House exterior · Off-white · colors from 4 paintings
Cream Siding Color Scheme: Off-White Exterior Paint With Trim and Door
Cream siding looks soft against a dark roof and dark trim. The three wall colors here range from a pale yellow cream to a creamy apricot, and each comes with a trim, a door and a roof.
Quick answer
Pick #ECE2C0 or #E2DDD3 for siding, a very dark trim such as #1C2A32 or #1B1410, and a mid-tone door in gold, coral or olive.
Every wall, trim and door color here was measured from one of these public-domain paintings.
3 complete exterior color schemes
Walls, trim, front door and roof together. Each scheme takes its colors from public-domain paintings, so the pairings are ones a painter already put side by side.
Cream and Night Blue
Walls #ECE2C0
Trim #1C2A32
Front door & shutters #AF9950
Roof: charcoal
Buttery cream siding with near-black blue trim and a gold door suits a two-story colonial. The charcoal roof keeps the look soft.
Exterior paint is seen in much stronger light than a room. Full sun bleaches a color by a shade or two, while the shaded side of the house and overcast days pull it cooler and darker. Test a large sample on two sides of the house.
Color
Swatch
Full sun
Overcast
In shade
Golden hour
Buttery Cream LRV 76
Soft Parchment LRV 73
Apricot Cream LRV 70
Try these colors on a house
Pick a color for the walls, the trim, the front door and the roof, and switch between house styles. Shadows and siding lines follow your choice.
Roof colors are typical shingle, tile and metal colors, not paint. Every other color comes from a painting on this page.
Colors for the walls
#ECE2C0LRV 76
Buttery Cream
The warmest of the wall colors, with LRV 76 and a yellow undertone, from the Mughal Portrait of a Beauty. It reads clearly cream rather than white.
The darkest trim, LRV 1 with a warm undertone, from Schalcken's Cephalus and Procris. No close commercial paint match was found, so test a black near it.
A mid-tone door at LRV 25 with a red-orange undertone, from Renoir's Madame Léon Clapisson. It is the warmest door color and works well against black trim.
The three walls differ mainly in undertone. #ECE2C0 has a yellow undertone and the highest warmth. #E2DDD3 is the quietest and is closest to a warm off-white. #F0D6BF carries a red-orange undertone, so it reads peach or apricot in some light.
All three have an LRV between 70 and 76, which means they reflect most of the light that falls on them. That helps a house look bright and clean.
Before you choose, look at what you cannot change. A tan roof, brick chimney or stone base has its own undertone. A yellow cream will sit well with warm materials, while the more neutral parchment suits mixed or cooler ones.
If you are repainting vinyl or fiber cement, check the maker's guidance on light reflectance, since some products limit how dark a color can go. These colors are light, so that is rarely an issue.
What trim color goes with cream siding?
The trims on this page are almost black. #1C2A32 has LRV 2 and a cool blue undertone. #1B1410 has LRV 1 and a warm undertone. Against cream walls at LRV 70 or higher, the contrast is strong, so windows and corners stand out sharply.
Use the blue black with the yellow cream. Its cool tone keeps the yellow from looking sweet. Use the warm espresso with parchment or apricot, where it feels closer to old wood.
For the front door, gold, coral and olive each work. Gold is quiet, coral is the most friendly, and olive is the most traditional. Keep the garage door on the trim color so the door stays the single accent. If dark trim feels too strong, a mid-tone door gives the eye a place to rest.
Does cream look yellow in full sun?
Light colors are affected by sun more than dark ones. In bright sun a cream like #ECE2C0 can look paler and a little more yellow. In shade it looks grayer and more neutral.
The usual advice is to choose a shade a little deeper than the chip, because exterior light washes color out. With walls this light, pay attention to the south and west sides, where glare is strongest.
The apricot wall #F0D6BF changes most. In warm evening light its peach tone becomes clear. On a cloudy day it can look close to a pale tan.
Watch how the dark trim changes the wall too. Next to near-black trim, cream looks lighter and warmer than it does on its own.
How do you test cream paint outside?
Paint a large sample on the siding, at least two feet wide, and do it on two sides of the house. Choose one that gets direct sun and one that stays in shade.
Look at the samples in the morning, at noon and near sunset. Put the trim sample next to the wall sample so you can judge the contrast.
Hold the sample against the roof, any brick or stone and the front steps. A cream that looks right alone can look dirty next to a pink brick or a cool gray stone.
Leave the samples up for at least a few days. A gray day and a bright day tell you more than a single afternoon.
FAQ
What is the best trim color for cream siding?
A very dark trim such as #1C2A32 or #1B1410 gives the most contrast. Both have an LRV of 2 or less, so they read black beside cream.
What door color goes with a cream house?
Antique gold, clay coral and olive bronze all appear in the schemes above. Coral is the warmest, olive the most traditional.
Is cream siding the same as off-white?
They overlap. Cream usually has a visible yellow undertone, while off-white is more neutral. Of the three walls here, #E2DDD3 is closest to off-white.
Does cream siding show dirt?
Colors with an LRV of 70 or more show dark marks more than mid-tones do. Plan to rinse the siding occasionally.
What roof color suits cream siding?
The schemes use charcoal and black roofs. Both are neutral and match the dark trim.
Save these colors
A card with these house color schemes: walls, trim, front door and roof. Pin it, or take it to the paint store.
Painting images: The Art Institute of Chicago, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, public domain (CC0).
Colors measured by Light & Pigment. Paint names belong to their brands and matches are approximate. Colors look different on screen than on a wall, so always test a sample.
