What colour windows

[NewUserName134]

Hi, we are shortly to replace the windows and doors in our house which is a light red brick.

The windows are currently dark brown, in common with all the other houses on the estate (except one or two). It’s ‘the thing’ for this estate. The adjoining estate has white windows - it’s (window colour) known locally (a bit) as an identification marker.

it would be really weird, therefore, to replace the brown windows with white. It would look very out of keeping.

The brown windows haven’t bothered me and I was thinking of replacing like for like, but a recent thread on here, where lots of people pointed out brown windows as a reason they’d be out off buying has made me think twice.

So I’m a bit flummoxed. The other option is dark grey. A couple of houses have done this and it looks nice.

Will grey windows date/would it put you off? I’d be tempted to have dual colour frames: grey outside, with white inside to lighten inside up a bit…

Any thoughts gratefully received! (I’ll probably have a grey door too…).

Dark grey

The main issue with the thread I think you're referring to is that those windows were brown inside, as well as outside.

Practically everyone on here will tell you to go white, and you will be crucified for mentioning the grey word 😂 It's true, white is the safe option. I actually like grey though. Yes, it may well date, but if we pick the safe option for everything, our houses would be very boring and they'd never make our hearts sing! Definitely would have white inside though.

So to sum up... white will probably stay in favour for longer, but personally I'd go with what I prefer.

I ummed and ahhed for ages; grey, black or white. I'd never even consider brown, in your case I'd go grey or black, black being the best if I'm honest.

Thanks for the thoughts - especially interesting about the brown being more off putting inside - I'm already pretty much set on white inside as the house is low light - anything to help!

Sounds like dark grey may be a candidate ...

I'll think about black too although it might look a little stark. Will see if I can get on one of those 'design tools' to superimpose black windows on the current and see what it looks like.

Mine are brown inside and out... and I hate them! It doesn't bother me as much outside, as my house is cream rendered, so it lifts them a bit, but inside I'm currently painting white! I hate them that much that I wasn't even worried about making a pig's ear of them.. I couldn't possibly dislike them anymore than I currently do!

Grey windows have been around for quite a few years now and haven’t yet dated unlike the green windows which were quite popular 10 + years ago. Brown windows are dated too but aren’t offensive. You could have white on the inside and grey on the outside. The thing is if you have grey inside when looking out of the window the grey actually frames the view which makes it look like a picture.

You might be contravening planning permission if you went for white when all the others are a dark colour.

Personally, I would be very much put off by brown windows when looking to buy. If everything else was perfect it wouldn't stop me, but I'd be factoring in cost of replacing them when making an offer and if it was a toss up between two houses, brown windows might swing it not to buy that one.
I just personally find brown windows very dreary and depressing looking.
I really like dark grey, and if I ever replace my own windows that is what I will put in. So I'd advise you to do that, but white would also be ok. I do think grey would look nicer with your brick though, and wouldn't cause confusion - as you say window colour is an indicator of which estate your in.

Go and have a drive round and look at houses with a similar colour brick to yours.
It's better to have a nose in person than rely on internet pics.
Brown frames would be spray painted or replaced if I were buying but that's because I've lived with it before.
I do like dark grey though even though it's a no no for many on MN but you tend to find that anything that becomes popular becomes an aghast superior NO on MN.

Black or white. Not grey and defo. Not brown. Personally I like the sage green ones.

Brown outside and white inside. No chav grey!

I too think of brown windows as very dated. Equally, the whole anthracite grey phase is coming to an end. We are renovating and have gone with black, aluminum windows. Thinner than PVC- so more glass/light and less actual window frame. Having white inside and another colour outside costs more- so compare the prices.

If your inside walls are a light colour- the contrast with dark windows looks great IMO. We therefore stayed with the black inside and out and don't feel they look oppressive or stark at all.

I love my dark grey window frames! You can have them painted professionally if you change your mind

This is of course where timber windows have an advantage since they do not have to remain the same colour forever. More maintenance though as well as cost.

Also throwing sage green in the mix ....
I think it looks lovely with light red brick and quite timeless and will age better than grey

Grey is already dated. Is there a particular colour you like? You could go for anything

Our neighbours have light green upvc and they look awful. We have grey and they are nice, but once our house is painted cream (instead of buttermilk) they will look better. There is a house down the road with Grey and they look really odd and small and really dark. It hugely depends on the house and the style I think.
we had brown in our old house inside and out and they were really dark, we replaced with white and couldn’t believe how much brighter it was inside.

I would go with white. Mostly because we are having work done on our house and need just one window replacing, and the builder was relieved our house was all white frames as a lot of the coloured frames go out of fashion and stop being available to buy.

Lots to think about thank you.

I hadn't thought about painting them if I get bored/change my mind...

Will have a ponder.