Diane Stewart, the Color Consultant at Kansas City's own Color Sense Consulting, is a wealth of experience and information when choosing paint colors. Here Diane talks about some of the factors in choosing which color for your front door.
The color of your front door should always make a good impression. Choosing a great paint color, along with a decorative wreath or plaque, gives you an opportunity to be creative, and set your house apart.
Exterior colors should work well with your fixed surfaces and materials, such as your roof, stone or brick. Your front door should be part of your exterior color scheme. It’s best to plan it all out at the same time, although door colors can be tweaked later on as long as the new color relates to the rest.
Most homes have fairly neutral body colors, lighter trim, and an accent color or two. Front doors are usually painted the accent color, and may match architectural details which have been "picked out", or highlighted. Make sure you have a sturdy door with a relatively smooth surface. This is one of the few places where I specify semi-gloss paint.
Black doors may be classic, but can look like a dark hole, especially if you have a screen door. It's more eye-catching to have a brighter color. Warm colors jump out while cool colors recede.
When appropriate, I specify some form of red for front doors. Red is an energetic color that gets attention. According to Feng Shui principles, the front door is where chi, or energy, enters your home. The goal is to attract good energy and have a doorway that appears warm and inviting.
In addition, decorative objects “pop” against reddish colors. An evergreen wreath on a red door is a sure holiday bet. But, if your door is painted green or blue, it would sort of disappear.
And don't forget about landscaping colors. I'm thrilled every time I see that my brick-colored front door perfectly matches the new leaves on my Japanese maple tree near the entryway.
An oldie-but-goody trick is to take a photo of the front side of your house, cut out the front door and hold the door-less photo over color chips. You'll quickly narrow your range of choices and not have a brush to clean!
When you're ready to paint your front door, or anything else in, on or around your home, give Crestwood Painting a call. We'll make sure the colors pop and the paint doesn't. :)
