Color Pairings
Colors That Go With Red Brick: Trim, Door, and Shutter Colors
Red brick is the one color on your house you did not choose and cannot easily change. It is already there, it covers the biggest surface, and it will still be there in twenty years. That makes it the anchor of the whole scheme. Every other color — trim, door, shutters, siding on an addition, porch floor — has to be picked to sit next to it. Most red brick is not really red. It is orange-red, with mortar running through it in white, gray, or buff. Those two colors together are the real base you are matching, not the brick alone.
The one rule is simple: your undertones must not fight the brick. Red brick leans warm and orange, so warm whites, warm beiges, and deep colors with a warm or neutral base settle in beside it. Cool, blue-based whites and cold grays go the other way — next to orange-red they look blue and slightly dirty, and the brick starts to look pink. The safest deep colors are near-blacks, charcoals, deep greens, and grayed navies, because they read as a shadow instead of as a competing color. Warm neutral in the big areas, deep and quiet in the small ones.
Trim Colors for Red Brick
Trim is the second-biggest color on a brick house, so it sets the whole tone — and this is where most people go wrong by grabbing a bright, blue-based white. Sherwin-Williams Alabaster SW 7008 and Benjamin Moore White Dove OC-17 are the two workhorses here: both are soft warm whites that read clean against orange-red brick without turning icy. If your brick is very orange or very old, step warmer still with Benjamin Moore Swiss Coffee OC-45 or Sherwin-Williams Creamy SW 7012, which have enough yellow in them to feel like they belong to the same century as the brick. Behr Swiss Coffee 12 is the budget equivalent and holds up well on fascia and soffits. Some homeowners go the opposite way and paint trim dark — Sherwin-Williams Iron Ore SW 7069 on window frames looks sharp and modern, but only when the roof and gutters are also dark.
Front Door Colors for Red Brick
The door is the only place you should take a real risk, because it is small enough to repaint in an afternoon. Deep navy is the most reliable winner — Benjamin Moore Hale Navy HC-154 has enough gray in it to keep from clashing with the brick's orange, and Sherwin-Williams Naval SW 6244 is the richer, more saturated version for a house with white trim. Deep green is the classic historic choice: Benjamin Moore Essex Green HC-188 was literally made for brick colonials, and Sherwin-Williams Rookwood Dark Green SW 2816 pulls a little warmer and browner, which flatters older, softer brick. For a black door, avoid pure black and use Benjamin Moore Wrought Iron 2124-10 or Farrow & Ball Railings No. 31 — both are near-blacks with depth, so they look intentional rather than like a hole in the wall. Warm bronze like Sherwin-Williams Urbane Bronze SW 7048 is the quiet option that ties brick to a dark roof.
Shutter Colors for Red Brick
Shutters cover more surface than a door and repeat across the whole facade, so they need to recede, not shout. Black-brown and charcoal are the default for a reason: Sherwin-Williams Iron Ore SW 7069 and Benjamin Moore Wrought Iron 2124-10 both read as deep shadow against red brick and make the windows look bigger and better-framed. Green shutters are the traditional pairing on older brick homes — Sherwin-Williams Rookwood Shutter Green SW 2809 is the historic Craftsman choice, and Farrow & Ball Studio Green No. 93 or Benjamin Moore Salamander 2050-10 give an almost-black green that only shows its color in full sun. Behr Cracked Pepper PPU18-01 is a solid soft black if you are buying at a home center. Skip true red, burgundy, and bright white shutters: red fights the brick and white makes each shutter float off the wall.
Siding & Addition Colors
When part of the house is siding — a dormer, a gable, a rear addition — the goal is a color that acts like a quieter cousin of the brick, not a contrast. Warm beiges and greiges do this best: Sherwin-Williams Accessible Beige SW 7036 and Benjamin Moore Manchester Tan HC-81 both carry a soft warm base that picks up the buff tones inside the brick and the mortar. For brick with more orange in it, Sherwin-Williams Kilim Beige SW 6106 leans warmer and blends almost seamlessly. Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter HC-172 is the safe middle greige when your mortar is gray rather than cream. If you want the siding to feel deliberately different, a muted sage like Benjamin Moore October Mist 1495 sits opposite the brick's orange and reads as calm rather than clashing. Avoid cold, blue-gray siding colors — they make brick look pink.
Porch & Accent Colors
The porch is where you can add the one soft color the rest of the house does not have. A pale blue-green porch ceiling is the Southern tradition and it genuinely looks good against brick — Benjamin Moore Woodlawn Blue HC-147 or Sherwin-Williams Rain SW 6219 are the two most used, both soft enough to feel like sky rather than a statement. For porch floors and steps, pick a warm gray in a porch-and-floor enamel: Benjamin Moore Kendall Charcoal HC-166 hides dirt and grounds the brick, while Sherwin-Williams Dovetail SW 7018 is a lighter option that still reads clean. Railings and columns usually look best in the same warm white as the trim, or dropped to Benjamin Moore Chelsea Gray HC-168 when you want them to fade back. Natural cedar or a stained wood door adds warmth without adding a fifth color.
How To Test Colors Against Your Own Brick
No two brick houses are the same color. One is bright orange-red, the next is deep burgundy, the one across the street is a mix of both with black flashing. The mortar matters just as much: cream mortar pushes the whole wall warmer, gray mortar cools it down. So never pick from a chart in the store. Get sample pots, paint two coats on white poster board, and tape the board directly against the brick — right next to the mortar line, not floating in the yard. Look at it in morning light, in flat afternoon shade, and after dark under your porch light. Move it to the north and south sides of the house, because the same white can look cream on one wall and gray on the other. Live with it three days before you buy a gallon.
Colors That Fight Red Brick
Most bad brick schemes come from one mistake: a cool undertone parked next to a warm wall. Bright blue-based whites like the default builder white make the brick look pink and the trim look blue. Cold gray siding does the same thing on a much bigger surface. Pink-based beiges are the other trap — they pick up the red in the brick and the whole house goes flat and rosy. True red and burgundy doors compete with a wall that is already red, so nobody wins. Bright terracotta and pumpkin oranges sit too close to the brick's own tone and look accidental. And pure black on large areas can go harsh and chalky in sun; a near-black with warmth or a hint of green holds up far better against orange-red masonry.
Whole-Scheme Examples That Work
Classic colonial: red brick, Benjamin Moore White Dove OC-17 trim, Benjamin Moore Essex Green HC-188 shutters and door, a haint-blue porch ceiling in Woodlawn Blue HC-147. Nothing fights, and it will look correct in fifty years. Modern updated: red brick, Sherwin-Williams Alabaster SW 7008 trim, Sherwin-Williams Iron Ore SW 7069 on shutters, gutters, and window frames, with a Naval SW 6244 door and black light fixtures. Sharp without being trendy. Warm and soft: older orange brick, Sherwin-Williams Creamy SW 7012 trim, Sherwin-Williams Kilim Beige SW 6106 on the addition siding, and an Urbane Bronze SW 7048 door. In all three, the brick stays the star and everything else supports it — three colors total, not six.
An Easy 60-30-10 Recipe
A simple way to balance the room: one main color, one supporting color, and one small pop.
Ready-Made Red Brick Palettes
Want the whole scheme done for you? These finished palettes build on red brick and the partners above — every color matched to real paint you can buy.