Love black house. A brief context to set expectations.
Love black house: Quick notes
Black houses have been having a moment for the last decade. We’ve certainly covered plenty of them here on Gardenista and on our sister site Remodelista. In fact, my own interest in ebony exteriors was sparked when I saw blogger Sarah Samuels’s Michigan lake house on Remodelista back in 2013, when the color still felt a little unexpected. Painted black, the house felt fresh and modern and seemed to recede into its natural surroundings.
Color trends come and go faster than ever in today’s world of Instagram and TikTok, but black exteriors have had a surprising staying power and especially with a particular subset of homeowners: garden lovers.
That receding quality that I so admired in Samuels’s home is perhaps why gardeners are attracted to a midnight shade: It puts the garden into focus. A black backdrop also sets off plants in a way that really makes individual plants pop, especially in photographs. “When designing with black, the house dissolves and the garden becomes more alive,” says landscape designer Molly Sedlacek, the founder of California firm ORCA.
Black houses may feel modern, but they’ve actually been around for a while. In the more distant past, houses were black for practical reasons. Traditional methods of preserving and protecting wood result in a blackened look, including the Japanese practice of shou sugi ban and the Scandinavian method of coating wood in pine tar and linseed oil. One of the most famous black house and garden pairings is Derek Jarman’s iconic Prospect Cottage and its garden at Dungeness, which he developed in the 1980s and early 90s.
Whether you consider it a trend or a timeless choice, there’s no question: A black house is a brilliant foil to gardens in almost any climate. And if you’re nervous to fully embrace black, very deep shades of gray, green, espresso, and navy achieve much the same effect.
Here are 10 homes that use a black exterior to highlight the garden:
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Above: Last year Timber Press released a 30th anniversary edition of Jarman’s book Derek Jarman’s Garden, which is helping to keep this garden’s influence alive. We love the contrast of the sunny yellow window frames against the black siding. Photograph by Howard Sooley. 
Above: Deborah Needleman chose to stain the barn of her Garrison New York home, which she uses as a weaving studio, black. With the window trim and doors painted black, as well, the structure cedes focus to the wild-yet-cultivated garden. Photograph by Miguel Flores Vianna, from Quick Takes With: Deborah Needleman.
