The Best White Trim Colors for Brick Exteriors -

If you have a brick home, you need trim paint colors that coordinate with it. Lucky for you, I’ve got a few tucked up my colorful lil’ sleeves.

While the front door is often a home’s focal point, many ‘all-brick’ exteriors (or close to it) use their trim color as the main ‘painted feature’, making it even more important than usual.

Now, there are a lot of bricks and hues out there – red, yellow, pink, brown, tan, gray, and everything in between. And because I’M ONLY ONE WOMAN (one heck of a woman at that), I can’t cover them all. Instead, I’m focusing on the ones that show up most often in my Online Color Consulting.

So, without further ado, let’s find the perfect hue for you…baby boo.

WHITE TRIM COLORS FOR BRICK EXTERIORS

Not every brick can pull off white trim, as it can look stark or harsh, depending on the home’s other finishes. However, here are a few things I’ve noticed…

Homes with white windows and brick often pull off white trim way better than those with black, almond, taupe, etc. windows.
While it’s not a rule, strong bricks often love strong whites (less softness, more brightness).
Softer, more muted bricks can suit some brighter whites, but often prefer softer, gentler whites (or even off-whites).

FUN FACT: All the photos in my blog are from my Online Color Consulting clients, readers, and friends— because real homes deserve to be celebrated (dirty laundry and all!) While not magazine-perfect, they’re packed with ideas and proven color choices to help you create a home you’ll love.

1. SHERWIN WILLIAMS EXTRA WHITE 7006

Extra White appears brighter than its LRV suggests, offering a clean, crisp contrast that’s not overly harsh with many brick exteriors.

Here it is with James Hardie Iron Gray siding and a beautiful red and brown-purple brick lower/foundation area…

Sherwin Williams Extra White Color Review

If your exterior’s other finishes, including windows, siding, and roof, can support white trims, let’s look at a few other reasons why Extra White could be a good fit.

Extra White looks great with many bricks, including stronger red and orange tones.
It also works well with brown and tan beige bricks.
It can work with bricks that are more pink/salmon, but I’d sample a range as there could easily be a better choice, depending on what you have.

2. SHERWIN WILLIAMS PURE WHITE 7005

Pure White is right up there with Extra White as a way to get white trim, without the sharpness of a bright, true, or cold shade of white.

This next exterior looks great with its Pure White trim and red-orange brick. Notice how the dark blue shutters pop magically against the brick’s stronger color, without looking out of place…

The Best Shutter Colors for Brick Exteriors

While your exterior’s other finishes play a HUGE part in determining the best white trim color (windows, siding, and roof), Pure White has a lot to offer.

Pure White is gorgeous with red, orange, mild pink, brown, and tan bricks – it can handle almost anything you throw at it.
If you have white windows, Pure White is lower contrast than many of the other whites suggested (it’s a soft white, it’s just not as warm).

Sherwin Williams Pure White Color Review

3. BENJAMIN MOORE WHITE DOVE

White Dove is my favorite white for interior trims, walls, and cabinets. And while I often choose Pure White for exterior trims, when it comes to brick, White Dove takes a shot at the title.

If you believe your exterior’s other finishes would love White Dove trim, let’s cover a few more bases before you get your paintin’ pants on…

White Dove’s warmth is beautiful, with a wide range of bricks; it’s not stark or bright, but it’s also not as creamy as some others.
While you’ll see a shift from your white windows to White Dove trim up close, they more or less blend from afar (as shown above).
It works with pink bricks, so long as the other home’s finishes support white, and it’s pure magic with brownish/tan bricks.

This next home has a very gentle, soft, off-white trim, but it’s an example of a home that could humor, White Dove…

Benjamin Moore’s Swiss Coffee is very similar to my White Dove (read why I prefer White Dove). Here it is on the siding and trim of this beautiful exterior, with its pinkish-brown brick…

Gutters, Soffits, Downspouts – What Color Should They Be?

4. SHERWIN WILLIAMS ALABASTER 7008

If your home’s brick exterior is craving a little warmth, without diving right into the cream pool, check out Alabaster.

The Best Dark Greige Paint Colors

Alabaster is a warm, creamy white. While it’s more yellow-hued than white windows, its soft warmth can be pretty with a wide range of bricks, so long as they don’t cater hard to pink.

However, not every exterior finish supports Alabaster’s creamier warmth.

Alabaster is best suited to stronger red bricks or brownish tones.
It’s not as friendly with overly pinkish bricks.
It’s the most likely to look noticeably different from your white windows. But that doesn’t mean it always looks bad, just sample and compare a few similar shades to see which settles best overall.

Sherwin Williams Alabaster Color Review

For example, while this next home has white windows, there’s no trim around them, so the chance for the windows/trims looking fugly is greatly reduced…

The Best Front Door Colors for BRICK Homes

5. BENJAMIN MOORE CHANTILLY LACE

If your brick, windows, and roof demand a crisper, cleaner look, check out Chantilly Lace. While it has a weeee willy wink of softness (compare it to the white paper), it’s the whitest of the bunch and looks amazeballs with this stronger red brick.

The above palette, including the dark green shutters, is a super classic, traditional look.

Chantilly Lace is just shy of ‘true white’ and is the most classic option. That said, classic doesn’t mean fool-proof!
With a white this strong, having white windows for your trims to connect with is even more important.

A soft grayish taupe brick like this, along with its white windows, could easily handle a trim color like Chantilly Lace, even though it’s not shown…

Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace Color Review

6. BENJAMIN MOORE WHITE OC-151

While not every home can pull it off, some demand a clean, crisp white like Benjamin Moore’s White OC-151.

Here’s your Peel & Stick sample of White…

If you have white windows, White OC-151 is most likely to blend (dependent on your window brand).
If your brick has soft, warm tones, White OC-151 could be too harsh.
Find some great comparables to White in this blog post.

This next home is an interesting example…

Because its siding color is a gray-blue, it pairs well with a brighter, strikingly white trim. However, if the siding were a warmer taupe, greige, or muted beige, a softer white would be prettier.

But remember, not every brick exterior can handle white trim…

BRICK EXTERIORS THAT DON’T SUIT WHITE TRIM

The colors that work with the following exteriors belong in a blog post unto themselves (yet to be written, it’s on my long list). In the meantime, you can check out my Online Consulting and check out some of the links listed below!

Whereas white can overwhelm some brick exteriors, a well-chosen off-white can act kind of like white, without the starkness…

The Best Off-White Paint Colors for Exteriors

The above home is so charming. The current off-white paint color sits more subtly than white, whereas white, combined with the green siding, could be overwhelming.

It’s not always just the finishes on a home that call the color shots; it’s its character and intentions.

A brick-and-stone combo like this next one DESPERATELY doesn’t want white trim. And while the current downspout color is close, it needed a little tweaking…

Why not white?

Consider the white paper above. While it’s stark, it shows how out of place white would be with a muted, warm palette like this exterior’s.

If this next brick is paired with white windows, it can likely handle white trim. However, notice how pretty Kestrel White is, considering the mortar’s color…

I LOVE this next exterior. With black windows and no white in sight, off-white trim was definitely the best choice…

This next home, with its taupe windows, can’t handle white trim, as it wouldn’t connect with the brick or any other finishes – white would be out of place…

Here’s a more orange-inspired brick that’s pretty darn happy with its non-white trim. Even the most well-intentioned white would look too harsh with this brick-and-roof combo…