7 Winter Cabins and Porches With Airy White Palettes
Bright whites pair up with seasonal accents to create inviting winter scenes
Lauren Dunec Hoang
December 2, 2019
Houzz Editor; landscape designer and former garden editor for Sunset Magazine and in-house designer for Sunset's Editorial Test Garden. Her garden designs have been featured in the Sunset Western Garden Book of Landscaping, Sunset Western Garden Book of Easy-Care Plantings (cover), Inhabitat, and POPSUGAR.
Houzz Editor; landscape designer and former garden editor for Sunset Magazine and... More
Embracing white in winter may feel a bit counterintuitive. Aren’t warm tones and bright holiday hues just the cheerful color hits we need in the dark season? But white can feel refreshingly clean and bright this time of year, as Scandinavian style has shown, helping to capture light and reflect it back. White can also act as a clean backdrop for cozy winter accents like glowing candles, warm throws and holiday decorations. Come take a look at these inviting pale-hued buildings and see if you draw any inspiration for your home this winter.
1. Clean White Door and Seasonal Containers
For this Canadian home in Calgary, Alberta, a white door and light-colored shingled siding form a bright backdrop to two winter containers by Your Space By Design. The contrast of the pale exterior against the deep green conifers, bright berries and brown cones creates a rich winter display ready to greet holiday guests.
Find a landscape designer on Houzz to help with your container garden
For this Canadian home in Calgary, Alberta, a white door and light-colored shingled siding form a bright backdrop to two winter containers by Your Space By Design. The contrast of the pale exterior against the deep green conifers, bright berries and brown cones creates a rich winter display ready to greet holiday guests.
Find a landscape designer on Houzz to help with your container garden
2. Airy, Cozy Home Office
Interior designer Amy Mitchell of Home Glow Design needed more space for her growing interior design business, so she converted a former 19th-century blacksmith shop in her New Hampshire backyard into a home office. To keep the 176-square-foot (16-square-meter) space feeling bright and open, Mitchell used a color palette of white and natural tones with a few warming touches, such as faded blush floral fabric for the window treatments.
Wall paint: White Dove, Benjamin Moore
Interior designer Amy Mitchell of Home Glow Design needed more space for her growing interior design business, so she converted a former 19th-century blacksmith shop in her New Hampshire backyard into a home office. To keep the 176-square-foot (16-square-meter) space feeling bright and open, Mitchell used a color palette of white and natural tones with a few warming touches, such as faded blush floral fabric for the window treatments.
Wall paint: White Dove, Benjamin Moore
Mitchell painted the walls white, chose white bookcases and a white worktable, and even painted the cork wall behind the worktable white to help it visually recede. The finished space is snug and cozy year-round, but doesn’t feel cramped, thanks to Mitchell’s design and intentional use of whites.
Learn more about this renovated shed
Learn more about this renovated shed
3. Crisp Entry and Holiday Accents
A crisp combination of white siding and black trim sets this modern farmhouse by Spruce Homes in Saskatchewan, Canada, apart from others on the block. Holiday garlands and wreaths make the porch stand out even more, and recessed lighting and a high-gloss white ceiling brighten up the porch year-round.
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A crisp combination of white siding and black trim sets this modern farmhouse by Spruce Homes in Saskatchewan, Canada, apart from others on the block. Holiday garlands and wreaths make the porch stand out even more, and recessed lighting and a high-gloss white ceiling brighten up the porch year-round.
Shop for wreaths and garlands on Houzz
A few red accents by the front door, including a holiday greeting sign, vintage-style wire baskets and a cherry-red metal chair, pop against the white exterior and give the entrance a festive look.
4. Bright, Modern Farmhouse
Simplicity is key in the design of this farmhouse-style home by MGM Builders in Gorham, Maine, about 12 miles from Portland. White cladding is wrapped around the exterior, which is paired with a crisp white door, white trim and a pressure-treated wood front porch. The nearly all-white color palette feels bright and fresh — welcome attributes during gray New England winters.
Simplicity is key in the design of this farmhouse-style home by MGM Builders in Gorham, Maine, about 12 miles from Portland. White cladding is wrapped around the exterior, which is paired with a crisp white door, white trim and a pressure-treated wood front porch. The nearly all-white color palette feels bright and fresh — welcome attributes during gray New England winters.
Homeowners Chad and Shanna Perreault decorated the porch with antique elements, including an old steamer trunk and a zinc watering can, to balance the white exterior and create a more lived-in look.
Read more about this modern Maine farmhouse
Read more about this modern Maine farmhouse
5. White Brick Christmas Entryway
A boxwood wreath hung on a whitewashed brick wall, alongside a mini Christmas tree and stacked wood, makes the entryway to this home near Chicago by Park and Oak Design feel bright, welcoming and seasonally festive. The contrast of the patterned black-and-white tile adds a contemporary touch.
A boxwood wreath hung on a whitewashed brick wall, alongside a mini Christmas tree and stacked wood, makes the entryway to this home near Chicago by Park and Oak Design feel bright, welcoming and seasonally festive. The contrast of the patterned black-and-white tile adds a contemporary touch.
6. Clean-Lined Lake House
Set on Lake Mille Lacs, north of Minneapolis, this lake house designed by Swan Architecture pairs a simple farmhouse silhouette with white siding and a gray roof for a home that feels both classic and contemporary.
Set on Lake Mille Lacs, north of Minneapolis, this lake house designed by Swan Architecture pairs a simple farmhouse silhouette with white siding and a gray roof for a home that feels both classic and contemporary.
A combination of shiplap and board-and-batten siding adds interest to the all-white exterior. Low wall-mounted lanterns illuminate the porch, while white Adirondack chairs invite one to sit back, relax and look out over the lake — perhaps with the addition of a few woolly blankets to keep cozy in cold weather.
7. Cozy and Bright Log Cabin
While log cabins tend to be dark inside, this renovated 1920s cabin on a lake near Ann Arbor, Michigan, is surprisingly light, thanks to a very pale gray paint covering the interior. “We were so surprised by how light and airy it was inside, so quaint and charming,” says homeowner Nicole Ray, who works as an artist and illustrator (the whale print on the wall is her work).
The 10-by-20-foot bedroom feels cozy without being cramped, thanks to white and light gray bedding and gauzy white curtains.
Gray blanket: Windowpane, Pendleton; artwork: “Whale Rider” by Nicole Ray
While log cabins tend to be dark inside, this renovated 1920s cabin on a lake near Ann Arbor, Michigan, is surprisingly light, thanks to a very pale gray paint covering the interior. “We were so surprised by how light and airy it was inside, so quaint and charming,” says homeowner Nicole Ray, who works as an artist and illustrator (the whale print on the wall is her work).
The 10-by-20-foot bedroom feels cozy without being cramped, thanks to white and light gray bedding and gauzy white curtains.
Gray blanket: Windowpane, Pendleton; artwork: “Whale Rider” by Nicole Ray
Ray turned this corner of the cabin into a station for packaging her artwork to send to clients. More of her art adds dashes of bright color to the pale walls.
Tour this house
Tour this house
Your turn: Does your house embrace white in winter? Tell us in the Comments.
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Winter white is beautiful.
Cozy, beautiful places!! Well done!