Choosing Internal Frame Colours

There is no single correct approach. A single colour throughout, most commonly white or a mid-grey, gives a simple, unified look and is marginally the cheaper and faster route to specify, since it removes an extra decision and, on some systems, a small dual-colour surcharge. Choosing an independent internal colour lets you treat the frame as part of the room's interior scheme rather than a fixed architectural element, which is particularly worth doing in rooms with strong existing decoration, such as a kitchen with dark cabinetry or a study with a heritage colour scheme on the walls.

Lighter internal frame colours reflect more daylight around the window reveal than dark colours, a genuinely useful effect in rooms that rely heavily on natural light. This is a modest effect, not a substitute for glass specification or room orientation, but it is worth factoring in for north-facing rooms or smaller windows where every increment of reflected light helps.

If you are decorating around new windows rather than fitting them into an already-finished room, it is worth finalising your internal colour scheme, or at least your intended wall colour and skirting, before ordering frames, since matching paint to an installed frame colour is far easier than the reverse.

Internal steel-look doors and glazed partitions, increasingly popular for open-plan living and home offices, are a slightly different case, since both faces of the frame are seen internally. Here, colour choice is closer to a piece of furniture or joinery decision than an architectural one; black and anthracite steel-look internal frames remain the most requested finish, giving a crisp, defined line to a glazed partition, while white and light grey are chosen where a lower-contrast, more recessive look is wanted.