Why pick a boring color when you can make a bold statement?
Front doors and entryways set the tone for what’s to come. Yours can be bold and inviting, or it can be tasteful but timid. We think a front door is a great way to make a statement that says welcome and makes your home stand out from the crowd.
We have picked our favourites, to take the guess-work out of picking the one that will look best for your home.
First, there are a few different ways to approach selecting a color for your front door.
1. Create monochromatic flow
Pick a color that flows from the exterior color (brick, stone, or siding). Create a monochromatic scheme by selecting a front door that is in the same color family but a bit lighter or darker. If you have terra cotta cultured brick then you might pick an earthy peach or salmon for your front door color. For a red brick house, pick a darker deeper red, burgundy, or maroon.
2. Create contrast with complementary colours
What is more classic than a red brick house with a green door? Complementary colors sit across from one another on the color wheel and create vibrancy when set together to play off one another. This is a great way to draw the eye from the street right to your front door.
3. Consider your neighbours
If the same material is repeated on your street, you might want to choose a similar color to what your neighbours have chosen, or one that complements their front door color to create your own statement. Choosing a color that plays well with the style of your neighborhood is a “good neighbour” consideration. This is especially important in urban duplexes that share the same front porch but have separate doors. Choose colors that work well together and complement one another.
These neighbours certainly worked well together. Isn’t it great how the plantings on the right echo the door color on the left? The result is harmony with no loss of identity!
4. Consider the style and period of your home
If your home has traditional architectural features it is best to keep with historic colors that would be fitting of the period style. Typically, they are muted or greyed down versions of classic colors (hint: Look to Benjamin Moore’s Historic Collection). If it is a bold and modern home, brighter hues can work well such as a bright sunny yellow or tangerine, would be appropriate. It is important to take the style of your home into consideration when choosing your front door color.
A few of our favourite front door colours
Go bold with red
Red is a go-to for a stand-out entryway. Whether your home is colonial with white siding, or greyed cedar shakes, grey stone, or a classic red brick, this hue will make a bold introduction for visitors.
How pretty is this inviting front door against blue siding!
Red, like a fashionable lipstick color can be found in blued hues like ‘cranberry red’ and ‘tomato red’ to orangey-coral red and anything in between. Pick the one that flatters your siding or brick best.
Here are a few of my go-to reds for an eye-catching front door.
Teal or Turquoise
Don’t know where to start, or how to pick a color? We advise clients to take their cues from their home’s interior. The front door, like the entry-way sets the tone for what’s to come. Pick a color that relates the exterior to the interior for a winning solution. If you are daring, pick a bolder version of a color you selected for an accent in the interior. A front door is a great place to go bold because you don’t spend a lot of time looking at it like you would a wall color.
Turquoise or teal is a lovely hue to complement white clapboard or greyed shakes for a beachy vibe.
Green
Vibrant with white, but a verdant green is great with many exteriors when it echoes the colors of plantings around the exterior. From blued greens to a citrus hue this is always a welcoming color.
Yellow, Mustard, Gold
What could be a cheerier greeting than a sunny yellow front door? The gold tone with off-white trim is pretty on a yellow brick house (my personal favourite). Use a high gloss for extra vibrancy.
Blue
Blue can be classic, or it can be fresh and fun depending on the hue you choose. Either way, it is a welcoming color to greet your guests.
Blue is the hue that is sought after next to red and black. From country-chic to urban it pairs well with many exterior colors.
So there you have it. I just love a punch of colour at the front door to say “you have arrived”!
Next time, I’ll tackle some of the darks that can add elegance to any entryway. If you were looking for a black, sign up for our newsletter. I will be writing about my favourite black paint colors shortly. Spoiler: most of them are not actually black but deep dark hues that shift with the light in a most enchanting way.
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