Homeowners looking for some derring-do design are opting to paint their home's exterior black. The color has popped up on several most popular lists this year in both the U.S. and Canada.
Tricorn Black by Sherwin-Williams has emerged as a sterling example--in 2017, the color was the 33rd top selling paint color in the nation. In 2018, it rose to the 12 spot. In Canada, it's the sixth most popular color this year when it wasn't even ranked in the top 50 of 2017. Yet, "[painting] it black" is not a new phenomenon. Centuries ago, houses were painted black to preserve and protect wood in both Scandinavia and Japan, reports Laura Fenton for Curbed. "Shou sugi ban, known as yakisugi in Japanese, involves charring wood to leave a carbonized layer on one side of the lumber, rendering the wood pest-, fire-, and weather-resistant."
Two years ago, my husband and I finally got around to painting our 1970s ranch house. At first, we’d considered covering over the cheap, mud-colored T1 siding with cedar shingles, as many of our neighbors have. But while shingles are fitting for our northeastern locale, they felt wrong for our little rancher. We’d also seen homes built around the same time as ours made over with slick, new cedar siding, but that was far beyond our budget. After hemming and hawing over what seemed like 50 shades of gray, we decided to paint the whole thing black—much to our family members’ initial chagrin.
