How To Pick The Best Front Door Color

Every year around this time, we get the same question: what color should I paint my front door?  We are here to share the foolproof method for how one can achieve the absolute best never-fail front door color.

Why is the front door color so important? The front door (and area surrounding it) is like a handshake, a home’s first impression. There is no hiding it, a crappy front door makes a crappy impression.

The front door is the place to have a little fun with color. Regardless of the surrounding neighborhood or style of home, a front door begs for a bit of personality.  Heck, it is only a can of paint if one ends up not happy with the color, try again.

THERE ARE NO RULES. Repeat after me, there are no rules regarding what color a front door has to be. None, nada. However, here comes the never fail recipe for selecting the best front door color. This applies to both paint color and wood stain color.

The color for a front door should coordinate with something else inside the home. Remember the handshake analogy? The color chosen is a hint of what one can expect. You are setting your guest’s expectations, creating a relationship, which is why one doesn’t want to screw this up – or the home will never be welcoming.

A front door color sets the tone. The color has to go with something. It could be a color in the entrance hall rug, the kitchen, a feature color in the living room, etc. Select a color found within the main public spaces in the interior. Going up or down a hue or shade is fine, but the relationship has to be there.

How to get the front door all wrong:

1. Selecting a color for no reason, ‘just because…’ is a bad idea.
2. The color does not appear anywhere else on the property.
3. Because it looked good somewhere else, online, or on another street is not good enough.
4. ‘I like the color ______.’

Slap yourself for even considering #4 if this fabulous color does not already appear in the home. If there is a color which hits all the hot buttons, use it, IF it appears somewhere else in the home. (I repeated this for a reason.) Otherwise it is just being indulgent, not what one would consider hospitable.

What happens when the front door color is wrong? Once inside, people become unsettled. Subconsciously they question why; this makes people uncomfortable. Let’s liken it to being called two-faced in terms of one’s personality. Is this the impression you want to give?

Repetition of color is the key to a beautiful home. This single fact has proven itself over many years. There is no such thing as a color trend for a front door. The key to picking a winning front door color really is this simple, it needs to coordinate with something. Follow this foolproof advice and you’ll be thrilled with the results.