I would not do a stark white. Take a one of your bricks so you get the right color to look good with it.The house in your picture, looks a bit creamy.

IMO way too many materials

I'm not familiar with SW colors, but I'd suggest a neutral, gray. Either a cool gray or warm, depending on the contrast you'd like. A cool gray looks great with the sky reflecting on the windows. A warm grey to match the stone. At least something a little darker that the stone.

I think it would look great with no stucco and 100% brick.

The stucco is for the 2nd floor of the house. It's a transitional design with a lot of 2nd floor wall exposure, so it's either stucco or hardiboard. If it was a 2-story wall, we would have done all brick.

What color did you end up with? I'm doing this same brick and trying to decide!

Hi Jamie, I ended up going with Total White, #3280. It was too white for the Hillstone brick IMO. The stucco company can mix it to match any Sherwin Williams paint code, and you will want to get an off-white/cream color to get the look I posted in the original photo. My suggestion, after going through this process, is to find a cream color a shade or 2 lighter than the Hillstone. When the stucco is in the sun light, it will appear brighter than you thought it would look. I hope this helps!

Also, you do not want a gray color for the Hillstone, at all. A neighbor chose a light grey shade for his house, and it doesn't work. They may end up painting over the stucco with a different color.

@Jamie Anderson, one final comment. Make sure that every cube of brick delivered is from the same manufacturing run. There is variation in the runs, and you may not be able to tell looking at the bricks in your hand. You definitely will tell when it is installed, ask me how I know.

They have bricks that have flat ends and rough ends (depending on where the brick is used), otherwise the ends would be smooth below windows and on the corners of the walls. Our rough ends were from a different manufacturing run than the standard bricks. The brick distributor didn't verify this before delivery/installation.

Thank you for the help!! Completely agree on the grey comment, I’ve seen it on a couple houses and gives it a complete different look. Looking fat sherwin Williams 7566 westhighland white.

@Jamie Anderson, Sherwin Williams will sell a pint of that, and your local Meridian distributor will give you a free sample board of the White Hillstone. I suggest you paint half and take it out in morning sun, afternoon sun, and evening sun to make sure you are 100% happy with how it looks. I did this on the brick, see below

Alabaster and Rock Candy applied directly on the brick, on the right brick. Rock Candy actually is very similar to Total White, at some points during the day. But in the evening, it is noticeably more gray than white.

BTW, total White stucco is at the top of the left brick, if that gives you an idea of what it looks like.

I’d work around the bronze windows and not the bricks for the stucco color. If you could post a photo or link to the manufacturer of the windows, my suggestion would be more precise. Based on the photo (which is not your home), I’m going with Studio Clay.

The window trim will then be more visible, too.

@JudyG Designs Thanks Judy. This thread is a little old, and we have already had the stucco applied, and had the brick painted alabaster white, due to the brick issue stated above. We are very happy with how the house looks, I will post a photo after we close later this month.

Sorry, I just realized the date on the post. Love the house and so glad you are happy with the outcome. BTW, thanks for answering me anyway. Nice!

@malu59rt, Hope your home turned out really beautiful would love to see a picture of it. I really like your choice as it looks very elegant and combination of brick stone and stucco looks fantastic. I am considering picking similar materials for my home and our builder proposed hillstone is in our budget. Based on your experience we are debating wether if we should pick white hillstone or hillstone or buff hillstone and what type of mortar (white/ivory/light buff) to go with if paired with white land white painted stucco hardi board to accomplish similar look and feel like original picture in this post?

Appreciate if you could please help me decide on final rundown on materials and options here...thanks again in advise for your valuable feedback.

Hi Paul, the White Hillstone is very popular now (and was the highest upgrade with our builder). It would be up for debate, whether there is much of a difference between normal hillstone and white hillstone, on the house. The house in front of and behind us had standard hillstone and standard river rock, and they looked less cream than our house.

In regards to mortar, if I had to do it over again, I would have chosen white mortar (which requires white sand, and can be $10,000 based on size of your home). Buff mortar is sand with Portland White cement mixed in, and the sand can be pink/red. I saw vast differences in mortar color, based on mix, and how quickly it was able to dry. Some white, some cream, and some pinkish cream. I was not happy with the variation in mortar color, especially on a brick that is uniform in color, compared to bricks that have 5-6 different shades/colors in a pallet.

On the stucco color, you will want a custom color mixed from a sherwin william's paint code. The house posted above is not mine, but made by Ron Davis Custom Homes. They use custom stucco colors, and most don't reveal the color. You will however, not want Total White, it will be too much of a contrast, and kind of glow compared to the White Hillstone.

@malu59rt thank you so much for your timely help and I greatly appreciate your valuable inputs.

Here is the White Hillstone with the Total White stucco, with the sun behind.

Painted White Hillstone. Stone we will most likely lime wash white.

Some examples of mortar color variation.

Very beautiful home and nice choice of materials. Thanks again for all your help and detailed walk through.

Hey everyone, I know this post is a little old but i am building my first house and i am going with s Brick and stone combination on my house. I am doing hillstone white and a stone called blue charcoal 4,6,8. I am worried the hillstone white comes out creamy and am having second thoughts on this brick. Attached is hillstone white and the stone i am going to use called blue charcoal 4,6,8. But i am going to do a nice cool gray for the trim and garage color to give it a good contract. What is everyone thoughts? I am anxious.

Picture in gray and white is the elevation of my home, it’s picture is what is what i was thinking about switching it to. Last picture are my colors i chose now. I dont have much time to decide if i do end up making the change. Thanks for all the help

AWSOME THANK YOU!!! I just wanted to be different as every home around me is all browns so i want to be different. I see how they make the mortar makes a huge difference. I feel the safe route is going for a white stone and a neutral brick but then i might just blend in. Lol i didn’t think this would be so hard

Does anyone know if the white hillstone brick color is the same as the white river rock? We are deciding on the brick for our new house and at the design center it looks just same but the white river rock seem to have rounded edges and the white hillstone squared edges. Is that the only difference? Thanks!

Paolita, the same color (with allowable shade variations), the shape is the difference between River Rock and Hillstone.

Thank you so much for your help!!!

Hello, we are also building a house with Grand homes. We were looking into the White hillstone and White River Rock. Do you believe it will look ok with white windows? Also, is the shape difference between the two have a visible difference in look? Does the River Rock look more like Stone?

I can’t comment on whether it will look good, as that’s subjective. I can show the white Hillstone against a clay colored window and the white stucco against that same color window. Hope that it will help you make a decision.

The bricks will look different up close as river rock is more rounded on the corners. From our road to the house (70’) it isn’t as noticeable as our neighbors that have river rock. I guess the difference in mortar and brick will make it more noticeable.

Standard River rock for reference on a neighbors house with buff mortar.

Thank you! I apprecite your help. The first picture, the white brick looks creamish, is that perhaps because of the sun hitting it? The standard river rock with the buff mortar looks nice too!

The sun plays a factor in it, but the other aspect is that you are looking at the brick against the whitest stucco color. White Hillstone isn’t a true white, it’s just a lighter version of the Hillstone brick. When put against a pure white (like the white windows) it will look like a different color than the white.

If you scroll up, I’ve tried to post lots of photos of the brick to give you different ideas of how it looks. There is even a brick that shows some sections painted. The mortar will also make a big difference in how “white” the house looks from a distance.

All that said, I think this series of brick is to give the monotone look that painted brick gives, without the maintenance. There are just a whole lot of factors that need to go well to get it that way.

This is white Hillstone with buff mortar on another neighbor’s house. Gives you an idea of how it looks with white windows, as well as how the brick looks under different lighting.

Their mortar was amazing BTW. Not white sand, but it was very light and consistent throughout their build. Ours varied a lot.

The supplier made a mistake and sent ”Original River rock” instead of ”white river rock”.

Will be painting this brick once its up. Does anyone have an input on the below?

https://www.ppgpaints.com/color/color-families/purples/moon-lily

We have a strict HOA and they do not allow a paint with a LRV above 80. We are looking for the closest paint to White with a very minimal undertone.