A craftsman’s approach to historic timber on façades — Part 4 of 4
Colour is where the conversation gets personal.
Ask ten craftspeople what colour historic exterior joinery should be painted, and you’ll get ten different answers — each with a logic behind it, each shaped by experience, by the buildings they’ve worked on, by the clients they’ve worked with.
I have a view. But this post is as much a question as it is an answer.
The physics of white
Let’s start with something that isn’t a matter of opinion: white reflects heat. Dark colours absorb it.
On exterior timber, this is not a trivial consideration. Wood expands and contracts with temperature. The more extreme the temperature swings at the surface — and a darkpainted south-facing timber element in full summer sun can reach temperatures that would surprise you — the more the wood works. The more the joints open and close. The more stress is placed on the paint film at exactly the points where moisture is most likely to find its way in.
White, or very light colours, moderate this effect. The surface stays cooler. The movement is less extreme. The paint film is under less stress.
This is one reason why white has historically been the dominant colour for exterior joinery across much of northern Europe — not just for aesthetic reasons, but for practical ones that craftspeople understood instinctively before the physics was formally explained.
Is black wrong?
Not necessarily. But it deserves more thought than it usually gets.
Black exterior joinery has become extremely fashionable in recent years — on new builds, on renovations, and increasingly on historic properties. There is something undeniably striking about it. Against pale stone or white render, black frames read with a graphic clarity that can be very powerful.
The questions worth asking are: how is the building oriented? What is the sun exposure? What species of timber are the frames? And — perhaps most importantly — how will the paint system cope with the thermal stress that a dark colour imposes?
A quality exterior paint system on a properly prepared surface, maintained at appropriate intervals, can perform well in dark colours. But the tolerance for error is lower. The consequences of a small failure in the paint film are more significant when the surface underneath is absorbing rather than reflecting heat.
This doesn’t make black wrong. It makes it a choice that requires more care — in specification, in application, and in maintenance.
What did it look like originally?
Before choosing a colour on a historic building, it’s worth asking whether evidence of the original scheme exists.
Paint analysis — scraping back through layers to find the original coat — is not always practical on a full restoration project. But on significant elements, particularly protected buildings, it can be worth the effort. The results are sometimes surprising. Historic colour palettes were not always the muted, restrained schemes we might expect. Greens, ochres, dark reds — these appear in original specifications more often than the current fashion for white and grey might suggest.
The Venice Charter asks us to respect the authentic state of a historic object. That applies to colour as much as it applies to materials and techniques. When evidence exists, it should carry weight in the decision.
The trend problem
Every decade has its colour moment. Right now, that moment belongs to anthracite, dark green, and various shades of near-black for exterior joinery.
Some of these choices work beautifully on historic buildings. Others sit uneasily — toocontemporary in feel, too disconnected from the palette of the period.
The craftsman’s role is not to simply execute whatever the client saw on Instagram last week. It’s to bring knowledge and judgment to the conversation — to explain what is historically appropriate, what will perform well technically, and what the building itself seems to call for.
A client who wants glossy black frames on a 1905 Art Nouveau townhouse deserves an honest conversation about whether that’s the right choice — not a refusal, but a discussion.
My own position
For most historic exterior joinery, I find myself drawn to colours that sit quietly — whites, off-whites, soft greys, and occasionally the muted greens that have historical precedent on Art Nouveau and late 19th century buildings.
Not because darker colours are wrong. But because the building has usually been speaking a particular visual language for a hundred years, and the best restoration choices are the ones that continue that conversation rather than interrupting it.
A question to the Guild — and to owners
This one is open to everyone: craftspeople and property owners alike.
When you’ve faced a colour decision on a historic building — how did you arrive at the answer? Did you look for historical evidence, follow the client’s brief, or trust your own eye?
And has a colour choice ever surprised you — either by working better than you expected, or by creating problems you didn’t anticipate?
Colour is the most visible decision you make. It’s worth taking the time to make it well.
RestoreFacade Guild — Part 4 of 4 in the series: Wood on the Historic Façade.
This completes the four-part series. We’d love to hear your thoughts on any or all of it — in the comments, or in the Guild forum.