Choosing a paint color for your doors is an important decision that can dramatically impact the look and feel of your home’s exterior. With so many paint colors to choose from, it can be overwhelming to select the perfect shade. By considering the architecture and style of your home, assessing the current colors, and thinking about the impression you want to make, you can narrow down your options to find the ideal paint color for your doors.
How will the color complement your home’s style?
The first thing to think about when choosing a door color is how it will complement the overall style and aesthetic of your home. Here are some tips for selecting a door color based on architectural style:
- For traditional, colonial, or farmhouse styles, opt for classic red, black, navy, forest green, or deep orange. These rich colors pair well with white trim and look stately on this home style.
- For craftsman, prairie, or bungalow styles, consider lighter earth tones like sage, olive, brown, tan, or slate blue to complement the natural materials used on this style of home.
- For Mediterranean or Spanish style homes, terra cotta, sunny yellow, or sky blue are ideal picks that align with the laidback vibe.
- Contemporary, modern, and ranch style homes look great with gray, deep purple, metallic finishes, or glossy black doors to match their sleekness.
Making sure your door color matches the architectural style of your home creates a cohesive curb appeal.
Evaluate the existing color palette
When selecting a door color, you also need to consider the existing exterior color scheme of your home. If your home siding or trim is a certain color, you’ll want your door color to complement or contrast nicely with these existing elements.
Here are some tips if your exterior is:
- White or light gray: Opt for a bold, saturated door color like navy, dark red, black, or sage green as an eye-catching contrast.
- Red brick: Choose a neutral shade like black, charcoal, deep brown, or slate gray to complement the brick.
- Dark siding: Go for a lighter, brighter door color like light blue, sage green, yellow, or gray with white trim to pop against the dark background.
- Multicolor scheme: Pick a door color that incorporates one of the shades already on your home for cohesion, like red if you have red brick and tan siding.
You generally want your door to stand out, not blend in, so be strategic about choosing a color that contrasts well with your home’s existing palette.
What impression do you want to give?
Consider what statement you want to make or vibe you want to convey through your front door’s color. This can help narrow down your options.
Some impressions different door colors evoke:
| Door Color | Impression |
|---|---|
| Black | Bold, sleek, modern |
| Red | Warm, classic, inviting |
| Yellow | Cheery, lively, charming |
| Forest Green | Natural, earthy, traditional |
| Navy | Nautical, timeless, dignified |
| Gray | Subtle, flexible, understated |
Choosing a color that evokes the feeling you want for your home’s curb appeal can guide your door color selection.
Consider the light exposure
The amount of sunlight your front door gets is another variable to factor in when choosing a color. Here’s how light exposure impacts door color choices:
- North-facing doors that get little natural light can use darker, more saturated colors like burgundy, forest green, navy, or eggplant.
- East-facing doors with morning sun should avoid pale, light colors that can look washed out.
- South-facing doors with harsh midday light should go for lighter, reflective colors like light gray, pale yellow, or soft green.
- West-facing doors in afternoon sun can use deeper, warmer colors like orange, red, olive, or brown.
Testing paint swatches at different times of day can reveal how the color changes in variable sunlight. This will ensure the hue you choose looks great morning, noon and night.
Think about maintenance
Consider how often you’ll need to repaint based on the door color you choose. Some guidelines:
- Black and very dark colors fade faster in the sun and show scuffs more easily, requiring more frequent repainting every 2-3 years.
- Bold reds and blues hold up better than black but may need repainting every 3-5 years as they fade.
- More neutral light grays, browns, whites, and beiges last longer, closer to 5-8 years between repaints.
If you dread repainting and want to avoid maintenance, go for a lighter neutral color. If you don’t mind touching up every few years, a bold color gives maximum visual impact.
Get color inspiration from nature
Looking to Mother Nature can provide endless inspiration for stunning front door colors. Here are some nature-based hues that work beautifully on doors:
- Sage green – evokes soft mosses and lichens
- Forest green – echoes lush trees and rolling hills
- Sky blue – mimics a clear daytime sky
- Robin’s egg blue – suggests calm coastal waters
- Butter yellow – captures a field of daffodils
- Sunflower yellow – radiates the glow of a sunflower
- Salmon – hints at an epic sunset
- Terracotta – channels the tones of clay earth
Nature offers an abundance of rich, interesting colors that complement outdoor spaces beautifully. Let the natural world guide your door color selection.
Choose based on your neighborhood
You may want your door color to match or complement the surrounding houses in your neighborhood. Here are some tips for choosing a door color based on nearby homes:
- If most homes have white, black, or neutral doors, follow suit to blend in seamlessly.
- If the neighborhood features mostly bright, bold doors, go for a vivid color to match that lively personality.
- If the area has a variety of different colors, feel free to choose your personal favorite hue.
- If your home is one of a kind architecturally, use a unique door color to play up its distinctiveness.
Driving around your neighborhood and taking notes on current color trends can generate ideas for the perfect community-compliant shade.
Factor in size of the entryway
The scale of your front door and surrounding entryway should inform your color selection. For example:
- Smaller front doors in intimate enclosed alcoves can get away with very bold, saturated colors since they are protected elements with less visual weight.
- Larger double doors on an expansive, open facade demand softer, lighter colors so as not to overwhelm the entryway.
- A tiny front stoop needs a color that draws the eye, while a huge covered front porch benefits from a subtle, receding color.
Proportionally balance the door color to the size and scale of the full entryway space.
Test swatches first
Before committing to a door color, test it out. Paint 2×2 foot sized swatches on the door in your top color contenders. Look at them at different times of day and night to see how natural and artificial light impacts the shades.
Also paint large poster boards or foam core boards in your colors and prop them in the entryway. This makes it easy to get a sense of how the color will look in its real-life context.
Many paint companies offer samples sizes specifically for this purpose. Investing the time in swatch testing helps ensure total confidence in your final door color choice.
Think about future plans
Choose a versatile door color that will coordinate well if you plan exterior updates down the road. For example:
- If a siding change is coming up, select a flexible neutral like gray, brown, or navy that will complement most options.
- If you’ll eventually repaint the trim, go for a color that pops against both existing and future trim colors.
- If adjacent plantings will change, pick a shade that coordinates with varied greenery.
Pick a door color that plays well with an evolving exterior so you won’t have to redo it with each update.
Don’t forget the door hardware
When selecting a door color, also think about whether your hardware needs an update to match. Some guidelines on coordinating hardware with door color:
- Warm metal finishes like bronze pair well with warm door colors like red, orange, yellow, or brown.
- Cool metals like silver, nickel, and stainless steel complement cool door colors like blues, greens, purples.
- Oil rubbed bronze hardware suits darker door colors like black, navy, forest green.
- Brass hardware matches well with red and blue doors.
- Black hardware pops nicely against lighter doors in white, light gray, yellow, or sky blue.
Hardware finishes that align with the undertones of your door color look tailored and elegant together.
Conclusion
Choosing the perfect front door color requires weighing many factors: your home’s architecture, the current exterior color palette, the impression you want to give, sun exposure, maintenance considerations, surrounding homes’ colors, entryway proportions, future exterior plans, and hardware coordination.
With so many impactful variables at play, it’s important to thoroughly assess how potential colors fit with all these criteria to find the ideal hue for your home before starting to paint. Testing swatches of top contenders seals the decision to ensure your beautiful new door color enhances your home for years to come.