A facade in modern farmhouse style
White cladding, black frames and a porch — the American countryside, brought up to date.
Modern farmhouse is one of the most popular styles of recent years, and it is easy to see why: it joins the cosiness of a country house to the cleanliness of a modern form. The basis is white horizontal cladding — timber boards or their fibre-cement equivalent — set against black joinery and a black roof.
Strong contrast and simple detail are what define it. Windows carry no decorative surrounds but sit in emphatic black; a plain porch or entrance canopy rests on timber or steel posts; sometimes one section of wall switches to vertical boarding to change the rhythm.
The style works beautifully on houses with a pronounced gable roof, including those from the 1990s, which it gives a completely new life. The biggest decisions are the shade of white and the width of the board — both are best judged on a photo of your own house, because a sample looks nothing like a whole wall.
Which houses it suits
- Houses with a pronounced gable roof
- Buildings with a porch, veranda or covered entrance
- Renovations of houses from the 1990s and 2000s
Colours and materials
- White and off-white cladding
- Black joinery and roof
- Natural timber on posts and details
Common questions
Does the cladding have to be timber?
No — fibre-cement boards (Cedral and similar) look very close, resist moisture and are practically maintenance-free. Installed, they usually cost 200–330 PLN/m².
Will a white house get dirty next to a road?
Horizontal cladding soils more slowly than smooth render, because water runs off the boards. On a busy road, a slightly broken white is worth considering over a pure one.
Similar styles
