What is the best black paint for shutters?
Black paint colors for shutters do not need to be boring. In fact, most of these black paint colors have a tint of another color mixed in so that there is a realm of mystery to the color. The following examples are exact paint colors and pictures. This will help you get a head start on your next exterior paint project!
Sherwin Williams ‘Iron Ore’
Iron Ore is a deep charcoal that can be used in place of a pure black paint color. It softens the whole feel of a house exterior and lessens the contrast. There is no right or wrong way to go about paint colors. It really comes down to your personal preference.
Shutters: SW Tricorn Black, Body: SW Iron Ore
This is a stunning and dramatic take on charcoal and black paint colors being paired together very well. Unlike the first example where Iron Ore is the shutter color, the above house has Iron Ore as the body paint color. And Sherwin Williams Tricorn Black is the shutter color.
Sherwin Williams Paint Card and Tricorn Black
Deco Art: Colonial Black
Prepare to be blown away. These are vinyl shutters that the home owner has painted all by herself. And most impressively, she didn’t even remove them from the house! She wanted a quicker DIY project with less of an ordeal.
Lastly, she used an exterior paint that you can order right from here from Amazon! Maybe this project type is the exact one you’re looking for, so I wanted to make sure and include it!
Farrow and Ball ‘Black Blue’ Painted Shutters
Black paint colors for shutters don’t have to be boring. Instead, think of them as a realm of different shades that are all so dark, they could be black. But this doesn’t mean they can have a tint of some other color.
In the above example, a creamy white exterior is paired well with Farrow and Ball’s Black Blue.’ In this context, something other than jet black was a softer alternative. Unfortunately, this color is now part of their archive collection, but there are usually great alternatives to this, if a color you like is no longer made. The best plan is to go to the vendor and ask what a close look alike color would be.
Benjamin Moore Black Tar
Do you need a deep black that doesn’t feel like it leans in any one color direction? This black is very dark and pure. Benjamin Moore ‘Black Tar,’ is a great color to look into.
PPG ‘Black Magic’ Painted Shutters
Dark Navy Shutters That Can Initially Appear Black
Now, read carefully here! Benjamin Moore, ‘In the Midnight Hour,’ is actually a deep blue paint color. But, if you have a white exterior home and want something softer than black, perhaps this is another example to carefully consider. Consider the vast category of dark navy blues that can pull off a similar aesthetic.
Every now and then, I have to include a visual of something you may have not thought of. But this could be an avenue to explore. For some reason, this shaded home shows this color as a darker navy than it actually appears in other settings.
Benjamin Moore ‘Onyx’
This home (above) is a beautiful example of black-brown exterior shutters. The black paint color for these shutters is Benjamin Moore Onyx.
Charleston Green Shutters … So Dark, They’re Basically Black
This is a pale gray siding exterior with dark (almost black) shutters called “Charleston Green, ” by Duron. Charleston Green is a color that is commonly referenced and gets its historicity from Charleston. When the city was first expanding, there was an effort to not be so overwhelmed with black paint colors that they added an ever-so-small amount of yellow to the black so that it actually became tinted green.
Nevertheless, this black paint color is a beautiful black paint option with just a hint of green. Thus, it usually works well with the nature around it and can be an appealing departure from deep, true black colors.
This concludes our research on black paint colors for shutters. I hope these real-life examples have helped to put you on the right path!
Trying to select the perfect black paint color? Sherwin Williams Tricorn Black and Benjamin Moore Black Panther are two great black paint colors to consider.
My front door has been two colors: black and black. The first black door was a color called Tricorn Black, while the second black door is a color called Black Panther.
While these are both black paints, they are slightly different shades of black. In this post, I’ll compare SW Tricorn Black vs. BM Black Panther to show the similarities and differences.
Let’s take a look at each paint color individually, and then we’ll compare them side by side.
Disclosure: This page includes affiliate links.
Best Black Paint Colors
In order to select the best black paint color for your home (or any paint color, for that matter); make sure you are familiar with several important paint color terms.
LRV
The LRV is the Light Reflective Value of a paint color. This measures the percent of light the paint color will reflect. The scale ranges from 0 (no light reflected) to 100 (all light reflected).
Therefore, dark paint colors will be closer to zero and light colors will be closer to 100. Just like we learned in grade-school, black absorbs the most light and white reflects the most light.
Of course, this means that the closer the LRV is to 0, the closer that paint color is to a true, absolute black.
RGB
The RGB value represents the amount of Red, Green, and Blue in the paint color. So, for example, if a paint color’s red value is higher than green and blue, it will likely have warmer, undertones.
However, using RGB is not a hard and fast way to determine undertones. This is because undertones can be a wide array of colors besides red, green and blue. For example, pink, purple, and yellow are common undertones in paint colors.
Therefore, identifying undertones is a multi-step process. Here is a great tutorial about how to determine the undertone of a paint color. In this article, we use RGB as a reference point to help determine whether an undertone is likely to exist.
The closer the R, G, and B values are to one another, the less likely we are to see an undertone and for it to be categorized as a true black (0,0,0) or a true white (255,255,255). In other words, a neutral paint with minimal undertones.
Tricorn Black by Sherwin Williams
SW 6258 | R:47 G:47 B:48 | LRV:3
Up until several months ago, all of my exterior doors were Tricorn Black by Sherwin Williams. Even though I repainted them in BM Black Panther, it’s not because I didn’t like SW Tricorn Black.
In fact, I really like this shade of black. Tricorn Black is a great true black, and is a popular choice for good reason. Let’s take a look at Tricorn Black in our house’s interior and on our home’s exterior.
Tricorn Black Exterior Paint
In these photos, our patio door is painted SW Tricorn Black. Our home’s dark-gray board and batten and light gray shake siding pairs well with the deep black.
In the photo above and below, you can see how Tricorn Black looks in the evening as the sun is setting. There are no cool undertones from the shadows of the trees, and there are no warm undertones picked up from the warmth of the setting sun. It is a true black paint color.
In the next two photos, you can see Tricorn Black in the warmth of the morning sun. Again, there are no visible undertones, making it a great, neutral black paint.
The front door was previously painted Tricorn Black, too. Our home faces east, so it does not get harsh, warm, evening light. The morning light is soft and by mid-afternoon the entire porch is cloaked in shade.
In the photo below, you can see how Tricorn Black looks on an east-facing home’s exterior.
Tricorn Black Interior Paint
Now, let’s take a look at SW Tricorn Black on the inside of our home. Here, in our budget kitchen renovation is the inside of the patio door, also painted with Tricorn Black. This west-facing room gets warm light from midday through the evening.
You can see the warm light flooding the kitchen, making the Alabaster walls feel slightly yellow, but making no impact on the true black shade of the patio doors.
The warm sunlight reveals the undertones in the wall color (SW Alabaster), but does not change the appearance of SW Tricorn Black.
Black Panther by Benjamin Moore
BM 2125-10 | R:61 G:63 B:64 | LRV:6.51
Black Panther from Benjamin Moore is, in my opinion, a perfect black paint color. Rather than being a true black, it is nearly black.
When I tackled a budget front porch update last fall, I had to repaint our front door due to chipped paint. Rather than repaint it with Tricorn Black, I sought out a softer black paint and landed on BM Black Panther.
The softness in Black Panther may be due to coolness which comes the from the slightly higher levels of green and blue as compared to red, in its undertones.
Since then, I’ve used this shade of black inside our home, too. Let’s take a look at Black Panther in our house’s interior and on our home’s exterior.
Black Panther Exterior Paint
Even though Black Panther is not a true black, it is still too dark to be confused with a deep gray. This was important to me, because I did not want a dark gray or charcoal-gray front door.
On it’s own, Black Panther seems like a true black, until you place it side-by-side with Tricorn Black, which I’ve done below.
BLACK PANTHER TRICORN BLACKAs you can see, Tricorn Black is a starker black, while Black Panther is a more muted, softer shade of black.
Note: One other difference between the Tricorn Black and Black Panther doors is finish. Black Panther is a satin finish and Tricorn Black is a semi-gloss finish.
The reason I chose a softer black is because it is a better match to our home’s shutters. Plus, I thought a softer black would pair well with our dark gray-brown board and batten siding.
Black Panther Interior Paint
So far, on the interior of our home, I’ve used BM Black Panther to paint a piece of furniture. I gave an old display cabinet a makeover with black paint and DIY reeded glass.
The softness of Black Panther makes it the perfect black for inside our home. It’s not too stark, harsh, or cold.
What is the best black paint?
There are so many black paint colors to choose from, but Sherwin Williams Tricorn Black and Benjamin Moore Black Panther are two great black paint colors.
For my style and my home, I consider Black Panther to be the best black paint color, due to its softer, muted shade.
However, I really liked Tricorn Black when we had it on our exterior doors, too. The only complaint I had with Tricorn Black was that it felt just a little too stark or harsh.
I’ll also give a quick shout-out to Benjamin Moore Black Ink, which was one of the other Tricorn Black alternatives that I strongly considered. It falls between Black Panther and Tricorn Black. So, if Black Panther is too muted for you, Black Ink may be a great option.
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