the washington post
.
thursday, november
14
,
2019
MD
DECORATING
Home
BY ELIZABETH MAYHEW
The design world always has
an “in” color it embraces as its
neutral; it’s the color you see
painted inside new construction
and rentals and popularized in
catalogues and online. While
white is always a neutral fall-
back, beige was favored in the
early 2000s. For the past 10
years, it’s been gray. Now many
in the design world say there is a
new neutral in town: black.
Sarah Fishburne, the director
of trend and design at the Home
Depot, credits the growing black-
painted-room trend to the mod-
ern farmhouse craze of the last
few years. The style updates
classic “country” details by
painting them black so they look
more modern.
Fishburne plans to paint her
dining room black before
Thanksgiving. “I have always
loved black rooms, especially
when you have great molding
and trim work. The black really
shows it all off,” she says. Fish-
burne’s dining room has classic
board and batten siding three
quarters up its walls and a
10-foot-high coffer ceiling, which
she says “will really pop in black.”
Another thing she thinks will
stand out against her soon-to-be
black walls: her art collection.
“Like white, black is a blank
canvas and it’s super versatile.”
Briana Nix, a designer for the
online decorating service Deco-
rist, agrees that black is extreme-
ly versatile — a characteristic
that is essential to any neutral.
“Black is a great supporter of all
interior styles,” she says. “Wheth-
er sleek and modern or rustic
farmhouse, black paint and de-
cor offers a sophisticated air to
many different looks.”
Beyond making spaces look
more stylish, black paint has
another useful quality, some de-
signers say: It makes rooms feel
bigger. Houston-based interior
designer Dennis Brackeen says
this is contrary to what most
people think. He says dark colors
make a room’s walls recede.
Decorist designer Caitlin
McBride explains: “Since the cor-
ners of a dark painted room can’t
be defined and there isn’t an easy
way to tell where they start or
end, the walls feel endless.”
McBride recently painted her
laundry room black to make it
feel bigger (she says it’s about the
size of a walk-in closet) and add
contrast to the large white wash-
ing machine and dryer that dom-
inate the space. She has plans to
paint her nine-foot-high guest
bathroom ceiling black, too. “I
want to make the ceiling recede
up and out, like you’re looking
into space.”
While many are embracing
this move to the dark side, Pat-
rick O’Donnell, Farrow & Ball’s
brand ambassador and expert
color consultant, warns that
black — or any very dark color —
is not for everyone, and certainly
not for every room. O’Donnell
says you should first think about
the primary use of the space
you’re painting. “You probably
wouldn’t want to paint a nursery
in black, but in a bedroom, black
helps embrace the nighttime
darkness and induce a good
night’s sleep.” Another consider-
ation is the direction your room
faces. “If it’s north or east, this is
often a great opportunity to go
darker, as the idea of painting an
ill-lit space white or light can end
up feeling dull.”
When it comes to choosing the
right black paint color and fin-
ish, there is some debate. Fish-
burne plans to paint her dining
room with Behr’s Satin Black
(PPU26-1) in a matte/flat finish.
She likes its soft, chalky look and
says the flat finish is more forgiv-
ing to imperfect walls.
Nix, on the other hand, avoids
using matte black. She thinks it
dulls a room. Instead she opts for
a high gloss, which “will reflect
light and give dimension to your
space.” Just beware: High-gloss
paints show every imperfection,
so your walls need to be in
perfect condition. Nix’s favorite
black paints are both from Far-
row & Ball: Pitch Black, which
she says is a true black, and
Railings, which has a subtle blue
tint.
Brackeen’s go-to colors are C2
Paint’s Aperture (C2-981) and
Benjamin Moore’s Deep Space
(2125-20).
McBride likes Sherwin-Wil-
liams’s Tricorn Black because,
she says, “It’s a true black color
with no undertones and looks
good in every paint finish.”
For color, O’Donnell recom-
mends using a black with an
underlying nuance — whether
it’s blue, red or green — so you
get notes of different colors as
the light changes throughout the
day. Whatever color or finish you
choose, he says, it’s important —
especially when going from light
to dark — to use a primer and
undercoat in the same tone as
the wall color so you get a rich
and saturated result.
If a full-blown black room is
too much for you, try adding
touches of black. Fishburne sug-
gests using black furniture, tex-
tiles, and accessories in your
design mix because “they add
weight to very light rooms and
additional depth to rooms al-
ready painted in a darker hue.”
McBride likes to paint interior
doors black, and she often uses
black curtain rods because, she
says, “they’re like the eyeliner of
window treatments. They draw
your eye up the walls to the
ceiling, highlighting molding
and other room elements that
may otherwise be missed.”
[email protected]
Mayhew, a “Today” show style
expert and former magazine editor,
is the author of “Flip! for
Decorating.”
Say goodbye to gray everything — black is the new neutral
ALYSSA ROSENHECKA room by Braina Nix of Decorist. “Black is a great supporter of all interior styles,” she says. “Whether sleek and modern or rustic
farmhouse, black paint and decor offers a sophisticated air to many different looks.”
CAITLIN MCBRIDE