Dark colors have become one of the new staples in modern home design, both for exteriors as well as interiors. Bold yet timeless at the same time, dark colors like charcoal grey and black are highly versatile shades that work just as well as accent colors as they would as base colors. 

However, both grey and black are typically paired with other colors, which makes the combination of the two especially bold and unique. If you have been thinking of using this color combination on your home, check out the following 7 examples of this in action so you can make the right decision. 

dark grey house
Image Credit: Canva

1. Imposing and Industrial

The combination of black and charcoal grey is often described as stark, spartan, and austere—elements that have defined a significant portion of modern architectural design. This first example really plays to the strengths of the component colors, with no accent colors to be seen anywhere on the structure of the house. 

This color combination, paired with the home’s liberal use of metal, glass, and stone, results in a silhouette and structure that gives off an imposing and industrial aura. The lack of accent colors reinforces this feeling even further, allowing the house to strongly contrast against the surrounding greenery.

Image Credit: AdobeStock

2. Light Stone

The grey-black color combination can, to many homeowners, look a bit too severe and uninviting. For this reason, designers typically mitigate this feeling by balancing these darker shades with lighter hues and tones. 

Such is the case in this home, which makes use of light stone on the pavers, the plant box, and the lower half of the home.

The light shade and relatively smooth texture provides a nice contrast to the hard lines produced by the dark grey clapboard siding on the upper floor and the black roof and trim with which it’s paired.

grey house
Image Credit: Canva

3. Stark Grey Craftsman

The siding, gable roof, rafters, overhangs, and many other details of the craftsman style makes it practically suited for varied material choices with soft but bright colors—not quite the descriptors you would attach to grey and black.

Despite that, this home was able to pull off the look quite well, with the grey cohesively conforming to the structural details against the black of the roof. 

A street view of a modern suburban style executive house. There's wooden steps, the exterior walls are grey brick and beige rock, and the garage door is a large dark gray metal door with black trim.
Image Credit: Canva

4. Austere Accents

This home is another example of the grey-and-black combo used to great effect in a modern home. However, we do not see the two colors merely relegated to specific sections, as we’ve seen in previous homes.

Instead, grey and black are used all around the house to serve as accent colors of each other, creating contrast and visual interest without using any hues.

The clearest example here is the use of black on the doors, stone, and roof trim to let these parts stand out over the grey siding, paint, and roof shingles.

The roof of the dark color of the new house
Image Credit: Canva

5. Tri-Tone Combination

This stately and spacious home is an excellent demonstration of the use of charcoal grey and black in context with another color to produce a tri-tone combination. 

In this case, we see the grey used as a secondary color block to the burnt red bricks and shingles of the home, setting apart the upper floor, the bay windows, and part of the garage.

And as expected, the black is used as the accent color, providing a bold contrast that outlines the roof trim and the windows. 

Black house with pool. Modern architecture
Image Credit: Canva

6. Mixing Textures

We have seen in previous examples you don’t necessarily need to use any additional hues other than grey and black to achieve a look that is not only cohesive but also visually interesting.

Take this bungalow home for example, which uses a variety of materials including brick, siding, and shingles to produce contrasting textures despite only using two dark shades as the main colors in the design.

Black, of course, provides contrast from its application on the windows, roof, and door, which is paired with a dash of white to stand out even more.

Wood and Stone
Image Credit: Canva

7. Wood and Stone

If there is any pair of materials that have always looked great together in a home, the contrast of cold stone and warm wood is still one of the best examples being used to this day, and this home is a great example of that in action. 

Charcoal grey takes up a majority of the home’s color palette, which establishes a clean and simple base color. Wood siding then provides the second tone of the design, covering key sections of the house for emphasis. The black serves as the accent here, tying the two other colors together through bold outlines on the doors and windows. 

Black and Grey: Not as Modern as You Think

As we touched on earlier, charcoal grey and black as a color scheme feels quite modern, especially when viewed in the context of some of the more traditional home styles that most home buyers are used to.

However, one detail that is particularly interesting about “modern” home design is that they are not exactly “new”. In fact, the concept of modernism in architecture is generally agreed to have begun some time in the 1900s. 

Even all-black houses aren’t all that new, either (although they have surged in popularity over the last few years)—homes using dark colors had their origin in old homes in Norway and Denmark, in which pine tar was used to coat and protect wood from weather and pest damage. 

With the wave of Scandinavian designs and designers entering the greater Western world, it wasn’t long before these stark, dark homes became a trend in home design, which we now see incorporated today. 

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Matt Greenfield

Matt Greenfield is an experienced writer specializing in home improvement topics. He has a passion for educating and empowering homeowners to make informed decisions about their properties. Matt's writing focuses on a range of topics, including windows, flooring, HVAC, and construction materials. With a background in construction and home renovation, Matt is well-versed in the latest trends and techniques in the industry. His articles offer practical advice and expert insights that help readers tackle their home improvement projects with confidence. Whether you're a DIY enthusiast or a seasoned professional, Matt's writing is sure to provide valuable guidance and inspiration.

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