newbie: Help pick color for 2 front doors?

16 years ago

Hello,

I'm usually lurking in the Kitchen forum; so this is my 1st time here.

Would really like your help in choosing a color for my main front door and ?door to the porch? (also faces front of house).

Currently, it's a truly plain light grey Colonial house in suburb MA. It's 5 windows across (2nd floor), attached to a 4-season ?breeze-way room, attached to a 2-story oversize 2-car garage.

We have many plans for the house, but right now, we're focusing indoors (kitchen, old carpet, etc).

But hopefully painting the 2 front doors will be a quick big impact/fix. In the future, maybe we'll get shutters to match the front door???

So I'm thinking black for the front doors.

Red is kinda over-done in my area.

I would like to stick w/ traditional look; what option does that really leave me?

Thank you very much for your time/input.

Amanda

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Comments (4)

les917
16 years ago
WIthout seeing the grey it can be hard to recommend something, but I would not make both doors the same color. You want people to know which door is the main one, since they both face the front.

Do a black for the porch door if you like, but find something more interesting and welcoming for the front door - perhaps a burgundy if you don't want red, or a deep eggplant or teal.

Navy could be an alternative for the porch door, and then one of the aforementioned for the front door.

If the grey has a green undertone, you could also do a pretty deep sage on the front door.

Also, with any of the front door choices, consider a deeper grey in the same grey family as the siding.
huango
Original Author
16 years ago
Finally found a picture to share.
See how my grey house just blends in...blah blah blah.

The current door color is ?grey/teal? - kinda like a wannabe oxidized copper. Not attractive.

les917: thank you very much for your response.
Interesting about 2 different color doors. Now that you can see the house, do you still think I need 2 different colors to denote which is which?
Because our walk-way to the front door is not very defined/welcoming, not many people use the front door.
I thought about a deep rich blue, but should I find the matching shutters now? Really, by the time we do get the shutters, the front doors would need to be repainted anyway.

Any tips on what paint to use? Is it any different from say painting a wall or a piece of furniture? Do I need to poly it or whatever to protect it from the rain/snow?

again, thank you.
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acoreana
16 years ago
I just used Martha Stewart's Shiraz on our front door.

I went into Lowe's thinking Black...or maybe a dark brown...but instead ended up with this amazingly deep rich dark plum color that we love. We went with high gloss and it's really elegant IMHO, and we're very happy with it.

I can see it looking great with your house color. You get the elegance of a dark color like the black, but with a smidge of the pop you'd get with a red.

I love your home. I've just always had an affinity for colonials.

Oh, and every time I've painted a fiberglass front door I've just washed it really well, let it dry, waited for some shade and painted 1 coat of high gloss - let dry for 24 hours - then applied a second coat, and never had any issues.

Best of luck, please post an "after" of what you decide,

Nat
huango
Original Author
16 years ago
acoreana: thank you; I also love colonials (our previous home was a full-dormer cape). We're never moving again!

Interesting suggestion. I'll definitely take a look at Shiraz (my new job is for a wine store :).
Could you share pictures of your front door w/ this plum color?

And thanks for the painting tips. I've never painted a front door.

While driving today, I hunted down all the door colors of grey-houses. I saw 2 similar ones with black shutters, but a deep red/maroon door. The door had black trims.
What do you think? I'll try to get a picture.

Side note: we have non-shiny brass knockers on both doors. Not sure if these knockers make a difference on the color for the doors.

Thank you.