I’m celebrating six years of blogging with some fun news. I’m officially a contributing writer for Better Homes & Gardens’ web site. (Who would’ve thought it when this all started?!) I’ll be writing 2-3 decorating articles each month. My first one is now live and is all about a trend I love: “3 Reasons to Paint Your Window Trim Black.”
Head over to BHG.com to see why painting your windows black can be a beautiful and budget-friendly solution.
PS—This look works especially well with the white wall trend I wrote about here.
I LOVE this look but have a question. So many homes, including mine, have removable mullions (vinyl) or white ones between the insulated glass. Can you think of a way to achieve the look without painting the mullions?
I would love to know the answer to this, too. I had this problem in my last house…
That’s my problem also.
ditto.
Congratulations, Emily, on your new post at BHG! You are a perfect fit!! So grateful you continue to blog – it is a place of creative design, honesty and grace.
Thanks, Janice :)
Congrats on the column with BHG! I’m a long time reader but fairly infrequent commenter (and by infrequent I mean never:) Your blog is one of my favorite design blogs. I always learn something that I feel like I can actually do at my own house!
Congratulations! I saw this post yesterday in BHG and I think I prefer these images. I LOVE this look, and would never have thought to change out the colors. (I have vinyl windows too, it would be risky to paint them, maybe practice on garage windows first? I was able to successfully paint a vinyl door using an excellent primer.
Congrats Emily! I look forward to reading your decorating articles. I have the same problem with vinyl windows. I’m going to paint my interior doors black to start.
Congrats on your new assignment. They couldn’t have picked a better writer.
I love it. I’d do it in a heartbeat, except my windows, including the fancy new expensive ones we got during our mega reno a few years ago, are all vinyl on the inside. I’m assuming that doesn’t fly then, right?
Hey Erin…I have the same question. I am dealing with almond vinyl windows and wondering whether the black trim would look “off”. I also want to do black interior doors and baseboards. What did you end up doing?
Hi Erin
i know it’s 2 years later, but checking out the comments about black windows. We got new vinyl windows and I freaked when I realized they weren’t white. I have the post that changed the entire look on my sidebar on notatrophywife.com . It still looks good two years later. Now I’m thinking about painting a few black!
Do you think another key to this look is minimal or no window treatments? I’ve really considered this in my living area/ kitchen, but with the drapes and bamboo shades I have I don’t think it would have the same effect.
I do… Not sure I would love it so much with drapes, but I do like the look of the black trim with a simple bamboo shade in a lighter color.
I love this look! What are your thoughts on painting the window trim in just one room (i.e. living room windows) but not doing the whole house? Would that feel disjointed or act as a interesting focal point for that room? Thanks!
I don’t think every window in the entire house has to be the same. I would take it more on a room by room basis…
The black windows look fantastic!
However, I love the dining table in second pic. Do you have the source?
Congrats! That is awesome. Love the black trim look too.
Yes! I love black trim with white walls! Congrats on being a BHG contributor. That is so exciting. Looking forward to reading your posts.
I had these in my last house and I hated them… of course it was circa 2000 and they were out of style.
So happy for you Emily! I will read the Better Homes & Garden website faithfully and look for your articles!
I love the black trim too!
CONGRATS on the BHG job!! woo hooo!!
I am so excited for you on being a contributing writer for BHG!! That’s amazing and so well deserved. I loved the article and this look for windows!
Your home is nice painted white. I looked at pictures from your last house and to me, it looked absolutely gorgeous. I like it because it is so warm looking and decorated beautifully.
Congratulation!!!
Congrats! exciting for you!
We installed wood windows in our house so we can paint the frames black, only tricky thing is you have to take them out, paint them, let them dry and then put them back in (ours are double hung), so it won’t be till next spring until we do this! This article reminds me it’s worth the wait though!
Great post, I love love love the black window trend!
Hi there
We are building our new home here in South Africa and will be using aluminum door and window frames. Would you say white would be better as we can’t reprint them when the black trend is over?
For those who have pvc windows. Dont paint them. Black contact paper and scissors to the resque😀.
Hi,
What “black” paint is used for grids?? Semi gloss?? Black or a different black like color?
We are building a house with an open floor layout. One end has large windows with grid mullions like your photos that we are painting black. The other end of the open space has a large picture window that we are planning on leaving white. Since we can’t see both styles of windows in the same moment is it wrong to have one white and the other black?
If they’re not directly in the same space, I think it’s totally fine to paint one and not the other. :)