How to Choose a Front Door Color
The front door is the first thing that welcomes visitors -- and prospective buyers -- into your home. Make a great first impression by choosing the perfect color for your front door. Carter Oosterhouse shares his trade secrets for choosing the right shades based on the color, style and surroundings of your home, with a fun and inexpensive trick for trying out different colors without ever opening a single can of paint! Once you've chosen the hue that makes your home really pop, Carter shows you how to expertly apply that color to your front door.
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Step 1: What To Choose
Pick a color that contrasts with the rest of the house; enough to draw the eye but still works with the surrounding colors.
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Step 2: Auto Inspiration
Get in your car, drive around your neighborhood and look at other doors. See what works and what doesn't.
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Step 3: Say Cheese
Photograph the front of your house, print a larger print, cut out the door then, using paint chips as front doors, try out various colors.
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Step 4: Yes You Have To Paint
Prep the door by removing all hardware and dirt, and then sand down the finish-- if you don't use primer you will need two coats. Use a brush for all the detail making sure not to use too much paint (it will gather in the corners); then paint the panels with a roller.
Step 1: What to Choose
Pick a color that contrasts with the rest of the house; enough to draw the eye but still works with the surrounding colors.
Step 2: Auto-Inspiration
Get in your car, drive around your neighborhood and look at other doors. See what works and what doesn't.
Step 3: Say Cheese
ograph the front of your house, print a larger print, cut out the door then, using paint chips as front doors, try out various colors.
Step 4: Yes You Have to Paint
Prep the door by removing all hardware and dirt, and then sand down the finish-- if you don't use primer you will need two coats. Use a brush for all the detail making sure not to use too much paint (it will gather in the corners); then paint the panels with a roller.
Items You'll Need
- House with a Front Door
- Paint
- Roller and Tray
- Brush
- Camera
- Scissors
- Paint Chips
- Car
Featured Comments
The photo/paint chip idea is a winner! Regarding making the door "pop" and the color used are both personal choices. I would not have chosen blue for that door, but, I would have chosen Carter to paint it! LOL!!
June 19 2011 at 9:55 AM Permalink +14 rate up rate downThe photo and paint chip idea was great! I bet I could use that to decide what colors to paint some of my rooms, too. Thanks Carter!
June 19 2011 at 8:41 AM Permalink +10 rate up rate downI used a similar concept, but used a printer photo which I then colored a variety of colors. When I narrowed it to 4 I bought the small cans and painted each quarter of my door so I could get the impact from the street and lived with it for a few weeks. What I didn't expect was the unsolicited but friendly comments from family, friends, neighbors and vendors regarding their preference. They overwhelmingly picked the red-brick color I was leaning towards. Fun!
June 19 2011 at 3:47 PM Permalink +8 rate up rate downAdd a Comment
186 Comments
It is your door - paint it whatever color you like.
August 06 2012 at 6:07 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI hated most of the doors he likes. There are other ways to draw attention to a front door of a house other than painting it some bold color.
August 05 2012 at 11:13 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Replythe base of the paint is generally used in mixing color into it - the 'darker' the color, the 'deeper' the base. The sheen of the paint is how shiney the finish will look. most outdoor paints come in 'flat' (no shine) 'satin' some shine and 'semi-gloss' almost as shiney as a gloss finish. generally speaking the more shine the sheen is, the more durable (washable) it is, but - also a higher sheen will point out more imperfections on the door. the gloss or high gloss sheen is usually reserved for an indoor/outdoor paint that normally has an enamel coating. the hard enamel contains the shine, but will take away from the density of the paint, making it more likley for you to need multiple coats. a quart of paint is the normal quanity that you'll need for this project, this covers about 100 square feet on a smooth surface. I was also surprised there was no mention of latex vs oil based paints, but with the laws so varied in all the different states, i guess it would be tough to give advice on that.
August 05 2012 at 11:03 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyWish he would have told us which paint base we should use ?? :)
August 05 2012 at 10:11 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Replysherwin williams web site has a program on it, that will photo shop the color of anything you want to change the color of...very easy to use
August 05 2012 at 10:03 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Replydoor look dark pink? hmmmm need umm coffee color?
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August 05 2012 at 9:35 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyIf you have a small house and you want it to look bigger, consider painting the edge trim the same color as the house or just a shade lighter. This will blend the corners of the house in with the body and draw your eye to color — hopefully, the front door. If you want to show off the trim in a more contemporary way, consider painting the edge trim two shades darker than the house color. To accent your trim in a traditional way, choose contrast by using either white or cream. If you have a stone house, the grout color is a great trim color.
I have a gray capecod with charcoal shutters! I put a blue door on the front! The blue has gray overtones in it so it works beautifully!!!!! I love my blue door!!!
August 05 2012 at 9:33 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Replylove the idea , i have a pale yellow door
August 05 2012 at 9:25 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyOr just paint it whatever color you want, it is your house after all.
August 05 2012 at 8:25 PM Report abuse Permalink +2 rate up rate down Reply