31 Exterior Window Trim Ideas

Interior décor turns a house into a home. It influences your moods and comfort levels, because you’ll be staring at those colors and sensing those textures every day. But most people won’t get to enjoy your interiors. They’ll only see your house from the outside as they drive by.

And that quick glance helps them form a mental image about you. So it’s important to work on your landscaping and hard-scaping. Your exterior window trim ideas matter too. Why? They say eyes are the window to the soul. Well, windows show the soul of your house. So let’s get started!

Exterior Window Trim Ideas

1. All Natural

In the old days, houses were made of brick, stone, or wood. This was before glass windows were even invented. And as we discover new exterior window trim ideas, a lot of us are leaning towards the retro. This home is a good example. The windows are framed in white wood. It beautifully contrasts the red brick, the gray timber panels, and the varnished wooden ceiling.

 

2. Extra Light

The primary purpose of a window is letting light and air into the house. And while larger windows increase illumination, they can be hard to style. In this example, the windows are positioned above glass doors to maximize daylight. Both the windows are doors are framed in white. The surrounding wooden walls are painted bright yellow to enhance the sunny mood.

 

3. Yellow and Gray

The previous example was a commercial set-up, but you can bring the same ideas into your home. These large windows have no grills, but they do have interior shutters for added privacy. Outside, white and yellow wood paneling is set in a gray background. The window is further protected by a picket fenced patio, blocking unwanted eyes from your indoor activities.

 

4. Minimally Natural

Modern buildings prefer large unlined windows. The traditional approach favors smaller ones. This home combines grained wood with gray siding to make a strong visual statement. And because the exterior décor is already so loud, the subtle window trim works. Their size is dwarfed by the dimensions of the house, and the white frames provide a pretty contrast.

 

5. Glorious Gray

Mixing your textures is a great way to add some interest to your exteriors. This home uses gray timber siding and stacked stone siding. These varied grays blend into large windos framed in black. The windows have a slight tint for added privacy. This tint is crucial, since the windows are massive and offer a generous view into the house. The door is glass as well.

 

6. Tantalizing Texture

Nine out of ten people view your house from the outside. They’ll never get past your front door, or even enter your yard. So exterior window trim ideas influence their perception of you. This home uses color, shape, and texture. The frameless windows are set in brown wood panel. The house also has tan siding, rectangular tiles, and stacked stone on its front façade.

 

7. French Doors or No French Doors?

All homes should have natural light, but some of us need extra illumination, so we rush to install French doors. But if you don’t want floor-to-ceiling safety glass, here’s another option. This home has large windows that take up most of the wall but aren’t as expensive or high-maintenance as French door. The sub-floor options light up the lower storey as well.

 

8. Unfettered Windows

You can’t always control the location of your windows, and the view they face. But you can influence exterior window trim ideas. This house has large windows, but because they’re couched in blue siding, they appear proportional. The lower floors combine the limber siding with stacked stone, giving your home exterior a gorgeous mixed-texture finish.

 

9. Red and Gray

This American bungalow uses texture beautifully. The siding on the upper part of the window has reddish-brown siding arranged in a brick-like grid. The lower sided comprises greenish-gray horizontal paneling. White window frames set off the window against the bright background. This gives your exteriors a quirky character, mixing the contemporary with the rustic.

 

10. Green Trimmings

Sometimes, simplicity is the key. This home has off-white siding, and the windows are equally low-fuss. White frames are bordered with jungle-green trim that highlights the landscaping below. The windows have horizontal grills to break up their surface. These grills add shape and structure to the window, but they also cut costs because you can use smaller glass panels.

 

11. Trim the Attic

Traditional, attics and basements were storage spaces, so they stayed dimly. But as we’ve started repurposing them, we’ve changed up the décor. In this house, the vaulted ceilings aren’t dank or dim. Instead, custom-shaped windows fill most of the attic wall, ensuring maximum lighting. The brown slatted siding contrasts pleasantly with the yellow siding on lower floors.

 

12. Shape it Up!

You can significantly elevate your exterior window trim ideas if you just play with shapes. In this example, the curved porch and tapering pillars aren’t part of the window trim, but they offer the visual framing. Combined with the horizontal siding around the window itself and the stone bases beneath the pillars, the overall effect shows character and style.

 

13. Full Frontal Windows

French doors are sometimes called French windows. And they’re a popular choice among exterior window trim ideas. In this case, the treatment extends beyond the large front doors. The narrower sides of the house have vertical windows as well. The side windows are almost as large as the French doors, so lots of light comes in. The white siding increases light levels as well.

 

14. Welcome Lights

Some homes have dim front doors. But exterior window trim ideas can help you brighten up the space. In this home, the front door is framed by windows. The top half of the door is glass too. And the walls on either side of the door have large windows as well, so the whole front hall is warm and welcoming. The glass is framed in white against gray sidings of wood and stone.

 

15. Porch Window

It’s unusual to have a window in your porch. But you do want to let light in, so if you do install a window porch, you’ll need some creative exterior window trim ideas. This example works well. The porch has a large window right next to the door. It’s almost the same as the door, so it lets in maximal light. A smaller window lies a few inches away. Both windows are framed in white.

 

16. Windows Everywhere!

Do you need to have a window in every room? No, but if your house faces the sun, you should take full advantage. In this house, the front side faces East, so it uses lots of windows to maximize natural light. The windows are framed in white and set on a backdrop of tan siding.

 

17. Eyes into your Home

This house uses similar exterior window trim ideas. But the windows are larger. Big glass pieces cost more, so this home uses muntins (that’s what those window grids are called). These windows are framed in white and outlines in brown, while the walls are a darker shade of tan.

 

18. Overhead Windows

There’s a popular style of window trim where the window is placed closer to the roof. These are usually small windows, and they common for bathrooms, basements, and attics. This home plays with that idea, using regular-sized vertical windows and placing smaller horizontal window panels directly above. The upper panes are elongated to let in more light.

 

19. Clever and Curvy

Windows don’t always have to be linear. This gray slate home plays with curves, incorporating arches and ovals into its exterior window trim ideas. The house combines rectangular windows with arched tops and oval windows for smaller rooms. The white window frames pleasantly contrast the gray slate siding and the vaulted tile roofing. The garage windows are curved too.

 

20. Boxy Beauty

This home is largely linear, with a flat roof and lots of right angles. So your exterior window trim ideas have to align with the overall form of the house. This home applies that principle through a mix of large and small windows. The windows have fewer muntins, and the muntins match the exterior wall separators. The walls are a mix of gray sidings and tan painted surfaces.

 

21. Sliding Windows

Ordinarily, sliding doors are lateral, meaning they open and close sideways. But in this house, the external window trim ideas are vertical. It’s a two-storey house and the windows cover almost the entire length of each floor. The windows are long and narrow. This allows you to install three to four windows per façade without overwhelming the overall design of the house.

 

22. Colorful Cottages

Log cabins usually have a rustic homely feel. But as modern architecture leans back into the retro space, your exterior window trim ideas should match. In this example, the effect is created through color. The window has white frames and munchins with red trim on the border. The windows have green wooden doors to shield the glass. All this is set on yellow wooden siding.

 

23. Mixed Media

For many homeowners, the debate is whether they should build in wood or stone. But it doesn’t need to be either/or, as this home shows. The lower half is stacked stone and the upper half is grayed lumber. The windows serve as a divider, so they have stone trim below and timber trim above. The four munchins do confuse the eye though, because of all those mixed shapes.

 

24. Three-D Window Styling

Windows are generally flat. But if you want to evoke depth, you can achieve it with the right exterior window trim ideas. In this case, the windows are extruded into triangular and trapezoid projections that give the house a Chinese pagoda-like feel. The roofing is also vaguely Chinese, except for the gray siding and large window sizes. They give the house a contemporary touch.

 

25. Bountiful Bungalow

When you’re putting up a one-story house, it needs careful planning to ensure the home is well-lit. This home uses mixed media exteriors to add visual interest. The layout is in multiple tiers including reddish brown slats, gray siding, and stacked tone. These all offer a beautiful backdrop for the white window frames and the glass door. There are no munchins so the light is unbroken.

 

26. Tiers and Curves

Windows are functional, but they also add visual beauty to your home. And in this house, every window has a different treatment. Some are occupy the whole wall, some have curved tops, and some are long vertical arches. They all have white frames though, and these frames fit well with the mixed-surface walls. The siding variants include brick and gray panel siding.

 

27. Upper View

Some homes use skylights to let in more sunshine. They’re also nice for viewing the stars at night. But this house takes a different approach, and yours can too. The home has regular munching feature, but the area above the porch is a sort of glass corridor. Its entire wall is made of nine window munchins. This warms up the mood of the entire house, both inside and out.

 

28. Dreamy Dormers

Gables roofs soak up a lot of floor space. So if you want to create a usable attic, dormers are a great way to do it. As exterior window trim ideas go, dormers are both pretty and practical. By letting extra light into the attic, they allow you to convert that potentially wasted room. These three light gray dormers stand out against the darker gray roof tile, making quite the statement.

 

29. Faux Doors for your Windows

In childhood picture books, windows often had colored wooden doors to shut them in. That’s probably because traditional windows had no glass. They were just openings with doors and hatches. You can modernize this concept by installing wide wood panels on either side of the window. From the outside, they look a lot like rustic exterior window covers.

 

30. Gauge your Garage

Does your garage have windows? Most don’t – just a large automated door shutter. But in case you want to turn the garage into an extra room or living space, you may want to let some light in. This two-garage home uses a series of tiny, well-spaced windows at the top of the garage door. Because the windows are part of the door, they don’t require any additional trim.

 

31. Flat-roofed Dormers

Conventional dormers have miniature gabled roofing. It projects out of the regular roof, matching its shape and silhouette. But when you want an extra visual kick, you can install dormers with flat roofs. This provides more space that a gabled dormer. It’s an attention grabbing exterior window trim idea, and the extra square footage can raise your asking price.