Your House. Welcome to my Mad House.

6 Comments

  1. Well, Kate we bought a house built in 1984 which was designed to match the rest of the street which is in a Victorian Conservation balcony, pillars, garage door (yes it had one of those to, but NOBODY puts their car in a garage, ours which you get to through the hall is for junk) and everything and the front windows bottle green.

    It completely transformed the place so it sits there quietly feeling OK with the world. And we love it even more!! Even the neighbours have approved. YES to todays love the look advice!!

    Jill x

  2. I’m always encouraging clients to embrace dark colours instead of beige hues and am amazed more commercial retailers don’t do this to make their products pop on the shelves. Imagine Waitrose or Tesco with dark black shelving displaying products. Ketchup bottles would look like sculptural works of art

  3. Love this look. Seems to somehow frame and de-clutter even a busy space. Recently had hallway painted just off white, decided to paint the hand rail to staircase black and dedicate the wall to black and white photos in all black frames. Loving the effect so far so may consider this for windows when replacing the rather unattractive aluminium ones we inherited from previous owners!!

    1. It does create a frame doesn’t it? Your hallway sounds stunning. We had to replace aluminium windows too and painted them all white without really thinking about it … am now looking at them afresh…..

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